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BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - Despite environmental concerns, Colombian authorities have for the first time used U.S.-supplied planes to spray a pristine national park where leftist rebels have grown coca — the raw ingredient for cocaine.
Anti-narcotics police said they chemically fumigated the Sierra Macarena national park last week, clearing its entire 11,370 acres of coca. The spraying destroyed coca capable of producing 17.5 tons of high-grade cocaine and was likely a major blow to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.
But environmentalists complain that the spraying of herbicides harms the environment and causes health problems for those living in the area. Local groups have promised a court battle to prevent spraying in 11 of Colombia's other 50 protected preserves known to have coca.
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