In the early 1990s Colombia was primarily a refining centre for coca harvested elsewhere in the Andes, but by 1997 it had become the world’s largest producer. The expansion of cultivation in Colombia has cancelled out major reductions in Bolivia and Peru. Opium production has also increased - Colombia is now a leading supplier of heroin to the US. Most coca production now takes place in the south of the country, in areas controlled by leftist guerrillas. The US has proposed military assistance worth $1.6bn over two years to help Colombia crush the guerrillas, and the crops they protect.

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