When the aviators and crews, both U.S. and foreign, had finished, about 61,700 acres of coca fields had been sprayed with littleresistance. Observers said that wasn t surprising, considering Colombia s powerful right-wing paramilitaries controlled the targeted areas and did not object to the spray. The story on the ground was different. Peasants, backed by indigenous groups and local politicians, fiercely complained of having their livelihoods wrecked by the fumigation. Reports of skin rashes and respiratory ailments were common.
Officials estimate they are saving up to a quarter of their coca.
Sometimes, estimating drug crops in Colombia can be tricky. The United Nations, the CIA, the State Department and even Colombian authorities have all offered differing predictions. As recently as last month, the U.N. drug-control office in Bogota presented a satellite study that showed far more cultivated coca than previously thought. That information later was copied onto computer programs that alerted airborne pilots when to open the spray nozzles. The eventual goal of the fumigation program is to transfer the equipment, technology and know-how to Colombian agencies in a couple of years.