The FARC makes from $2.4 – $3.5 billion from narco-trafficking said Colombia’s Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzon on Tuesday, who added that the estimated number of guerrillas now stood at 8,147.
“Of the 350 tons of cocaine that is produced in Colombia, around 200 tons are related to the FARC,” said the minister, speaking at the close of the Colombia – U.S. Forum organized by the Colombian – American Chamber of Commerce and the Center for Hemispheric Policy of the University of Miami.
Pinzon’s estimate put the drug as representing “some $6 – $7 billion” on the black market, and that the guerrillas received “between 40% and 50% of this value.” The minister also said that the FARC have the lowest number of guerrillas down from 20,000 members in the year 2000.
“It is a very different organization,” said Pinzon, who added that the FARC “have lost four members of its secretariat, between five and six of its major players and around 50 heads” over the last six years.