World News for Students of English

09-01-2023 07:00

The golden age of cocaine is after the time when Pablo Escobar was the drug kingpin; it’s happening right now.

People produce about 2,000 tons of cocaine every year, which is almost double the amount produced a decade ago. In Colombia, growers used around 200,000 hectares of land for coca last year, which is five times more than at the height at Escobar’s Medellín Cartel.

The global fallout is showing up everywhere from the warehouses of Antwerp, Belgium, to coups in West Africa. The situation brings violence, corruption, and big profits.

Colombian cocaine production began to rise ten years ago when the government started negotiations with the largest guerrilla group. However, when the guerrillas disbanded, new groups filled the areas that they occupied. The new groups threatened to kill farmers if they cooperated with government programs to eradicate coca.

New Columbian president Gustavo Petro wants to stop the mafia and big shipments of cocaine rather than the poorest coca farmers.

Difficult words: kingpin (a person that is essential to the success of an organization or operation), fallout (the negative result of a situation or action), eradicate (to destroy something bad).

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