I’m reading the Colombian Peace Agreement, so you don’t have to (Part 4)

This will be a quick post, as it relates to the least controversial part of the accords, Chapter 4 on erradication and elimination of the the Drug Trade. Most of the heavy-lifting in this chapter draws heavily from chapter 1. More importantly, and stating the obvious here, while peace may be within Colombians’ grasp, the drug issue is such an international fucking mess, that it does require cooperation from other folks. Also, selfishly, I want to focus my attention on Chapter 5 (justice, victims, and truth), which is the most controversial, and Chapter 6 (implementation and monitoring).

The basic outline here are three sections, each dealing with crop substitution, consumption, and policing.

Section 4.1 addresses crop substitution within the framework of Chapter 1. Some highlights:

• Government and FARC will commit to ensuring minefields are cleared in the areas surrounding current coca plantations.
• Communities will only become part of the substitution initiative voluntarily, and only after a community meeting affirming their decision to join the initiative.
• Recognizing that actually substituting crops at scale will take time, the government has committed to providing immediate attention to the communities during the first year, including food (via direct transfers), education, and technical support.

Section 4.2 addresses consumption, emphasizing the importance of developing and creating campaigns against it, as well as not criminalizing users. Section 4.3 just reaffirms that the government needs to do a better job policing and prosecuting drug traffickers, which, sure.

Again, a pretty vanilla chapter, which really doesn’t quite move my priors one way or the other. Onwards to the main course and dessert — justice, victims, reparations, truth and enforcement and monitoring.