Aiming a blow at narcos in Colombia
The Caicedos and some 4,000 other Colombian families have agreed to replace their coca with alternative crops such as cocoa and coffee amid a government scheme
It is part of a $14.4m project to reduce supply of a product blamed for untold misery in a country where armed groups force rural communities to grow coca and raze forests for its cultivation
The project seeks to eradicate coca production on 45,000 hectares in three of Colombia's most conflict-riddled regions, including the southwestern Micay Canyon where the Caicedos family ply their trade in the Argelia municipality
For farmers it is a risk. They cannot be sure that their new plantations – coffee in the Caicedos' case – will succeed, or that guerrillas and other groups whose income depend on cocaine sales will leave them in peace
'When one is planting a coca plant, there is hope that in time there will be a harvest and there will be some income,' said Nicolas Caicedo. 'Uprooting the plants means that there will be no more harvests in other words, no more money,' from coca at least
Alirio Caicedo and a sack of dried coffee beans. With coca, the Caicedos said they were guaranteed an income of about $800 a month. They have received an initial payment of about $300 under the project to grow coffee, with more to come
But another farmer, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity, said he doubted the project could work in areas such as Argelia where illegal groups outnumber the state in terms of fighters and guns. 'No armed group that lives off [coca] is going to want a farmer to stop growing coca and switch to coffee,' he said
Farmers Nicolas and Alirio show coffee beans and coca leaves at their plantation. Gustavo Petro, Colombia's first-ever leftist president, took office in 2022 with the goal of extricating his country from the US-led 'war on drugs' blamed for double-victimisation of rural Colombians already living under the yoke of violent criminal groups
Cocaine production in Colombia – the world's biggest exporter of the drug – reached record levels as demand continues to grow in Europe and the US, the principal consumer Photograph: Juan Restrepo/AFP/Getty Images
Several previous attempts to get Colombian coca producers to change crops have failed as armed groups caused havoc and government payments and other assistance eventually dried up
Colombian soldiers and policemen stand guard in a street in Argelia
Gloria Miranda, who heads Colombia's illegal crop substitution programme, cautioned that it would be naive to believe the new initiative could end drug trafficking 'as long as there is a market of 20 million consumers and it (cocaine) remains illegal'
President Petro has sought to negotiate with armed groups, meaning fewer military operations and the abandonment of forced coca eradication, but talks have mostly broken down, and the arrival of Donald Trump in the White House in January has ramped up pressure on Bogóta
Argelia's secretary of government, Pablo Daza, poses for a picture in Argelia, Cauca department. With high stakes for its crop replacement gamble, observers fear the government may be taken advantage of. Some farmers may 'try to deceive' by taking the money while continuing to grow coca, said Daza
Coffee and coca leaf farmer Alirio Caicedo. Used not only for cocaine, the coca leaf is also chewed as a stimulant in Andean countries or brewed into a tea thought to combat altitude sickness
Aerial view of Argelia. Colombia's appeals for the leaf to be removed from a UN list of harmful narcotics so it can be commercialised in alternative products such as fertilisers or beverages, have so far fallen on deaf ears
Photograph: Juan Restrepo/AFP/Getty Images
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She also opposes the expropriation plans and wants to stay living in the same place. "I want to be with people who understand what I went through."Chilean Minister for Justice and Human Rights Jaime Gajardo Falcón told the BBC that the government took the decision to expropriate the area in which the main buildings of the ex-colony are concentrated. "These were sites of political detention, of torture, surveillance and training of state agents to commit crimes against humanity." The expropriation decree was published in July. Over the next few months, the state will determine the value of the expropriated assets, he residents and former residents of Villa Baviera have written to the Chilean president expressing their concern about the expropriation plans and asking to be involved in discussions about it. They have hired a public relations firm to handle their relations with the media and a representative of this firm accompanied the BBC on its visit to the the BBC spoke to several other inhabitants and former inhabitants of Colonia Dignidad who support the plan to create a memorial site. Georg Klaube lived in the Colonia Dignidad from 1962 – when he arrived from Germany with his parents aged two – until 2010. Like many boys in Colonia Dignidad, he says he was given electric shocks, forced to take psychotropic drugs and was sexually abused by Schäfer."Every night I was taken to a building, I was stripped naked, they would put a black towel on my face and electric shocks were applied, here, here, here," he says, pointing to his genitals, his throat, his feet and under his arms. "I think we should have a memorial because so much cruelty happened here to both Germans and Chileans. I cannot believe there is now a restaurant in the place where so many children's tears, urine and blood flowed." Mr Klaube is part of a legal action – supported by an association of former and current Colonia Dignidad inhabitants – which claims that the leaders of Villa Baviera are not sharing out the income of the former colony fairly. They want the government to ensure that when the expropriation takes place, the indemnification payment is distributed amongst all residents and former the other victims that support the expropriation plans are former political prisoners who were tortured in Colonia Dignidad, small farmers who were evicted from their land when the German colony was established and Chileans who lived locally and were sexually abused as children by Schä was arrested in 2005 and in 2006 convicted of sexually abusing 25 children, including five counts of child rape. Several of his accomplices were also convicted. Justice Minister Gajardo says it is important to ensure the horrors that happened here are not forgotten. "Atrocious crimes were committed here. Until now it has been private property. Once it is taken over by the state, Chileans will be able to enter freely and it will become a space for memory and reflection to ensure that such crimes are never committed again."
