A Colombian judge has ordered the suspension of planned experimental aerial spraying trials using glufosinate-ammonium, a potentially harmful herbicide, over coca fields in the Amazonian region of Putumayo (a southern department bordering Ecuador and Peru). The ruling, issued on 11 September 2026, found insufficient public information to rule out risks to human health and local ecosystems, after the anti-narcotics police announced the trials without disclosing target areas or affected communities. The decision is a setback for President Abelardo de la Espriella, a right-wing former lawyer who took office in August 2026 and has championed a return to aerial herbicide spraying as part of a broader crackdown on drug trafficking in Colombia, the world's largest cocaine producer with 261,000 hectares of coca under cultivation as of 2024.