Weekly Report - 15 December 2011 (WR-11-50)

COLOMBIA | Drug GDP down. The contribution of coca cultivation and cocaine production to the Colombian economy fell to 0.3% of GDP from 1.4% between 2001 and 2009, according to a report presented in Bogotá by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (Unodc). “The exhibition of power and riches (by the cartels) overstated (the cocaine trade’s) economic impact and distorted our understanding of it,” the report’s author Ricardo Rocha said. He argued that the emergence of Mexican cartels and tighter controls on money laundering had significantly reduced cocaine revenue flowing into Colombia. “The golden age, when the (Colombian) drug cartels monopolised the wholesale market, is over. Now those profits are being appropriated by Central America, Venezuela and Mexico,” he claimed.

End of preview - This article contains approximately 122 words.

Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article

Not a Subscriber?

Choose from one of the following options

• Subscribe
• Sign up for a one-time, 14-day trial