The new president of Colombia, Abelardo de la Espriella, began his administration with an offensive against drugs that is notable for the use of bombings against narco-terrorist camps, aerial spraying of illicit crops, and the construction of mega-prisons.
It is a security agenda that has already produced its first operational results, as announced by the president himself this Monday.
Three days after taking office, De la Espriella announced a series of military strikes against two of the country's main criminal groups.
In the Meta department, a joint operation by the Army and Air Force resulted in the death of alias "Ruso" or "Alemán," the leader of Structure 28 of the dissident Faction Mordisco, along with three other members of the group.
In Anorí, Antioquia, two members of the Gulf Clan were killed, along with the seizure of six rifles and a large amount of war material. In Necoclí, four alleged members of the financial and drug trafficking component of the Gabriel Poveda Ramos substructure of the same cartel were captured.
"Criminals have one decision to make: submit to justice or face the legitimate force of the Republic. There will be no truce against those who threaten Colombia," declared the president.
The drug control strategy of his government is not limited to military operations. Since his inauguration on August 7 in Cali—marking the first time in the country's republican history that a president takes office outside of Bogotá—De la Espriella announced the resumption of aerial spraying of coca with "state-of-the-art" herbicides.
"Coca cannot be fought with manipulated statistics or distorted maps, but by uprooting it from the land where it currently fuels violence and crime," he stated, assuring that the products to be used will not harm human health or the environment and will comply with the mandate of the Constitutional Court.
During the campaign, there was a proposal to fumigate about 330,000 hectares of coca. Aerial spraying with glyphosate was suspended in Colombia in 2015, and the Constitutional Court, in 2017, ordered that it should not be resumed without meeting strict technical conditions and prior consultation with the affected communities.
The congresswoman Jennifer Pedraza filed a petition with the Presidency demanding technical details about the herbicides, their composition, registration with the Colombian Agricultural Institute, and the legal basis regarding that ruling.
De la Espriella's security proposals evoke models already familiar in the region. The bombings are reminiscent of the armed crusade of the Trump administration against drug boats in South American and Caribbean waters.
The fumigations refer to the policy of Álvaro Uribe between 2002 and 2010. The mega-prisons are aligned with the model of Nayib Bukele in El Salvador.
«De la Espriella's perspective is framed within Trumpism, in traditional security based solely and exclusively on force,» noted Héctor Galeano, a researcher at the Institute of Advanced Social and Cultural Studies of Latin America and the Caribbean, as cited by the BBC.
The alignment with Washington is explicit. Colombia has joined the Shield of the Americas, the regional security alliance promoted by the United States, based in Medellín.
At the same time, Washington announced a security package of 1 billion dollars for Bogotá —subject to approval by the U.S. Congress— which includes military technology, coca eradication, and dismantling of narcoterrorist organizations.
This shift stands in stark contrast to the outgoing government of Gustavo Petro, which focused on peace negotiations with armed groups and used Cuba as the venue for talks with the ELN. De la Espriella announced the severing of diplomatic relations with Cuba and Nicaragua and the closure of 14 embassies, labeling both governments as "tyrannies."
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