An estimated 300,000 Colombians depend on coca cultivation and cocaine production for their livelihood. In 1996, farmers in Caquet and neighboring departments staged one of the largest peasant mobilizations in Colombian history. More than 200,000 people marched and blocked roads, demanding government investment in infrastructure, education and economic alternatives for coca farmers. The government responded by militarizing the area, while paramilitary groups assassinated seven protest leaders. While coca leaves can be harvested every three months, it takes more than seven years for rubber trees to mature.
Government officials say rubber trees merely protect coca crops from fumigation.
But the agronomists say rubber is one of the best substitutions because, as the trees grow, they shadow the coca leaves, slowly stunting the illicit crop. Garc a and his neighbors probably weren't on Gen. Barry McCaffrey's mind in February, when the U.S. drug czar praised the Colombian National Police's pesticide program. McCaffrey didn't mention that the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on spraying Andean rural areas hadn't significantly reduced coca cultivation. In 1997 and 1998, combined production in Peru, Bolivia and Colombia declined by only 1.7 percent. As fumigation continues, the United States is planning to support its first alternative development program in Colombia.