Colombia’s Supreme Court asked authorities on Wednesday to gain control of the southern Putumayo department, an area that is run by the narco-trafficking criminal group “Los Rastrojos.”
The country’s High Court allegedly called upon the national police director, the army commander general and the governor of the district to alleviate the criminally dire situation in Putumayo, newspaper El Tiempo reported.
The southern district of Putumayo, which was formally controlled by the paramilitary AUC’s Southern Front until 2005, has since been dominated by the criminal organization, the Rastrojos which emerged from the remnants of the Norte del Valle Cartel.
The Rostrojos drug trafficking organization revolves around the coca economy, obtaining cocaine hydrochloride from laboratories located in the area before trafficking the finished product. The criminal franchise has consequently created widespread displacement, disruption of public order and intimidation of citizens in the southern region of Colombia.
The Supreme Court expressed its concern on Wednesday in part based on testimony made by sociologist and political scientist Vasquez Delgado, as well as an investigation done by the Technical Body of Investigation (CTI) branch of the Inspector General, according to newscast CM&.
Putumayo, along with the other southern departments of Nariño and Guaviare, account for 54% of the total coca cultivation in Colombia. The head of the narcotics division of the National Police, Luis Alberto Perez, has said that, “the departments of Putumayo and neighboring Nariño are (with 44,000 acres) the areas most affected by coca cultivation in Colombia because of drug traffickers who convert the coca leaves into cocaine.”
