{"id":462,"date":"2020-11-02T10:56:46","date_gmt":"2020-11-02T10:56:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/?p=462"},"modified":"2023-01-30T13:34:44","modified_gmt":"2023-01-30T13:34:44","slug":"corona-hits-the-cocaine-supply-chain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/corona-hits-the-cocaine-supply-chain\/","title":{"rendered":"Corona hits the cocaine supply chain"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Covid-19 pandemic continues to represent a public health crisis as well as an unprecedented economic shock, involving simultaneous disruptions to both supply and demand across interconnected global markets. Indeed, the spread of the virus has significantly impacted almost every sector of the world’s economy. In this blog, division member Dr. Thomas Grisaffi and journalist Linda Farthing discuss how the pandemic has affected coca producers across the Andes in Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Among the many myths about the coronavirus, one of the strangest\u00a0circulated on Twitter<\/a>\u00a0is the belief that snorting cocaine could ward off the illness. But unfortunately for the would-be consumer, as travel has ground to a halt and border controls have tightened, supplies of\u00a0illicit drugs<\/a> have dropped. The coronavirus has de-stabilized the delicate balance in the Andes that the mercurial drug trade relies on. The ramifications reverberate all along cocaine\u2019s supply chain down to the 237,000 families<\/a>\u00a0in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia who depend on growing coca leaf. All three countries are currently under lockdown because of COVID-19, enforced by military and police forces. As trafficking routes shrink, in parts of Peru and Bolivia, the price of coca leaf has slumped to one third, or even one sixth, of its previous levels.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re concerned about feeding our families because the price of coca continues to drop,\u201d said Bolivian coca union leader Albino Pinto. \u201cWe face restrictions in moving coca and other goods to the central market. This is blocking both local consumption and export, but our production continues at the same level.\u201d While most of coca leaf production ends up as cocaine, coca growing complements subsistence farming and provides peasant farmers\u00a0with access to cash income<\/a>. Coca farmers live in marginal areas, characterized by limited state presence, inadequate infrastructure, and high rates of poverty. \u00a0The small share of profits they receive slows migration to cities and supports local businesses.<\/p>\n

Each of the three coca-producing countries has addressed the pandemic differently, but the consequences for farmers are comparable across the region. \u201cIllegal drugs are deeply embedded in local societies and are critical to the survival of many impoverished rural households,\u201d explains City University of New York professor Desmond Arias. However, the drop in coca prices does not necessarily mean the cocaine trade has come to a halt. \u201cWhat it actually means is that drug traffickers have become more agile in shifting routes and modifying strategies,\u201d according to Kathryn Ledebur of the Andean Information Network<\/a>. \u201cGiven the harsh reality for those who survive at the lowest rungs of the cocaine trade, pandemic control, just like drug control doesn\u2019t stop this business.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the beginning of 2020, coca leaf production stood at\u00a0a record high<\/a>\u00a0in Colombia, the region\u2019s largest grower. Since then, the Duque government has pushed \u201cmore intense and aggressive\u201d eradication of coca due to Trump administration pressure, according to the\u00a0UN Office on Humanitarian Relief<\/a>.\u00a0 Even though a strict quarantine has been in force since March 24, security forces in eradication operations often lack necessary protective equipment, adding a health threat to the economic one for local farmers.<\/p>\n

In Peru, the state drug control agency, DEVIDA, reported on April 30 that coca prices\u00a0had plummeted 46%. The fallout for local peasant farmers is devastating. \u201cAs one of the most remote and marginalized sectors in Peru,\u201d explains a Senior Fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America Coletta Youngers, \u201ccoca growers benefit from few government services and face food insecurity. This is exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.\u201d Hundreds of impoverished Peruvian farmers who migrate seasonally to the lowlands to harvest coca\u00a0walked home<\/a>\u00a0in April because they have a better chance of feeding themselves there.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernment aid reaches those in the cities, but not the poorest in the countryside,\u201d explained Upper Huallaga union leader, Seraf\u00edn Luj\u00e1n. \u201cThe price of coca in my region has fallen while in the cities, the price has risen and it\u2019s hard to find.\u201d Bolivia\u2019s interim government led by Jeanine \u00c1\u00f1ez has taken advantage of the lockdown since March 21 to continue its campaign against its political enemies.\u00a0Chief among these are<\/a> coca growers in ousted President Evo Morales\u2019 stronghold of the Chapare.<\/p>\n

The influential Interior Minister, Arturo Murillo, has threaten<\/a>ed to isolate and cut off the region, ostensibly because of the coronavirus. Murillo has\u00a0called\u00a0<\/a> \u201cthe majority of Chapare residents prisoners of coca grower union leaders and drug traffickers.\u201d Banks refused to operate in the Chapare because the police had been expelled after Morales\u2019 ouster in November 2019. This prevented residents from accessing one of the\u00a0three emergency subsidies<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0loans<\/a>\u00a0the government distributed because of COVID-19. For two weeks, no gasoline was available. According to Murillo,\u00a0<\/em>this would prevent gasoline being diverted into cocaine paste production. The cut-off killed thousands of fish at operations run by local farmers which rely on gasoline-fuelled aeration pumps.<\/p>\n

Early in the coronavirus crisis, the growers\u2019 unions, which have deep roots in the region, had distributed food to impoverished people in their region as well as in the cities of Santa Cruz and Cochabamba. Without gasoline, they could not get supplies to people in need. On April 22, an agreement allowed the police to return under the condition that banks were re-opened, and gasoline distributed.\u00a0<\/em>However,\u00a0<\/em>gasoline\u00a0is currently rationed at a level<\/a> insufficient to run the Chapare\u2019s fish farms. There are no gasoline shortages reported elsewhere in the country. Without alternative economic opportunities, the situation of Andean coca farmers will worsen.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile much remains unknown about how COVID-19 will impact drug trafficking,\u201d says Youngers, \u201cwe do know that disruptions in the supply chain will push these small farmers even deeper into poverty.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Covid-19 pandemic continues to represent a public health crisis as well as an unprecedented economic shock, involving simultaneous disruptions to both supply and demand across interconnected global markets. Indeed,…Read More ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":332,"featured_media":463,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"__cvm_playback_settings":[],"__cvm_video_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"coauthors":[15],"class_list":["post-462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-insights"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nCorona hits the cocaine supply chain - Global Development Research<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Covid-19 pandemic continues to represent a public health crisis as well as an unprecedented economic shock, involving simultaneous disruptions to both supply and demand across interconnected global markets. Indeed, the spread of the virus has significantly impacted almost every sector of the world's economy. In this blog, division member Dr. Thomas Grisaffi and journalist Linda Farthing discuss how the pandemic has affected coca producers across the Andes in Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia.Among the many myths about the coronavirus, one of the strangest\u00a0circulated on Twitter\u00a0is the belief that snorting cocaine could ward off the illness. But unfortunately for the would-be consumer, as travel has ground to a halt and border controls have tightened, supplies of\u00a0illicit drugs have dropped. The coronavirus has de-stabilized the delicate balance in the Andes that the mercurial drug trade relies on. The ramifications reverberate all along cocaine\u2019s supply chain down to the 237,000 families\u00a0in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia who depend on growing coca leaf. All three countries are currently under lockdown because of COVID-19, enforced by military and police forces. As trafficking routes shrink, in parts of Peru and Bolivia, the price of coca leaf has slumped to one third, or even one sixth, of its previous levels.\u201cWe\u2019re concerned about feeding our families because the price of coca continues to drop,\u201d said Bolivian coca union leader Albino Pinto. \u201cWe face restrictions in moving coca and other goods to the central market. This is blocking both local consumption and export, but our production continues at the same level.\u201d While most of coca leaf production ends up as cocaine, coca growing complements subsistence farming and provides peasant farmers\u00a0with access to cash income. Coca farmers live in marginal areas, characterized by limited state presence, inadequate infrastructure, and high rates of poverty. \u00a0The small share of profits they receive slows migration to cities and supports local businesses.Each of the three coca-producing countries has addressed the pandemic differently, but the consequences for farmers are comparable across the region. \u201cIllegal drugs are deeply embedded in local societies and are critical to the survival of many impoverished rural households,\u201d explains City University of New York professor Desmond Arias. However, the drop in coca prices does not necessarily mean the cocaine trade has come to a halt. \u201cWhat it actually means is that drug traffickers have become more agile in shifting routes and modifying strategies,\u201d according to Kathryn Ledebur of the Andean Information Network. \u201cGiven the harsh reality for those who survive at the lowest rungs of the cocaine trade, pandemic control, just like drug control doesn\u2019t stop this business.\u201dAt the beginning of 2020, coca leaf production stood at\u00a0a record high\u00a0in Colombia, the region\u2019s largest grower. Since then, the Duque government has pushed \u201cmore intense and aggressive\u201d eradication of coca due to Trump administration pressure, according to the\u00a0UN Office on Humanitarian Relief.\u00a0 Even though a strict quarantine has been in force since March 24, security forces in eradication operations often lack necessary protective equipment, adding a health threat to the economic one for local farmers.In Peru, the state drug control agency, DEVIDA, reported on April 30 that coca prices\u00a0had plummeted 46%. The fallout for local peasant farmers is devastating. \u201cAs one of the most remote and marginalized sectors in Peru,\u201d explains a Senior Fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America Coletta Youngers, \u201ccoca growers benefit from few government services and face food insecurity. This is exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.\u201d Hundreds of impoverished Peruvian farmers who migrate seasonally to the lowlands to harvest coca\u00a0walked home\u00a0in April because they have a better chance of feeding themselves there.\u201cGovernment aid reaches those in the cities, but not the poorest in the countryside,\u201d explained Upper Huallaga union leader, Seraf\u00edn Luj\u00e1n. \u201cThe price of coca in my region has fallen while in the cities, the price has risen and it\u2019s hard to find.\u201d Bolivia\u2019s interim government led by Jeanine \u00c1\u00f1ez has taken advantage of the lockdown since March 21 to continue its campaign against its political enemies.\u00a0Chief among these are coca growers in ousted President Evo Morales\u2019 stronghold of the Chapare.The influential Interior Minister, Arturo Murillo, has threatened to isolate and cut off the region, ostensibly because of the coronavirus. Murillo has\u00a0called\u00a0 \u201cthe majority of Chapare residents prisoners of coca grower union leaders and drug traffickers.\u201d Banks refused to operate in the Chapare because the police had been expelled after Morales\u2019 ouster in November 2019. This prevented residents from accessing one of the\u00a0three emergency subsidies\u00a0and\u00a0loans\u00a0the government distributed because of COVID-19. For two weeks, no gasoline was available. According to Murillo,\u00a0this would prevent gasoline being diverted into cocaine paste production. The cut-off killed thousands of fish at operations run by local farmers which rely on gasoline-fuelled aeration pumps.Early in the coronavirus crisis, the growers\u2019 unions, which have deep roots in the region, had distributed food to impoverished people in their region as well as in the cities of Santa Cruz and Cochabamba. Without gasoline, they could not get supplies to people in need. On April 22, an agreement allowed the police to return under the condition that banks were re-opened, and gasoline distributed.\u00a0However,\u00a0gasoline\u00a0is currently rationed at a level insufficient to run the Chapare\u2019s fish farms. There are no gasoline shortages reported elsewhere in the country. Without alternative economic opportunities, the situation of Andean coca farmers will worsen.\u201cWhile much remains unknown about how COVID-19 will impact drug trafficking,\u201d says Youngers, \u201cwe do know that disruptions in the supply chain will push these small farmers even deeper into poverty.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/corona-hits-the-cocaine-supply-chain\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Corona hits the cocaine supply chain - Global Development Research\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Covid-19 pandemic continues to represent a public health crisis as well as an unprecedented economic shock, involving simultaneous disruptions to both supply and demand across interconnected global markets. Indeed, the spread of the virus has significantly impacted almost every sector of the world's economy. In this blog, division member Dr. Thomas Grisaffi and journalist Linda Farthing discuss how the pandemic has affected coca producers across the Andes in Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia.Among the many myths about the coronavirus, one of the strangest\u00a0circulated on Twitter\u00a0is the belief that snorting cocaine could ward off the illness. But unfortunately for the would-be consumer, as travel has ground to a halt and border controls have tightened, supplies of\u00a0illicit drugs have dropped. The coronavirus has de-stabilized the delicate balance in the Andes that the mercurial drug trade relies on. The ramifications reverberate all along cocaine\u2019s supply chain down to the 237,000 families\u00a0in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia who depend on growing coca leaf. All three countries are currently under lockdown because of COVID-19, enforced by military and police forces. As trafficking routes shrink, in parts of Peru and Bolivia, the price of coca leaf has slumped to one third, or even one sixth, of its previous levels.\u201cWe\u2019re concerned about feeding our families because the price of coca continues to drop,\u201d said Bolivian coca union leader Albino Pinto. \u201cWe face restrictions in moving coca and other goods to the central market. This is blocking both local consumption and export, but our production continues at the same level.\u201d While most of coca leaf production ends up as cocaine, coca growing complements subsistence farming and provides peasant farmers\u00a0with access to cash income. Coca farmers live in marginal areas, characterized by limited state presence, inadequate infrastructure, and high rates of poverty. \u00a0The small share of profits they receive slows migration to cities and supports local businesses.Each of the three coca-producing countries has addressed the pandemic differently, but the consequences for farmers are comparable across the region. \u201cIllegal drugs are deeply embedded in local societies and are critical to the survival of many impoverished rural households,\u201d explains City University of New York professor Desmond Arias. However, the drop in coca prices does not necessarily mean the cocaine trade has come to a halt. \u201cWhat it actually means is that drug traffickers have become more agile in shifting routes and modifying strategies,\u201d according to Kathryn Ledebur of the Andean Information Network. \u201cGiven the harsh reality for those who survive at the lowest rungs of the cocaine trade, pandemic control, just like drug control doesn\u2019t stop this business.\u201dAt the beginning of 2020, coca leaf production stood at\u00a0a record high\u00a0in Colombia, the region\u2019s largest grower. Since then, the Duque government has pushed \u201cmore intense and aggressive\u201d eradication of coca due to Trump administration pressure, according to the\u00a0UN Office on Humanitarian Relief.\u00a0 Even though a strict quarantine has been in force since March 24, security forces in eradication operations often lack necessary protective equipment, adding a health threat to the economic one for local farmers.In Peru, the state drug control agency, DEVIDA, reported on April 30 that coca prices\u00a0had plummeted 46%. The fallout for local peasant farmers is devastating. \u201cAs one of the most remote and marginalized sectors in Peru,\u201d explains a Senior Fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America Coletta Youngers, \u201ccoca growers benefit from few government services and face food insecurity. This is exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.\u201d Hundreds of impoverished Peruvian farmers who migrate seasonally to the lowlands to harvest coca\u00a0walked home\u00a0in April because they have a better chance of feeding themselves there.\u201cGovernment aid reaches those in the cities, but not the poorest in the countryside,\u201d explained Upper Huallaga union leader, Seraf\u00edn Luj\u00e1n. \u201cThe price of coca in my region has fallen while in the cities, the price has risen and it\u2019s hard to find.\u201d Bolivia\u2019s interim government led by Jeanine \u00c1\u00f1ez has taken advantage of the lockdown since March 21 to continue its campaign against its political enemies.\u00a0Chief among these are coca growers in ousted President Evo Morales\u2019 stronghold of the Chapare.The influential Interior Minister, Arturo Murillo, has threatened to isolate and cut off the region, ostensibly because of the coronavirus. Murillo has\u00a0called\u00a0 \u201cthe majority of Chapare residents prisoners of coca grower union leaders and drug traffickers.\u201d Banks refused to operate in the Chapare because the police had been expelled after Morales\u2019 ouster in November 2019. This prevented residents from accessing one of the\u00a0three emergency subsidies\u00a0and\u00a0loans\u00a0the government distributed because of COVID-19. For two weeks, no gasoline was available. According to Murillo,\u00a0this would prevent gasoline being diverted into cocaine paste production. The cut-off killed thousands of fish at operations run by local farmers which rely on gasoline-fuelled aeration pumps.Early in the coronavirus crisis, the growers\u2019 unions, which have deep roots in the region, had distributed food to impoverished people in their region as well as in the cities of Santa Cruz and Cochabamba. Without gasoline, they could not get supplies to people in need. On April 22, an agreement allowed the police to return under the condition that banks were re-opened, and gasoline distributed.\u00a0However,\u00a0gasoline\u00a0is currently rationed at a level insufficient to run the Chapare\u2019s fish farms. There are no gasoline shortages reported elsewhere in the country. Without alternative economic opportunities, the situation of Andean coca farmers will worsen.\u201cWhile much remains unknown about how COVID-19 will impact drug trafficking,\u201d says Youngers, \u201cwe do know that disruptions in the supply chain will push these small farmers even deeper into poverty.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/corona-hits-the-cocaine-supply-chain\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Global Development Research\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-11-02T10:56:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-01-30T13:34:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/161\/2020\/11\/coca.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sophie De Pauw\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sophie De Pauw\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/corona-hits-the-cocaine-supply-chain\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/corona-hits-the-cocaine-supply-chain\/\",\"name\":\"Corona hits the cocaine supply chain - Global Development Research\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-11-02T10:56:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-30T13:34:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/#\/schema\/person\/bb243750a79bf9517b5bd682d4cd2b04\"},\"description\":\"The Covid-19 pandemic continues to represent a public health crisis as well as an unprecedented economic shock, involving simultaneous disruptions to both supply and demand across interconnected global markets. Indeed, the spread of the virus has significantly impacted almost every sector of the world's economy. In this blog, division member Dr. Thomas Grisaffi and journalist Linda Farthing discuss how the pandemic has affected coca producers across the Andes in Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia.Among the many myths about the coronavirus, one of the strangest\u00a0circulated on Twitter\u00a0is the belief that snorting cocaine could ward off the illness. But unfortunately for the would-be consumer, as travel has ground to a halt and border controls have tightened, supplies of\u00a0illicit drugs have dropped. The coronavirus has de-stabilized the delicate balance in the Andes that the mercurial drug trade relies on. The ramifications reverberate all along cocaine\u2019s supply chain down to the 237,000 families\u00a0in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia who depend on growing coca leaf. All three countries are currently under lockdown because of COVID-19, enforced by military and police forces. As trafficking routes shrink, in parts of Peru and Bolivia, the price of coca leaf has slumped to one third, or even one sixth, of its previous levels.\u201cWe\u2019re concerned about feeding our families because the price of coca continues to drop,\u201d said Bolivian coca union leader Albino Pinto. \u201cWe face restrictions in moving coca and other goods to the central market. This is blocking both local consumption and export, but our production continues at the same level.\u201d While most of coca leaf production ends up as cocaine, coca growing complements subsistence farming and provides peasant farmers\u00a0with access to cash income. Coca farmers live in marginal areas, characterized by limited state presence, inadequate infrastructure, and high rates of poverty. \u00a0The small share of profits they receive slows migration to cities and supports local businesses.Each of the three coca-producing countries has addressed the pandemic differently, but the consequences for farmers are comparable across the region. \u201cIllegal drugs are deeply embedded in local societies and are critical to the survival of many impoverished rural households,\u201d explains City University of New York professor Desmond Arias. However, the drop in coca prices does not necessarily mean the cocaine trade has come to a halt. \u201cWhat it actually means is that drug traffickers have become more agile in shifting routes and modifying strategies,\u201d according to Kathryn Ledebur of the Andean Information Network. \u201cGiven the harsh reality for those who survive at the lowest rungs of the cocaine trade, pandemic control, just like drug control doesn\u2019t stop this business.\u201dAt the beginning of 2020, coca leaf production stood at\u00a0a record high\u00a0in Colombia, the region\u2019s largest grower. Since then, the Duque government has pushed \u201cmore intense and aggressive\u201d eradication of coca due to Trump administration pressure, according to the\u00a0UN Office on Humanitarian Relief.\u00a0 Even though a strict quarantine has been in force since March 24, security forces in eradication operations often lack necessary protective equipment, adding a health threat to the economic one for local farmers.In Peru, the state drug control agency, DEVIDA, reported on April 30 that coca prices\u00a0had plummeted 46%. The fallout for local peasant farmers is devastating. \u201cAs one of the most remote and marginalized sectors in Peru,\u201d explains a Senior Fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America Coletta Youngers, \u201ccoca growers benefit from few government services and face food insecurity. This is exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.\u201d Hundreds of impoverished Peruvian farmers who migrate seasonally to the lowlands to harvest coca\u00a0walked home\u00a0in April because they have a better chance of feeding themselves there.\u201cGovernment aid reaches those in the cities, but not the poorest in the countryside,\u201d explained Upper Huallaga union leader, Seraf\u00edn Luj\u00e1n. \u201cThe price of coca in my region has fallen while in the cities, the price has risen and it\u2019s hard to find.\u201d Bolivia\u2019s interim government led by Jeanine \u00c1\u00f1ez has taken advantage of the lockdown since March 21 to continue its campaign against its political enemies.\u00a0Chief among these are coca growers in ousted President Evo Morales\u2019 stronghold of the Chapare.The influential Interior Minister, Arturo Murillo, has threatened to isolate and cut off the region, ostensibly because of the coronavirus. Murillo has\u00a0called\u00a0 \u201cthe majority of Chapare residents prisoners of coca grower union leaders and drug traffickers.\u201d Banks refused to operate in the Chapare because the police had been expelled after Morales\u2019 ouster in November 2019. This prevented residents from accessing one of the\u00a0three emergency subsidies\u00a0and\u00a0loans\u00a0the government distributed because of COVID-19. For two weeks, no gasoline was available. According to Murillo,\u00a0this would prevent gasoline being diverted into cocaine paste production. The cut-off killed thousands of fish at operations run by local farmers which rely on gasoline-fuelled aeration pumps.Early in the coronavirus crisis, the growers\u2019 unions, which have deep roots in the region, had distributed food to impoverished people in their region as well as in the cities of Santa Cruz and Cochabamba. Without gasoline, they could not get supplies to people in need. On April 22, an agreement allowed the police to return under the condition that banks were re-opened, and gasoline distributed.\u00a0However,\u00a0gasoline\u00a0is currently rationed at a level insufficient to run the Chapare\u2019s fish farms. There are no gasoline shortages reported elsewhere in the country. Without alternative economic opportunities, the situation of Andean coca farmers will worsen.\u201cWhile much remains unknown about how COVID-19 will impact drug trafficking,\u201d says Youngers, \u201cwe do know that disruptions in the supply chain will push these small farmers even deeper into poverty.\u201d\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/corona-hits-the-cocaine-supply-chain\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/corona-hits-the-cocaine-supply-chain\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/corona-hits-the-cocaine-supply-chain\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Corona hits the cocaine supply chain\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/\",\"name\":\"Global Development Research\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/#\/schema\/person\/bb243750a79bf9517b5bd682d4cd2b04\",\"name\":\"Sophie De Pauw\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/e176bdd6ad59b2c6e339500e3f72ebab\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba193b349f6b355516e0f574f709c24bbc5714de27555448a0e1df96e760448d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba193b349f6b355516e0f574f709c24bbc5714de27555448a0e1df96e760448d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sophie De Pauw\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/author\/gh811142student-reading-ac-uk\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Corona hits the cocaine supply chain - Global Development Research","description":"The Covid-19 pandemic continues to represent a public health crisis as well as an unprecedented economic shock, involving simultaneous disruptions to both supply and demand across interconnected global markets. Indeed, the spread of the virus has significantly impacted almost every sector of the world's economy. In this blog, division member Dr. Thomas Grisaffi and journalist Linda Farthing discuss how the pandemic has affected coca producers across the Andes in Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia.Among the many myths about the coronavirus, one of the strangest\u00a0circulated on Twitter\u00a0is the belief that snorting cocaine could ward off the illness. But unfortunately for the would-be consumer, as travel has ground to a halt and border controls have tightened, supplies of\u00a0illicit drugs have dropped. The coronavirus has de-stabilized the delicate balance in the Andes that the mercurial drug trade relies on. The ramifications reverberate all along cocaine\u2019s supply chain down to the 237,000 families\u00a0in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia who depend on growing coca leaf. All three countries are currently under lockdown because of COVID-19, enforced by military and police forces. As trafficking routes shrink, in parts of Peru and Bolivia, the price of coca leaf has slumped to one third, or even one sixth, of its previous levels.\u201cWe\u2019re concerned about feeding our families because the price of coca continues to drop,\u201d said Bolivian coca union leader Albino Pinto. \u201cWe face restrictions in moving coca and other goods to the central market. This is blocking both local consumption and export, but our production continues at the same level.\u201d While most of coca leaf production ends up as cocaine, coca growing complements subsistence farming and provides peasant farmers\u00a0with access to cash income. Coca farmers live in marginal areas, characterized by limited state presence, inadequate infrastructure, and high rates of poverty. \u00a0The small share of profits they receive slows migration to cities and supports local businesses.Each of the three coca-producing countries has addressed the pandemic differently, but the consequences for farmers are comparable across the region. \u201cIllegal drugs are deeply embedded in local societies and are critical to the survival of many impoverished rural households,\u201d explains City University of New York professor Desmond Arias. However, the drop in coca prices does not necessarily mean the cocaine trade has come to a halt. \u201cWhat it actually means is that drug traffickers have become more agile in shifting routes and modifying strategies,\u201d according to Kathryn Ledebur of the Andean Information Network. \u201cGiven the harsh reality for those who survive at the lowest rungs of the cocaine trade, pandemic control, just like drug control doesn\u2019t stop this business.\u201dAt the beginning of 2020, coca leaf production stood at\u00a0a record high\u00a0in Colombia, the region\u2019s largest grower. Since then, the Duque government has pushed \u201cmore intense and aggressive\u201d eradication of coca due to Trump administration pressure, according to the\u00a0UN Office on Humanitarian Relief.\u00a0 Even though a strict quarantine has been in force since March 24, security forces in eradication operations often lack necessary protective equipment, adding a health threat to the economic one for local farmers.In Peru, the state drug control agency, DEVIDA, reported on April 30 that coca prices\u00a0had plummeted 46%. The fallout for local peasant farmers is devastating. \u201cAs one of the most remote and marginalized sectors in Peru,\u201d explains a Senior Fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America Coletta Youngers, \u201ccoca growers benefit from few government services and face food insecurity. This is exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.\u201d Hundreds of impoverished Peruvian farmers who migrate seasonally to the lowlands to harvest coca\u00a0walked home\u00a0in April because they have a better chance of feeding themselves there.\u201cGovernment aid reaches those in the cities, but not the poorest in the countryside,\u201d explained Upper Huallaga union leader, Seraf\u00edn Luj\u00e1n. \u201cThe price of coca in my region has fallen while in the cities, the price has risen and it\u2019s hard to find.\u201d Bolivia\u2019s interim government led by Jeanine \u00c1\u00f1ez has taken advantage of the lockdown since March 21 to continue its campaign against its political enemies.\u00a0Chief among these are coca growers in ousted President Evo Morales\u2019 stronghold of the Chapare.The influential Interior Minister, Arturo Murillo, has threatened to isolate and cut off the region, ostensibly because of the coronavirus. Murillo has\u00a0called\u00a0 \u201cthe majority of Chapare residents prisoners of coca grower union leaders and drug traffickers.\u201d Banks refused to operate in the Chapare because the police had been expelled after Morales\u2019 ouster in November 2019. This prevented residents from accessing one of the\u00a0three emergency subsidies\u00a0and\u00a0loans\u00a0the government distributed because of COVID-19. For two weeks, no gasoline was available. According to Murillo,\u00a0this would prevent gasoline being diverted into cocaine paste production. The cut-off killed thousands of fish at operations run by local farmers which rely on gasoline-fuelled aeration pumps.Early in the coronavirus crisis, the growers\u2019 unions, which have deep roots in the region, had distributed food to impoverished people in their region as well as in the cities of Santa Cruz and Cochabamba. Without gasoline, they could not get supplies to people in need. On April 22, an agreement allowed the police to return under the condition that banks were re-opened, and gasoline distributed.\u00a0However,\u00a0gasoline\u00a0is currently rationed at a level insufficient to run the Chapare\u2019s fish farms. There are no gasoline shortages reported elsewhere in the country. Without alternative economic opportunities, the situation of Andean coca farmers will worsen.\u201cWhile much remains unknown about how COVID-19 will impact drug trafficking,\u201d says Youngers, \u201cwe do know that disruptions in the supply chain will push these small farmers even deeper into poverty.\u201d","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/corona-hits-the-cocaine-supply-chain\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Corona hits the cocaine supply chain - Global Development Research","og_description":"The Covid-19 pandemic continues to represent a public health crisis as well as an unprecedented economic shock, involving simultaneous disruptions to both supply and demand across interconnected global markets. Indeed, the spread of the virus has significantly impacted almost every sector of the world's economy. In this blog, division member Dr. Thomas Grisaffi and journalist Linda Farthing discuss how the pandemic has affected coca producers across the Andes in Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia.Among the many myths about the coronavirus, one of the strangest\u00a0circulated on Twitter\u00a0is the belief that snorting cocaine could ward off the illness. But unfortunately for the would-be consumer, as travel has ground to a halt and border controls have tightened, supplies of\u00a0illicit drugs have dropped. The coronavirus has de-stabilized the delicate balance in the Andes that the mercurial drug trade relies on. The ramifications reverberate all along cocaine\u2019s supply chain down to the 237,000 families\u00a0in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia who depend on growing coca leaf. All three countries are currently under lockdown because of COVID-19, enforced by military and police forces. As trafficking routes shrink, in parts of Peru and Bolivia, the price of coca leaf has slumped to one third, or even one sixth, of its previous levels.\u201cWe\u2019re concerned about feeding our families because the price of coca continues to drop,\u201d said Bolivian coca union leader Albino Pinto. \u201cWe face restrictions in moving coca and other goods to the central market. This is blocking both local consumption and export, but our production continues at the same level.\u201d While most of coca leaf production ends up as cocaine, coca growing complements subsistence farming and provides peasant farmers\u00a0with access to cash income. Coca farmers live in marginal areas, characterized by limited state presence, inadequate infrastructure, and high rates of poverty. \u00a0The small share of profits they receive slows migration to cities and supports local businesses.Each of the three coca-producing countries has addressed the pandemic differently, but the consequences for farmers are comparable across the region. \u201cIllegal drugs are deeply embedded in local societies and are critical to the survival of many impoverished rural households,\u201d explains City University of New York professor Desmond Arias. However, the drop in coca prices does not necessarily mean the cocaine trade has come to a halt. \u201cWhat it actually means is that drug traffickers have become more agile in shifting routes and modifying strategies,\u201d according to Kathryn Ledebur of the Andean Information Network. \u201cGiven the harsh reality for those who survive at the lowest rungs of the cocaine trade, pandemic control, just like drug control doesn\u2019t stop this business.\u201dAt the beginning of 2020, coca leaf production stood at\u00a0a record high\u00a0in Colombia, the region\u2019s largest grower. Since then, the Duque government has pushed \u201cmore intense and aggressive\u201d eradication of coca due to Trump administration pressure, according to the\u00a0UN Office on Humanitarian Relief.\u00a0 Even though a strict quarantine has been in force since March 24, security forces in eradication operations often lack necessary protective equipment, adding a health threat to the economic one for local farmers.In Peru, the state drug control agency, DEVIDA, reported on April 30 that coca prices\u00a0had plummeted 46%. The fallout for local peasant farmers is devastating. \u201cAs one of the most remote and marginalized sectors in Peru,\u201d explains a Senior Fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America Coletta Youngers, \u201ccoca growers benefit from few government services and face food insecurity. This is exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.\u201d Hundreds of impoverished Peruvian farmers who migrate seasonally to the lowlands to harvest coca\u00a0walked home\u00a0in April because they have a better chance of feeding themselves there.\u201cGovernment aid reaches those in the cities, but not the poorest in the countryside,\u201d explained Upper Huallaga union leader, Seraf\u00edn Luj\u00e1n. \u201cThe price of coca in my region has fallen while in the cities, the price has risen and it\u2019s hard to find.\u201d Bolivia\u2019s interim government led by Jeanine \u00c1\u00f1ez has taken advantage of the lockdown since March 21 to continue its campaign against its political enemies.\u00a0Chief among these are coca growers in ousted President Evo Morales\u2019 stronghold of the Chapare.The influential Interior Minister, Arturo Murillo, has threatened to isolate and cut off the region, ostensibly because of the coronavirus. Murillo has\u00a0called\u00a0 \u201cthe majority of Chapare residents prisoners of coca grower union leaders and drug traffickers.\u201d Banks refused to operate in the Chapare because the police had been expelled after Morales\u2019 ouster in November 2019. This prevented residents from accessing one of the\u00a0three emergency subsidies\u00a0and\u00a0loans\u00a0the government distributed because of COVID-19. For two weeks, no gasoline was available. According to Murillo,\u00a0this would prevent gasoline being diverted into cocaine paste production. The cut-off killed thousands of fish at operations run by local farmers which rely on gasoline-fuelled aeration pumps.Early in the coronavirus crisis, the growers\u2019 unions, which have deep roots in the region, had distributed food to impoverished people in their region as well as in the cities of Santa Cruz and Cochabamba. Without gasoline, they could not get supplies to people in need. On April 22, an agreement allowed the police to return under the condition that banks were re-opened, and gasoline distributed.\u00a0However,\u00a0gasoline\u00a0is currently rationed at a level insufficient to run the Chapare\u2019s fish farms. There are no gasoline shortages reported elsewhere in the country. Without alternative economic opportunities, the situation of Andean coca farmers will worsen.\u201cWhile much remains unknown about how COVID-19 will impact drug trafficking,\u201d says Youngers, \u201cwe do know that disruptions in the supply chain will push these small farmers even deeper into poverty.\u201d","og_url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/corona-hits-the-cocaine-supply-chain\/","og_site_name":"Global Development Research","article_published_time":"2020-11-02T10:56:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-01-30T13:34:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":768,"url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/161\/2020\/11\/coca.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Sophie De Pauw","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sophie De Pauw","Estimated reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/corona-hits-the-cocaine-supply-chain\/","url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/corona-hits-the-cocaine-supply-chain\/","name":"Corona hits the cocaine supply chain - Global Development Research","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-11-02T10:56:46+00:00","dateModified":"2023-01-30T13:34:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/#\/schema\/person\/bb243750a79bf9517b5bd682d4cd2b04"},"description":"The Covid-19 pandemic continues to represent a public health crisis as well as an unprecedented economic shock, involving simultaneous disruptions to both supply and demand across interconnected global markets. Indeed, the spread of the virus has significantly impacted almost every sector of the world's economy. In this blog, division member Dr. Thomas Grisaffi and journalist Linda Farthing discuss how the pandemic has affected coca producers across the Andes in Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia.Among the many myths about the coronavirus, one of the strangest\u00a0circulated on Twitter\u00a0is the belief that snorting cocaine could ward off the illness. But unfortunately for the would-be consumer, as travel has ground to a halt and border controls have tightened, supplies of\u00a0illicit drugs have dropped. The coronavirus has de-stabilized the delicate balance in the Andes that the mercurial drug trade relies on. The ramifications reverberate all along cocaine\u2019s supply chain down to the 237,000 families\u00a0in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia who depend on growing coca leaf. All three countries are currently under lockdown because of COVID-19, enforced by military and police forces. As trafficking routes shrink, in parts of Peru and Bolivia, the price of coca leaf has slumped to one third, or even one sixth, of its previous levels.\u201cWe\u2019re concerned about feeding our families because the price of coca continues to drop,\u201d said Bolivian coca union leader Albino Pinto. \u201cWe face restrictions in moving coca and other goods to the central market. This is blocking both local consumption and export, but our production continues at the same level.\u201d While most of coca leaf production ends up as cocaine, coca growing complements subsistence farming and provides peasant farmers\u00a0with access to cash income. Coca farmers live in marginal areas, characterized by limited state presence, inadequate infrastructure, and high rates of poverty. \u00a0The small share of profits they receive slows migration to cities and supports local businesses.Each of the three coca-producing countries has addressed the pandemic differently, but the consequences for farmers are comparable across the region. \u201cIllegal drugs are deeply embedded in local societies and are critical to the survival of many impoverished rural households,\u201d explains City University of New York professor Desmond Arias. However, the drop in coca prices does not necessarily mean the cocaine trade has come to a halt. \u201cWhat it actually means is that drug traffickers have become more agile in shifting routes and modifying strategies,\u201d according to Kathryn Ledebur of the Andean Information Network. \u201cGiven the harsh reality for those who survive at the lowest rungs of the cocaine trade, pandemic control, just like drug control doesn\u2019t stop this business.\u201dAt the beginning of 2020, coca leaf production stood at\u00a0a record high\u00a0in Colombia, the region\u2019s largest grower. Since then, the Duque government has pushed \u201cmore intense and aggressive\u201d eradication of coca due to Trump administration pressure, according to the\u00a0UN Office on Humanitarian Relief.\u00a0 Even though a strict quarantine has been in force since March 24, security forces in eradication operations often lack necessary protective equipment, adding a health threat to the economic one for local farmers.In Peru, the state drug control agency, DEVIDA, reported on April 30 that coca prices\u00a0had plummeted 46%. The fallout for local peasant farmers is devastating. \u201cAs one of the most remote and marginalized sectors in Peru,\u201d explains a Senior Fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America Coletta Youngers, \u201ccoca growers benefit from few government services and face food insecurity. This is exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.\u201d Hundreds of impoverished Peruvian farmers who migrate seasonally to the lowlands to harvest coca\u00a0walked home\u00a0in April because they have a better chance of feeding themselves there.\u201cGovernment aid reaches those in the cities, but not the poorest in the countryside,\u201d explained Upper Huallaga union leader, Seraf\u00edn Luj\u00e1n. \u201cThe price of coca in my region has fallen while in the cities, the price has risen and it\u2019s hard to find.\u201d Bolivia\u2019s interim government led by Jeanine \u00c1\u00f1ez has taken advantage of the lockdown since March 21 to continue its campaign against its political enemies.\u00a0Chief among these are coca growers in ousted President Evo Morales\u2019 stronghold of the Chapare.The influential Interior Minister, Arturo Murillo, has threatened to isolate and cut off the region, ostensibly because of the coronavirus. Murillo has\u00a0called\u00a0 \u201cthe majority of Chapare residents prisoners of coca grower union leaders and drug traffickers.\u201d Banks refused to operate in the Chapare because the police had been expelled after Morales\u2019 ouster in November 2019. This prevented residents from accessing one of the\u00a0three emergency subsidies\u00a0and\u00a0loans\u00a0the government distributed because of COVID-19. For two weeks, no gasoline was available. According to Murillo,\u00a0this would prevent gasoline being diverted into cocaine paste production. The cut-off killed thousands of fish at operations run by local farmers which rely on gasoline-fuelled aeration pumps.Early in the coronavirus crisis, the growers\u2019 unions, which have deep roots in the region, had distributed food to impoverished people in their region as well as in the cities of Santa Cruz and Cochabamba. Without gasoline, they could not get supplies to people in need. On April 22, an agreement allowed the police to return under the condition that banks were re-opened, and gasoline distributed.\u00a0However,\u00a0gasoline\u00a0is currently rationed at a level insufficient to run the Chapare\u2019s fish farms. There are no gasoline shortages reported elsewhere in the country. Without alternative economic opportunities, the situation of Andean coca farmers will worsen.\u201cWhile much remains unknown about how COVID-19 will impact drug trafficking,\u201d says Youngers, \u201cwe do know that disruptions in the supply chain will push these small farmers even deeper into poverty.\u201d","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/corona-hits-the-cocaine-supply-chain\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/corona-hits-the-cocaine-supply-chain\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/corona-hits-the-cocaine-supply-chain\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Corona hits the cocaine supply chain"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/#website","url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/","name":"Global Development Research","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/#\/schema\/person\/bb243750a79bf9517b5bd682d4cd2b04","name":"Sophie De Pauw","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/e176bdd6ad59b2c6e339500e3f72ebab","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba193b349f6b355516e0f574f709c24bbc5714de27555448a0e1df96e760448d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba193b349f6b355516e0f574f709c24bbc5714de27555448a0e1df96e760448d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sophie De Pauw"},"url":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/author\/gh811142student-reading-ac-uk\/"}]}},"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/332"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1091,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462\/revisions\/1091"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/global-development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}