Colombia drug production continues to grow

In its annual assessment of the illegal drugs trade, the United States says narcotics production has continued to rise in Colombia -- the world's leading provider of cocaine.

The State Department said cultivation of coca and opium -- the raw materials used to make cocaine and heroin -- had grown by thirty-two per cent in the area controlled by rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the FARC.

The BBC correspondent in Colombia says that at a time of slowing eradication efforts in neighbouring Bolivia and Peru, the increase in Colombia is bad news for the Americans, who have invested heavily in the fight against illegal drugs.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service