The Bolivian authorities reported on 3 August their biggest-ever seizure of cocaine: just over 5 tonnes of the drug. The previous record haul was of 1.1t, seized in Cochabamba in 1985. Operación Luz de Luna ('Operation Moonlight') intercepted over the weekend three separate loads of cocaine as a result of information provided by Spain, which was apparently the ultimate destination of the drugs.
The first batch, of 2.8t, was intercepted as it was being readied to be flown to Spain via Brazil. The other two, in Montero and Santa Cruz, yielded an estimated 3t of cocaine which had been blended into truckloads of potato flakes destined for a Chilean port, for transhipment to Europe.
Bolivia's special antinarcotics unit, FELCN, has underlined the presence of Colombians among the 24 people arrested during Operación Luz de Luna as additional evidence that drug traffickers from that country have been building up the processing phases of cocaine production within Bolivia, hitherto confined mainly to the role of supplier of raw material.
Reassessing Bolivia's coca
A highly unreliable rule of thumb used widely by governments and antinarcotics agencies is that seizures tend to account for about 10% of total traffic. If this measure is applied to the latest Bolivian haul, it would suggest total cocaine production of about 50t. For a country that was claiming only a year ago to have eradicated virtually all illegal coca plantations, that is a lot. Indeed, if anywhere near the mark it would force a sharp upward revision of the surface devoted to coca growing in Bolivia.
Peru is estimated by the DEA to produce enough coca for about 120t of cocaine. The UNODC reckons that it has about 47,000 hectares planted with coca. The same source reckons that coca plantations in Bolivia cover 24,000ha, just about enough to produce the rule-of-thumb amount of cocaine cited above. However, in Bolivia 12,000ha are supposed to be legal plantations for traditional coca use, so about the same amount again would have to be added to the total to close the equation. Even if this is an exaggerated projection, what does seem certain is that the 'press down-pop up' or 'balloon' effect predicted as one of the likely consequences of Plan Colombia, is already at work.
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