Colombia Heads To The Polls On Regional Elections Amid Increased Deterioration of Security Conditions To Growers
Colombia Heads To The Polls On Regional Elections Amid Increased Deterioration of Security Conditions To Growers
Coffee Network (Bogota) -Colombians will head to the polls to vote in regional and local elections on October 29, that US policymakers would do well to watch closely amid an increased deterioration of security conditions with coffee growers face extortion.
On Sunday, Colombians will head to the polls to vote in regional and local elections. Colombians will elect 32 governors, 418 state officials who will make up the 32 departmental assemblies, 1,102 mayors, 12,072 municipal and city deputies, and 6,513 territorial authorities making up the Local Administration Boards.
The elections are an important event to watch as it will serve as a referendum on President Gustavo Petro administration, the Washington Office on Latin America, an group that advocates for human rights in Latin America (WOLA).
“The results could shed light on the political positioning of the Colombian electorate, Petro’s political allies, the outlook on the citizen security crisis, and offer insight for the international community on how regional peacebuilding and regional migration agendas will take shape,” WOLA said.
Colombia is experiencing increased massacres, violence and increased production of coca crops and cocaine. Coffee growers in some departments like Cauca and Nariño are experiencing increased deterioration of security conditions in their farms.
The Petro’s administration has conceded too much power to illegal groups so much that today the government is asking the dissident groups of former guerrilla group FARC to allow the entrance of electoral material in the departments of Cauca, Meta, Guaviare and Nariño, Sergio Guzman, director of Colombia Risk Analysis, a political risk consulting firm said. Local news have reported that the administration Petro met with dissidents of FARC and the national registry office (Registraduria) to find a way to allow the arrival of electoral material to some municipalities there.
Colombia is experiencing increased massacres, violence and increased production of coca crops and cocaine.
A large coffee grower in Antioquia, Colombia’s second-largest coffee producing region, said extortion is affecting coffee growers across the board—including small producer to large coffee producers-.
“I don’t have to go to the farm, so I am not running high risks, but the farmer who lives in farms are being forced to pay extortion to allow them to work,” said the grower, who preferred to remain anonymous. “We used to have tranquility. Right now, there is a lot of extortion,” he added.
In southern province of Cauca, the fourth-largest coffee producing department, illegal groups have veto bringing fertilizers and visiting coffee farms in the municipalities of Argelia, Balboa, Sucre, Bolivar, El Patia as well as the higher lands of Tambo, Buenos Aires and Morales. Other municipalities, located in the central mountain range, it is forbidden to visit farms in the municipalities of Caldono, Jambaló and Corinto, a coffee grower said.
"This deteriorates the capacity to maintain the coffee crops productive," said a coffee grower in Cauca, who declined to be identified. Cauca's growers have always faced extortion. "Extortion continues.It has never dropped," he added.
On the opposite site of the country, a coffee farmer in the southern department of Nariño, one the best producers of high-quality Arabica beans, said they are not experiencing extortion there. Nariño’s coffee is grown mainly by small areas of land.
In war-tore departments such as Cauca, illegal groups have increased the production of coca and cocaine. Colombia has set a new record for the cultivation of the coca leaf, which is used to manufacture cocaine, a United Nations report has found.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said on Monday that 230,000 hectares (568,340 acres) of land were planted with coca last year across the South American nation – a 13 percent increase from 2021.
The trends
Colombia Risks Analysis said the elections highlight the contrasts between Colombia’s wealthier departments and their capitals and its poorer, more distant areas. As the former modernize and reap the benefits of accumulated years of political stability, their politics have evolved to reflect a more dynamic citizenry and business environment. Discussions over updating mass transit systems, attracting technology companies, and streamlining tourism are taking place alongside progressive talking points like citizen inclusion, women’s rights, and environmental protection. Rightwing and traditional parties, which have historically campaigned on law and order, are now forced to formulate more nuanced policy positions on issues that matter to citizens far-removed from conflict. All of this suggests progress towards the successful development of business-friendly environments in Colombia’s richest cities and departments.
By contrast, electoral trends in the country’s poorer and more marginalized areas appear to be unchanged, if not worsening. In areas wracked by conflict, poverty and lawlessness, political concern struggles to move beyond the issues of security, social justice, and the provision of basic needs. Traditional political interests tend to dominate the electoral processes. Although elections in wealthy, cosmopolitan areas are hardly immune to election fraud, conflicts of interests between candidates and family businesses, and other forms of corruption, they are significantly more transparent and issues-oriented, Colombia Risks Analysis concluded.
By Diana Delgado
