Entre castigar y proteger: tensiones del discurso y la aproximación a la problemática de los cultivos de uso ilícito

The Colombian State has adopted a dual strategy towards coca crops: on one hand, it maintains a punitive approach that criminalizes small growers, and, on the other hand, it implements alternatives to promote the development of communities affected by drug trafficking, acknowledging their vulnerability. This tension in the state discourse is reflected in the various programs that have addressed the presence of coca crops in the country: while offering substitution alternatives, they simultaneously criminally prosecute the small farmers involved. The National Comprehensive Programme for the Substitution of Crops Used for Illicit Purposes seemed to offer relief when the national government committed to establishing special judicial treatment for small growers. This article analyzes how this commitment represented a change in the official narrative and argues that the failure to implement this differentiated treatment reveals the practical limitations of criminal law transformation in the context of illicit crops.