Colombia resumes drug crop spraying

Farmers say crop spraying damages their health

The Colombian Government has resumed destroying large swathes of drugs crops from the air, days after a judge ordered the fumigation to be stopped.

Crop spraying, however, remains suspended in areas of the Amazon rainforest inhabited by indigenous Indians.

A circuit judge in the capital, Bogota, ordered that the practice be temporarily stopped on Friday, a day after Indians claimed the powerful weedkillers used to kill the crops were affecting their health.

It contravenes Colombian law, which orders the destruction of all illegal crops and for growers of drug crops to be punished

Romulo Gonzalez, Colombian Justice Minister

But the anti-narcotics police chief has ordered spraying to continue in other areas after the court clarified its ruling.

General Gustavo Socha said a complete halt to the operation would lead to a dramatic escalation in drugs trafficking.

The fumigation programme is sponsored by the United States as part of a $1.3bn aid package which aims to crack down on the flow of narcotics from Colombia.

Court challenge

The drugs are mainly grown in areas run by Marxist rebels and paramilitaries, who control some 40% of Colombia.

Colombia's lucrative drug trade is worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year

Despite the halt to crop spraying in their districts, Indians took to the streets in protest against the programme, blocking the Pan-American Highway.

The Colombian Government, however, says it will challenge the judge's order against spraying in areas populated by the Indians.

"It contravenes Colombian law which orders the destruction of all illegal crops and for growers of drug crops to be punished," Justice Minister Romulo Gonzalez told the Associated Press news agency.

Following the order to resume spraying, three crop dusters, escorted by six helicopters, took off from an airfield in Popayan, in south-western Cauca state.

The US-supplied planes targeted poppy and coca fields, which produce heroin and cocaine.

The operation, which currently involves a fleet of 11 planes, is due to expand next March with the arrival of 14 more aircraft from the United States.