Putumayo

Putumayo is where Plan Colombia began—and where, 24 years later, coca still dominates. The department shares 65% of Colombia's coca cultivation with Nariño and Norte de Santander, its production enabled by fertile soils, an Ecuador border for export routes, and state absence that has never been remedied. Oil arrived first, in the 1960s, spurring the Trans-Andean Pipeline and roads that opened the territory. But coca proved more profitable for smallholders, and armed groups proved more present than government.

Two parallel economies now compete. Gran Tierra Energy and other operators extract oil from blocks that mirror Ecuador's Oriente basin, where giant fields hold significant reserves. Meanwhile, armed groups—EMC dissidents and others—control coca zones, extracting rents and displacing communities. In August 2024, the government announced $18.6 million to develop legal cocoa as a coca substitute, but experts doubt such initiatives can survive weak state presence and organized crime. Women-led fishing cooperatives like ASOPPAEP offer grassroots alternatives, shifting members from coca processing to aquaculture.

By 2026, Putumayo will test whether any substitution program can outcompete coca economics. The border with Ecuador makes interdiction nearly impossible; coca's comparative advantage is geographic, not just economic. If legal alternatives like cocoa and fish farming scale and armed groups honor any peace negotiations, Putumayo could demonstrate crop transition. If not, it will remain the laboratory where U.S. drug policy has failed for a quarter century.