The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDP), the executive-branch office charged with tracking drug production and trafficking globally, released on June 26 its estimates for coca cultivation in Colombia for 2018.
Sadly, coca production fell a meager 1,000 hectares, which, compared to the 208,000 hectares the ONDP estimates Colombia still cultivates a year, is but a drop in the bucket.
The same office estimates that 90% of the cocaine that enters the US originates from Colombia.
Duque and many of his cabinet members have argued that Colombia has done quite a bit, but their numbers are confusing.
In February, Duque said that Colombia had eradicated close to 60,000 hectares, while Defense Minister Guillermo Botero clarified that they had in fact eradicated 30,435 hectares (which rises to 39,000 hectares if they include the 8,549 hectares that were voluntarily substituted under government programs).
Then in March, Duque suggested that the government had successfully eradicated 80,000 hectares, and again the defense minister suggested the figure had in fact been 61,737 hectares. In June, Duque lowered his estimate and said that the government had eradicated 60,000 hectares.
The bottom line is that coca numbers aren't falling at the rate the US is expecting, which will likely draw ire from Trump when the time to "certify" Colombia comes.