Women in Andean Coca Farming and Cocaine Production:
A Select Analytical Human Security Review

By Margo Cohen

Overview

Oftentimes, when one thinks of security, ideas of war, CBRM, and other modes of physically inflicted violence come to mind. The flipside of this is found in issues of human security, which concentrates on the safety of the individual from violence inflicted directly by the government through policy, while integrating analyses of slow violence and social/environmental hazards [1] and their impact on the individual. Within the area of human security, our research group’s focus on the impact of drug trafficking emerges. Its easy enough to highlight that drugs are bad [2]- impairing cognitive function, causing addiction, and damaging organs [3]- the immediate impacts of drug creation (specifically, farming and processing) are often overlooked in security spheres. Yet, drug cultivation remains a crucial aspect of individual security for countless women around the world.

In South and Latin America in particular, drug production is absolutely a matter of security. Families in poverty often find themselves unable to afford nutritious food, sanitation, healthcare, and educational access [4]- things that employment in coca production make substantially easier to access [5] than in normal conditions. This forges economic and social reliance on the production of dangerous and deadly illicit chemicals, without any of the physical dangers that one usually associates with drugs.
Social and economic conditions for women in South America prime them for financial exploitation and dependency on coca production. Chewing the Erythroxylum coca plant has been a medicinal prescription for generations in Peru, Bolivia, and Colombia - it was only in 1859 that it was first isolated to be cocaine proper by the Austrian scientist Alfred Niemann. [6] It remains a staple of cultural medicine in the region, providing legitimacy and purpose to farmers. [7]

While the cultural history is rich, however, the farmers are not. Previous research has found that pervasive issues of poverty and discrimination often shoehorn women into farming coca, rather than entering for cultural or medicinal purposes. [8] Lack of alternative financial resources, a form of systemic oppression, leads many women to have to work in coca farming, while often being unable to own the field themselves. [9] The efficiency of family farming systems, combined with a high profit-to-field ratio, makes coca farming much more appealing to rural women than cultivating other crops. [10]

This section on women in the drug trade will focus on social and economic security factors surrounding women in coca cultivation in Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, and Venezuela. After discussion of Bolivian cocaleros, Colombian drug elimination policy, and links between human trafficking and coca production and movement in Venezuela, I will conclude that transitive nature of economic insecurity in each Andean nation in respect to coca cultivation and cocaine production is a transitive one; thus, in order to reduce the health, economic and physical insecurity cocaine poses, it is necessary to invest in women’s economic security.

Bolivia

Among other Andean nations examined in this piece, Bolivia stands out for several reasons, most notably in the fact that coca growth is widely legal. Under the informal slogan of “¡Coca si!¡ Cocaina no!” (lit. Coca yes! Cocaine no!), (now-former) President Evo Morales legalized coca farming in a move to spur economic development and close educational gaps. [11] As the slogan suggests, coca production is absolutely permitted for farmers, as long as they self-regulate, and don’t turn their crop into the internationally prohibited compound. [12] Since then, coca cultivation has shown an overall decrease, but still remains high. [13] Alternative, largely ineffective coca mitigation strategies, such as criminalization or crop spraying, have largely been avoided. [14]

Political organization in Bolivia is often inextricably linked to coca farming in Bolivia. The leading political party, the Movimiento al Socialismo- Instrumento Político por la Soberanía de los Pueblos (hereafter referred to as MAS) has bet, since its creation, on the side of cocaleros[15], whose organization and consolidation of power has been historically linked to women’s organizations. [16][17]
However, social gains made through cocalero advocacy is a double edged sword. Changes in crop patterns, as were brought by the Fusarium oxysporum fungus [18], are associated with “increased hardship” for women in post-harvest

labor. [19] The progress of women in political realms in links to cocalero advocacy may be excessively dependent on crop success to be considered “secure”. Future research on female-identifying cocalero socioeconomic security in relation to crop success/failure is necessary.

Colombia

As the world’s top cocaine producing nation 20], Colombia holds a special status as a short-lived poster child, then abrupt failure, of American War on Drug policies. The dual-focused “Plan Colombia” successfully preserved the Colombian government from [21] impending collapse [22] (achieving one goal), but failed to successfully eradicate coca production (failing its core purpose [23]).

In Colombian farming families, the woman is often the head of household, rather than the European male-led household structure. Departments that received funding during Plan Colombia(2000-2015, approx.) were shown to have a statistically significant correlation with increases in biologically female arrest rates [24], meaning that many families living in areas with particularly high Plan Colombia funding may have experienced increased financial (and, to a limited transitive extent, physical) insecurity.

The Colombian government has historically used faulty methods of coca growth elimination, including aerial fumigation [25] or manual eradication. [26] Aerial fumigation was actively used until 2015, when glycophosphates were banned because of the lack of research into its environmental effects, and the likely categorization as carcinogenic and possibly a skin irritant, and a lawsuit alleging lack of community reference before spraying. [27][28] Before that, aerial fumigation techniques had a remarkably low success rate of only about 1 in 13 sprayed hectares not having replanted after the spray. [29] In January 2023, the Colombian government halted [30] manual eradication efforts after labeling it a failure [31], choosing instead on shipment interception and investigating criminal actions financially. Manual eradication is still an option if a coca farmer declines to eradicate their own crop. In early 2020, the International Crisis Group conducted on-the-ground interviews with an unspecified amount of women who were formerly involved in coca farming, and found that they “report[ed] higher incidences of sexual and domestic violence, as well as child recruitment” [32] in areas where coca was grown. While further fieldwork needs to be done in order to make a more definitive or quantitative assertion about violence against women coca farmers, this report should definitely be an item of concern in future coca mitigation policymaking and efforts to fortify the security of Colombian coca growers without reliance on processing the leaf into cocaine. The government’s pursuit of state security in line with American pseudo-hegemonic influence thus may have led to a worsening of women’s security in Colombian coca production. Future actions (joint or state-led) to reduce coca production should involve health professionals and female-identifying coca farmers in order to reduce the inherent threat potential to hu[man security that both coca and coca eradication pose.

Venezuela

The Venezuelan coca economy is unique in that, despite its proximity to Colombia, its cocaine production is relatively small, with a relatively young market. [33] Largely unregulated, coca plantations have thrived on the economic disorder of recent years, with high prices and inelastic demand creating an easy market to enter, as long as one has the proper farming and distribution infrastructure in place. Upper-level officials have remained complicit, and in some cases, benefitted, from the creation of what CNN has labeled “a cocaine superhighway” through the failing state. [34]
Much of the composition of the cocaine trade in Venezuela takes the form of trafficking, rather than coca cultivation itself, so more extensive analysis of the “superhighway” lies outside of this research’s jurisdiction. However, it is important to note that the shipment of cocaine through Venezuela still does pose a critical security threat to Venezuelan (and, with case-dependence, Andean) women at large. Crossing the Colombian-Venezuelan border poses special risk for women, who often turn to footpaths controlled by trafficking groups [35] that offer little in terms of physical security. Since early 2020, a Venezuelan lawyer estimated in 2021, rapes were likely up by approximately 60%. [36] Reporting these rapes is especially difficult for these women, who do not want to contact the police for fear of being sent back to Venezuela.
Working in coca cultivation is especially dangerous for women around the Venezuelan border with Colombia, due to overlaps in security issues for both nations and an overwhelmingly strong “border effect”. Refugee women in the Catatumbo border area often find themselves coerced into working as raspachines (coca leaf harvesters), housekeepers, and sometimes forced to have sex with militants after crossing the border. [37] The Columbia-Venezuela border is considered one of the most dangerous in the world due in large part to this occurrence.

Summary and Soft Security Policy

From the accumulation of work presented above, several statements about the status of Andean women’s security in relation to coca farming and cocaine production can be deduced:

Far from being just a threat to public health, cocaine production poses a serious threat to Andean women’s physical, economic, and health security.
Although there is a long history of coca production in Andean nations, with important cultural, social, and historical significance, most coca produced in the Andes is grown for the purpose of making cocaine, and not for medicinal or cultural use.
Women who work in coca production, including cocaleros and raspachines, often work in the field due to lack of economic alternatives or physical coercion.
Recent anti-coca policies have over-emphasized crop elimination through aerial fumigation and forced manual eradication, but failed due to high rates of crop replanting. Fumigation and manual eradication are largely ineffective.
The nature of coca production economies varies from state to state, but the consistency and urgency of the problem poses a critical human security threat to involved Andean women.

Each element outlined above forms part of the still larger picture of economic insecurity and exploitation in the Andes. Individual and family economic dependence on the cocaine trade draws women into working in coca fields and keeps them there. Migrating, economically insecure, and head-of-household women are at the most risk for becoming engaged in and fueling the cocaine trade.

It is evident that each government’s approach to the coca trade must change in order for a fundamental change in the market to be accomplished. Formally institutionalized investment in vulnerable women, through microfinance institutions [38] or other poverty alleviation programs. By investing in women’s economic stability, much of the human security threat of coca production would diminish.

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2. “Just Say No - History.” History.com, History.com, 24 Jan. 2023, https://www.history.com/topics/1980s/just-say-no.

3. “The Science of Drug Use: A Resource for the Justice Sector.” National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 23 Nov. 2022, https://nida.nih.gov/drug-topics/criminal-justice/science-drug-use-resource-justice-sector.

4. Alkire, Sabina, et al. “2022 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI).” Human Development Reports, Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative, https://hdr.undp.org/content/2022-global-multidimensional-poverty-index-mpi.

5. “Deeply Rooted: Coca Eradication and Violence in Colombia.” International Crisis Group, 9 Mar. 2021, https://www.crisisgroup.org/latin-america-caribbean/andes/colombia/87-deeply-rooted-coca-eradication-and-violence-colombia.

6. McLaughlin, Gerald T. “Cocaine : The History and Regulation of a Dangerous Drug.” Cocaine : The History and Regulation of a Dangerous Drug, Cornell Law Review, Mar. 1973, https://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?httpsredir=1&article=3892&context=clr.

7. Image description: The Erythroxylum coca plant. Green, egg-shaped leaves on a thin branch, with small red berries. Courtesy of: “Plants That Contain Controlled Drugs.” CNB, https://www.cnb.gov.sg/drug-information/plants-that-contain-controlled-drugs.

8. SCHLEIFER, REBECCA, and LUCIANA POL. “International Guidelines on Human Rights and Drug Control: A Tool for Securing Women’s Rights in Drug Control Policy.” Health and Human Rights, vol. 19, no. 1, 2017, pp. 253–61. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/90007931. Accessed 21 Feb. 2023.

9. Olivera, Luis Felipe Cruz, and Teresa Garcia Castro. “Women Coca and Poppy Growers Mobilizing for Social Change.” WOMEN COCA AND POPPY GROWERS MOBILIZING FOR SOCIAL CHANGE, WOLA, Feb. 2020, https://www.wola.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Women-coca-and-poppy-growers-mobilizing-for-social-change.pdf.

10. Parada-Hernandez, Maria Monica, and Margarita Marin-Jaramillo. “Cocalero Women and Peace Policies in Colombia.” ScienceDirect, International Journal of Drug Policy, Mar. 2021, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2021.103157.

11. Grisaffi, Thomas. Coca Yes, Cocaine No: How Bolivia's Coca Growers Reshaped Democracy. Duke University Press, 2019. See p.2

12. “Single Convention on - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.” United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961, United Nations, 1972, https://www.unodc.org/pdf/convention_1961_en.pdf.

13. Brewer-Osorio, Susan. “Turning Over a New Leaf: A Subnational Analysis of ‘Coca Yes, Cocaine No’ in Bolivia.” Journal of Latin American Studies, vol. 53, no. 3, 2021, pp. 573–600., doi:10.1017/S0022216X21000456.

14. Tegel, Simeon. “The ‘War on Drugs’ in South America.” Pulitzer Center, 14 June 2016, https://pulitzercenter.org/projects/war-drugs-south-america.

15. Anria, Santiago. “Social Movements, Party Organization, and Populism: Insights from the Bolivian MAS.” Latin American Politics and Society, vol. 55, no. 3, 2013, pp. 19–46., doi:10.1111/j.1548-2456.2013.00201.x.

16. OCHOA, URSULA DURAND. “Coca, Contention and Identity: The Political Empowerment of the Cocaleros of Bolivia and Peru.” Coca, Contention and Identity: The Political Empowerment of the Cocaleros of Bolivia and Peru, London School of Economics Thesis Repository, Apr. 2021, https://etheses.lse.ac.uk/560/1/Durand-Ochoa_Coca_Contention_Identity.pdf.

17. Image Description: Female-presenting cocalero, in pink hat, with hair in braid and light blue knit sweater pushes against Brazilian Police Riot shields at a protest demanding resignation of local minister. Image Credit: AP Photo/Juan Karita, Associated Press. (2022, August 3). Bolivia: Cocaleros Demandan Renuncia de Ministro. AP NEWS. Retrieved from https://apnews.com/article/noticias-adfdc674580b443b9a5968fd3aeb9aae

18. Kremer, R.J, et al. “‘Coca Got Us Here and Now It's Our Weakness:" Fusarium Oxysporum and the Political Ecology of a Drug War Policy Alternative in Bolivia.” International Journal of Drug Policy, Elsevier, 1 June 2016, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S095539591630161X.

19. Chapter 5 : Food Security — Special Report on Climate Change ... - IPCC. https://www.ipcc.ch/srccl/chapter/chapter-5/. See Box 5.1.

20. McCarthy, Niall. "The Globe's Top Cocaine Producers." Statista, Statista Inc., 7 Sep 2016, https://www.statista.com/chart/5749/the-globes-top-cocaine-producers/

21. Image description: Line graph titled “The Globe’s Top Cocaine Producers”. Subtitled: “Global illicit cultivation of coca bush from 2003-2014(hectares). X-axis: year(2003-2014). Y-axis: hectares(0-100,000). Graph represents Colombian, Peruvian, and Bolivian coca production. Notably, Colombian coca production peaks in 2007, shows overall decline until 2011-2013(decline, then stable), then spikes. Image credit: Statista, ibid.

22. Dalton, Melissa. “Colombia at a Stabilization Crossroads.” CSIS, 5 Mar. 2020, https://www.csis.org/analysis/colombia-stabilization-crossroads.

23. Cosoy, Natalio. “Has Plan Colombia Really Worked?” BBC News, BBC, 4 Feb. 2016, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-35491504.

24. Monica, E. (2022, April 15). The War on Drugs' War on women: Plan Colombia's impact on the female carceral population of Colombia. Columbia University Libraries Academic Commons. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.7916/m9e6-1y42

25. International Crisis Group, ibid.

26. Associated Press. (2020, December 31). Government: Colombia manual coca eradication most in decade. AP NEWS. Retrieved from https://apnews.com/article/colombia-e9434e4fe88af524ebab353f74b4490a

27. European Chemicals Agency. (2017, March 15). Committee for Risk Assessment RAC Opinion proposing harmonised classification and labelling at EU level of glyphosate (ISO); N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine EC Number: 213-997-4 CAS Number: 1071-83-6 CLH-O-0000001412-86-149/F. Committee for Risk Assessment. Retrieved February 25, 2023, from https://echa.europa.eu/documents/10162/2f8b5c7f-030f-5d3a-e87e-0262fb392f38

28. Grattan, S. (2022, January 20). Colombia can't resume coca aerial spraying for now, court rules. Drugs News | Al Jazeera. Retrieved from https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/1/20/colombia-cant-resume-coca-aerial-spraying-for-now-court-rules

29. Isacson, Adam. “The Costs of Restarting Aerial Coca Spraying in Colombia.” WOLA, 28 Feb. 2020, https://www.wola.org/analysis/costs-restarting-aerial-spraying-coca-colombia/.

30. Noriega, C. (2023, January 24). Colombia shifts strategy in drug war away from coca eradication. Drugs News | Al Jazeera. Retrieved February 25, 2023, from https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/1/24/colombia-shifts-strategy-in-drug-war-away-from-coca-eradication

31. Medina, O. (2023, February 23). Colombia completely halted eradication of coca crops last month. Yahoo! News. Retrieved February 25, 2023, from https://news.yahoo.com/colombia-completely-halted-eradication-coca-195319874.html

32. International Crisis Group, ibid.

33. Venezuela Investigative Unit. “Venezuela's Move to Cocaine Production: Crops, Chemists and Criminal Evolution.” InSight Crime, 5 May 2022, https://insightcrime.org/investigations/venezuela-move-to-cocaine-production-crops-chemists-and-criminal-evolution/.

34. Walsh, Nick Paton, et al. “Corruption in Venezuela Has Created a Cocaine Superhighway to the US.” CNN, Cable News Network, 17 Apr. 2019, https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/17/americas/venezuela-drug-cocaine-trafficking-intl/index.html.

35. Otis, John. “Women Fleeing Venezuela Are Targeted with Sexual Assault as They Cross into Colombia.” NPR, NPR, 29 Jan. 2021, https://www.npr.org/2021/01/29/957309093/women-fleeing-venezuela-are-targeted-with-sexual-assault-as-they-cross-into-colo.

36. Otis, ibid.

37. Julia Zulver & Annette Idler (2020) Gendering the border effect: the double impact of Colombian insecurity and the Venezuelan refugee crisis, Third World Quarterly, 41:7, 1122-1140, DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2020.1744130