Президент Колумбии сталкивается с давлением США в борьбе с наркотиками в условиях кризиса с беженцами

His country is struggling to take care of the inflow of greater than 1.7 million refugees who come by fled the political and financial disaster in neighboring Venezuela, but Colombian President Iván Duque became as soon as given a brand contemporary directive on Monday at some point soon of a consult with to the White Residence: step up the battle on cocaine. President Donald Trump informed Duque that Colombia, the world’s largest producer of the drug, would possibly perchance well furthermore objective soundless resume spraying herbicide on coca vegetation from the air to stem the waft of narcotics into the U.S. “You’re going to have to spray,” Trumpinformed Duque at a joint press convention. “Within the occasion you don’t spray, you’re no longer going to achieve away with them.”

All aerial spraying became as soon as halted by the Colombian government in 2015 after the World Properly being Group linked glyphosate-primarily based fumigation to most cancers. Since then the country has relied on eradication teams that rip the coca vegetation out by hand—final year the federal government destroyed 247,000 acres of coca vegetation that manner—funded partly by $400 million from the U.S. However overall production spiked after spraying stopped, andColombia is working toward resuming aerial sprayingwith the identical herbicide below contemporary safety conditions role by the nation’s constitutional court docket this year.

The twin crises—surging coca production and the enormous refugee disaster—are right two of the challenges faced by Duque, 43, a U.S.-trained technocrat who in 2018 modified into theyoungest elected President in Colombia’s history. Rolling support coca production, Duque says, is necessary to providing steadiness to his South American nation, which struck a landmark peace deal in 2016 with the country’s main insurrection neighborhood, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. (The Marxist guerrilla neighborhood became as soon as up to the trace of an estimated 70% of Colombia’s coca vegetation when it disbanded.) At the identical time, Duque is managing the rising political and financial costs of the enormous humanitarian disaster in neighboring Venezuela which continues to spill across the border into his country.

After his consult with at the White Residence with Trump and diversified cabinet participants, Duque sat down with TIME. Following is an edited and abridged transcript of the dialog.

The President mentioned aerial spraying this day. Were you caught off guard by that?

No, we positively come by belief of as since Day One the likelihood of getting aerial spraying. However we learn about it no longer as a silver bullet. We learn about it as a indispensable instrument within a toolkit the achieve we come by manual eradication, substitution, different style. And clearly precision aerial spraying, serious about all of the environmental and social precautions that we have to retract to put collectively the constitutional court docket ruling, for us is serious.

There are a mountainous number of places in the country the achieve we come by landmines, or snipers that will assault the those that are doing the eradication work. And in addition you can well perchance learn about by the records that when the aerial spray program became as soon as stopped, in most cases the production of coca skyrocketed. It grew exponentially year over year, and truly it became as soon as in our administration the first months that for the first time in eight years we purchased the exponential roar to stay.

It’s taking somewhat quite a lot of effort to salvage the low cost. So as that’s why having as remarkable instruments as ability is so indispensable for us.

When stay you agree with that’ll originate again?

We’re working very, very no longer easy to come by it as soon as ability.

Months?

Months. Because we’re talking about having the entire environmental requirements fulfilled, the social requirements fulfilled, the health requirements fulfilled. And as I mumble, we right have to be very effective with the combo of instruments. And we hope that having manual, aerial with precision, substitution, and different style can enable us to salvage to the target that’s to prick by greater than 50% the coca vegetation in Colombia by 2022.

What stay you wish from the Trump Administration to salvage there?

Now we were inspecting no longer finest the militia, however the logistical, intelligence, and satellite tv for laptop strengthen that we come by acquired except now. However also it’s miles true that we learn about these areas the achieve you’d come by the objective true vegetation with the likelihood of fixing to other vegetation which are going to enable the peasants to salvage a sustainable earnings over time. So there’s a massive hobby to come by a program in Colombia that allows these peasants to hotfoot to different vegetation. There’s cocoa, there’s fruit, or other vegetation, and even the price for environmental companies. However be ready to salvage these people to hotfoot to a diversified objective true and sustainable earnings.

What’s the largest snort you learn about there in bringing these numbers down?

It’s acceleration. Knocking down these numbers is the largest thing that we can stay in show to restrict the capability of the [rebel] groups, and also murder the constructions they’ve. These guys are killing social leaders in many areas of Colombia for the reason that social leaders are telling the community no longer to be recruited by these groups. So we have to downsize severely and impulsively these numbers. And by that I’m obvious that we’ll provide protection to social leaders’ lives, and we are able to stay that these groups change into influential politically speaking in cities in Colombia which are conclude to the Pacific Basin.

So right here is a have to. Here is the largest true kind battle that I truly come by embraced since I took scheme of labor. And I’ll proceed to hotfoot forward.

The UN right issued a file just a few few of the social leaders that you simply had been talking about. And it criticized your government about how you had been going about that. What’s your response?

There became as soon as afile that came out from the Residing of enterprise of the Excessive Commissioner of Human Rights. I don’t come by any snort the achieve there’s criticism. And notably when the criticism relies totally on info. Some statements are no longer primarily based on info, and that must generate the appropriate kind debate. I labored on the United Countries, and I issue it’s miles true that often there’s a discussion of issues which are stated in these experiences. However as an illustration, that file made the reference on the productive projects in the areas that we name different style or regional focused style plans. Now we come by a contradiction for the reason that verification that the U.S. does in Colombia on these projects is saying that there became as soon as a massive growth. After which you learn referring to the file saying there’s no growth.

And on the subject of the social chief killings, since I took scheme of labor, and in my oath of scheme of labor speech, I stated that became as soon as one in every of the foremost challenges we face. And I truly come by also stated that we have to act impulsively and integrally. We launched an action idea to acknowledge. Now we were in the territories doing particular person and neighborhood protection. Now we come by viewed just a few of these numbers attain down. I don’t truly feel satisfied just a few low cost of ten, fifteen, or sixteen percent since it has to hurry to zero. However we come by made growth. And I issue the file became as soon as no longer lovely enough recognizing the efforts that we come by performed.

Are you able to snort us a bit bit referring to the nature of the dialog with President Trump and whether or no longer he became as soon as requesting something in particular?

Now we were working collectively for a extraordinarily very lengthy time in diversified fronts. Colombia has 1.7 million Venezuelan migrants that come by reached our country in the final three years. That’s essentially the most dramatic migration disaster we come by viewed in most current Latin American history. Colombia is spending nearly $1 billion per year in health, education, consideration, nutrition and early childhood nutrition consideration [for Venezuelan migrants]. And we’re getting five thousand people per day. So right here is de facto a disaster.

What has precipitated the disaster? A dictatorship that has brutalized the country, that has destroyed the financial system, that has destroyed free press, and that is having people loss of life out of starvation. You come by a minimum wage that doesn’t even salvage to $2. And in addition you’d come by got a minimum wage in Colombia that’s $300. So there’s continuously that incentive to hotfoot to Colombia or to Peru right to search out alternatives.

However we have to stay something on the designate. Since the capability of our countries to retract in this kind of shock will not be any longer permanent. And it’s positively no longer sustainable. So I issue the coalition that we come by built that has identified [Venezuelan opposition leader Juan] Guaidó [and] has identified the meeting, I issue the coalition needs to salvage stronger, and that there have to be the entire pushes which are mandatory in explain that we come by that transition taking scheme.

And whenever you examine the snort in Venezuela to other migration crises, you’ll learn about that the amount of resources which were mobilized to help the Syrian migration disaster, it’s in the thousands per migrant. Within the case with Venezuela we haven’t even gotten to $118. So we also need the worldwide community to be conscious and to mobilize these resources. And I’m grateful with the US because through USAID we come by acquired funds, we come by acquired treatment, we come by acquired strengthen, we come by acquired The [USS] Comfort, the ship that has supplied scientific consideration to migrants.

I truly have faith in that President Trump has taken a sturdy and mandatory stand for this effort. However I also learn about it as something definite that there is bicameral and bipartisan strengthen in the US to manufacture that transition in Venezuela.

What is the Trump Administration asking Colombia to stay?

Here will not be any longer a snort that would possibly perchance also be solved by a person country. This solution comprises us all. And what I spotlight referring to the map in which we were managing this effort is that we come by built the strongest coalition ever in Latin The united states, diplomatically and politically speaking, to wrestle a dictatorship. We never saw something of this nature in the ‘70s, ‘80s, the ‘90s. Here is de facto a massive diplomatic coalition.

I issue we truly have to beef up the coalition and defend on expanding the coalition. Now we have to title extra sanctions that truly distress unsightly the dictator and his interior circle, and we have to acknowledge that the change have to be made and it have to be made snappily. In any other case the enormous humanitarian disaster is going to be uncontrolled.

Did you salvage assurances this day that extra sanctions would be coming?

We are able to defend on evaluating them. As I mumble, right here will not be any longer a meeting right to claim, ‘Okay, you’d have to stay this, you’d have to stay the following.’ No, it’s a meeting the achieve we review what are issues going down, and the map in which come by we labored to manufacture issues even better, and the map in which we name other countries and the map in which we work in the multilateral arena. However it’s indispensable for all of us to bear in mind the reality that right here is a snort the achieve the clock is ticking. Now we come by already 3% of our population or extra in migrants. We have to always mobilize resources from the worldwide community.

Are you able to wait except after the U.S. presidential election for the enlarge in rigidity that you simply’re hoping to witness on Venezuela?

I’d moderately no longer to manufacture any comments on U.S. elections and timing when it comes to elections. What I learn about truly, and I issue it has the fee, is that the scheme the U.S. has taken on Venezuela is bipartisan. There’s a sturdy leadership by the White Residence and President Trump that we reward, and there is a substantial leadership that we come by also viewed in congress to approve payments or choices which are important for the Venezuelan people. So all I will mumble about right here is we have to work snappily and collectively, no longer right about Colombia and the US, all of the coalition in explain that we can salvage that free election and that transition taking scheme in Venezuela.

Write toW.J. Hennigan atwilliam.hennigan@time.com.