Coca-Colombia

Although Colombia is the world’s largest producer of emeralds, it is most famous—or infamous—for its cocaine production. There was relatively little cocaine trafficking from Colombia in the 1960s, but in the following decade a growing demand for the new drug of choice in the US and Europe saw production boom. Soon Colombian drug cartels and kingpins became extremely rich off the back of this illegal trade; the drug baron Pablo Escobar even made it on to the Forbes Rich List before he was killed in 1993. Since 2000, the US has spent $6 billion on ‘Plan Colombia’, a programme to combat the drugs trade, which includes providing the Colombian army with training and equipment. The initial targets of the plan were not met, and Colombia still supplies the US with 90% of its cocaine. There are signs, however, that anti-narcotic operations may be beginning to work: 2008 saw Colombian coca cultivation fall by 18% and cocaine production fall by 28%.