Guatemala finds coca plantations and labs, admits now a producing nation
SEPTEMBER 19, 2019 / 10:48 AM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO
Sofia Menchu
4 MIN READ
GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Guatemalan security forces found and destroyed large coca plantations and two cocaine processing laboratories, police said on Thursday, a development that shows cocaine production is spreading closer to the United States from Andean nations.
The discovery of about 1.3 million coca plants in tropical hills prompted Interior Minister Enrique Degenhart to admit Guatemala was now a cocaine producing nation and not just a transit point for drug traffickers.
Until recently, the crop was almost exclusively cultivated in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia.
Guatemalan authorities made the discovery after the government gave emergency powers to the military in eastern Guatemala in response to the murder of three soldiers earlier this month. At the time, the government said the soldiers were ambushed by drug traffickers.
The coca plants were found in remote stretches of the municipalities of Livingston on the Caribbean coast and El Estor, which sits on a lake popular with tourists and is where the soldiers were killed.
More:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-guatemala-drugs/guatemala-finds-coca-plantations-and-labs-admits-now-a-producing-nation-idUKKBN1W428O?rpc=401&