Colombia appoints Diego Molano as defense minister

Experienced official Diego Molano has been named as Colombia's new defense minister, President Ivan Duque said on Tuesday, and will face challenges including restarting aerial fumigation of coca crops and improving security.

Experienced official Diego Molano has been named as Colombia's new defense minister, President Ivan Duque said on Tuesday, and will face challenges including restarting aerial fumigation of coca crops and improving security. Molano, 50, who most recently worked as director of Duque's administrative department, replaces Carlos Holmes Trujillo, who died last month as a result of viral pneumonia related to COVID-19.

The first challenge awaiting him will be restarting aerial spraying of coca crops - the chief ingredient of cocaine - with the herbicide glyphosate. "We will concentrate our efforts in continuing and accelerating the fight against drug trafficking," Molano said during an announcement with Duque broadcast on social media. "We will continue eradication, deepening aspersion with precision."

Coca and cocaine production are a source of funding for illegal armed groups which the government holds largely responsible for the killings of human rights activists in the Andean country. Molano will coordinate operations by the military and national police against leftist-guerrilla group the National Liberation Army, dissidents from the demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels who reject a 2016 peace deal and criminal gangs such as Clan del Golfo.

He will also be tasked with leading Colombia's fight against illicit mining and improving security in cities. The South American country, considered the world's largest producer of cocaine, suspended aerial spraying of coca crops in 2015, after the World Health Organization warned glyphosate could cause cancer and damage the environment.

The Duque government must meet various health and environmental requirements demanded by the Constitutional Court to re-start the aerial spraying campaigns.