Book Launch - "Chemical Warfare in Colombia: The Costs of Coca Fumigation"

dublin | environment | event notice Thursday October 20, 2005 18:03 by Lara Kelly - Trocaire lkelly at trocaire dot ie Maynooth, Co. Kildare 01 629 3333

Irish book launch of "Chemical Warfare in Colombia: The Costs of Coca Fumigation"

When: Wednesday 26 Oct, from 6pm
Where: Eliz Rooms, House 6, Trinity College (Front Square)

Organised by Trocaire and the Latin America Solidarity Centre (LASC), in partnership with Trinity One World Society and the Latin America Bureau, London.

US planes are deluging Colombian soil with a powerful herbicide intended to destroy 'illicit' coca crops - the raw material of cocaine. But, as this path-breaking book of investigative journalism shows, the aerial spraying, while largely ineffective in halting coca cultivation, is damaging the health of thousands of Colombian peasants and poisoning a precious environment rich in biodiversity.

Aerial fumigation of coca is a key weapon in the US-sponsored ‘war on drugs’. Why is it happening, and who really benefits? The authors travel to the Putumayo and Bolívar departments of Colombia , where most of the spraying takes place, to talk to those most affected. A complex and disturbing story emerges, one which connects the fumigation programme to Colombian politics, US hemispheric interests, and international drugs policy. Through first-hand investigative reporting Branford and O’Shaughnessy draw a damning picture of a futile and indiscriminate chemical war, waged largely on the poor.

Authors: Hugh O'Shaughnessy and Sue Branford have long experience on reporting on Latin America for the British media, including the BBC, the Financial Times , the Observer and the Guardian .

Amanda Romero , from the American Friends Service (the Quakers), works with women's groups in Putumayo in the south of Colombia , which has been badly affected by the spraying. She has moving stories to tell of the struggles of peasant women, who are trying to bring up their families in a violent region, long affected by Colombia 's internal war and now suffering from chemical poisoning. She will speak at the launch in Dublin .