MIAMI—Colombian officials are working to eliminate the nation’s illicit cocaine trade and replace it with chocolate.
“We say to the world, ‘please buy cocoa, not coca,’” Defense Minister Pedro Arnulfo Sanchez told The Daily Signal at the Miami Security Forum.
Thousands of acres of farmland in Colombia have been converted from growing coca crops, the plant used to produce cocaine, to planting cocoa trees.
Colombia is the world’s largest supplier of cocaine. Because so many people are dependent upon the cocaine economy, it is “necessary to change the economy, to replace the economy” rather than shutting it down, he said.
The drug crisis requires a “comprehensive” strategy, according to Sanchez, which includes “fighting the terrorist groups,” referring to the criminal drug cartels.
On average, Colombian authorities are engaged in a “combat” situation against the cartels every 20 hours, and the South American nation is destroying cocaine-related infrastructure every 40 minutes, the defense minister said.
“We have a strong relationship in terms of security with the United States, but I think that it is necessary to move faster” to combat the cartels, Sanchez said.
Cocaine production has increased in recent years in Colombia, with production capacity more than doubling, Australia’s Charles Sturt University reported in 2025.
President Donald Trump met with Colombian President Gustavo Petro at the White House in early February, and the two leaders discussed counternarcotics. Sanchez was present during the meeting and said the two parties concluded that it is “necessary to join more closely to defeat a common enemy.”
Cocaine remains one of the most popular drugs for smuggling into the United States, behind methamphetamine and marijuana, according to Customs and Border Protection. In fiscal year 2025, CBP said it apprehended more than 70,000 pounds of cocaine, up from about 68,000 in 2024.
Drug overdose deaths, primarily involving stimulants like cocaine and psychostimulants, “have increased substantially in the United States since 2011,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports. “The number of overdose deaths involving cocaine increased from 4,681 in 2011 to 29,449 in 2023.”
The Trump administration has taken an aggressive approach to combating the illegal drug trade, including striking alleged drug boats in the Pacific and Caribbean, some of which have reportedly been Colombian drug boats.
Colombia shares intelligence with the U.S. and other Caribbean nations for drug interdiction, Sanchez explained. Trump has said to “move” to defeat the criminal drug cartels, the defense minister said, and Colombia is “ready to do that.”
