Colombia rebels see gangs moving into drug-producing areas

Criminal gangs are attempting to take over coca-growing regions in Colombia being abandoned by the leftist rebels to expand cultivation of the plant used to make cocaine, a leader of the country’s largest guerrilla movement said.
The threats against communities in the northern Colombia and elsewhere have increased as a peace deal reached last year between the government and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia begins to be implemented, the rebel leader known as Pastor Alape said Friday. 
Sixteen activists have been killed so far this year, Alape said, and authorities acknowledge some of the slayings may be the beginnings of a turf war waged by the powerful Usuga Clan and other groups to prevent a joint FARC-government eradication program from taking hold.
“It is generating a situation of terror,” said Alape, adding farmers might be driven off the land because of pressure by the heavily armed militias.
Alape’s warning comes as Colombia’s government struggles to rein in a booming coca harvest that has caught the Trump administration’s attention and could make it it harder to pacify areas the FARC is deserting.
On Friday, the government unveiled plans to wean farmers off the drug trade as part of the peace deal meant to end a half century of fighting.
The goal is to remove 50,000 hectares (123,500 acres) of coca crops within the first year by providing farmers who voluntarily destroy the illegal crops with a monthly stipend of around $350 as well as loans, one-time subsidies and technical assistance to plant legal crops.

Source: Arab News