Ecuador to seek international intervention to stop Colombian coca fumigation along border

Ecuador has no alternative but to turn to international organizations to stop Colombia's aerial spraying of illegal drug crops along their shared border, the foreign minister said Tuesday, insisting the fumigation was harming farmers and the environment.

"We are going to go to international organizations and that is what I told the Colombian government," Antonio Parra told radio Vision. "There is nothing left but to go to the necessary international bodies. We have no other alternative."

Parra last month urged his Colombian counterpart, Carolina Barco, to cease fumigating coca crops within 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) of the border.

Parra did not specify when Ecuador would take action, but indicated the country might appeal its case before the United Nations or the Organization of American States.

The fumigation of drug crops, mainly coca plants used to make cocaine, is at the center of a multi-billion-dollar (multi-billion-euro) program funded by the United States that aims to wipe out illicit drug production in Colombia. The South American nation produces 90 percent of the world's cocaine.

Farmers and rights groups in Colombia have also raised health concerns about the fumigation, but Colombia and the United States insist it is safe, AP reported.