Country Program: Peru

Peru is now the second largest producer of coca leaf and cocaine base. Peruvian traffickers transport the cocaine base to Colombia and Bolivia where it is converted to cocaine. There is increasing evidence of opium poppy cultivation being established under the direction of Colombian traffickers.

U.S. Counternarcotics Goals

• Build host nation capabilities in order to foster institutionalization of Peruvian policy-making and coordination and to "Peruvianize" all aspects of counternarcotics law enforcement;
• Reduce and ultimately eliminate the cultivation of coca and opium poppy, as well as interdict trafficking of cocaine and cocaine base from Peru; and
• Support economic reforms that eliminate the illicit coca cultivation economy.

U.S. Programs

The Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs' (INL) counternarcotics programs provide commodities, services, and advice to Peruvian Government agencies engaged in developing or implementing counternarcotics-related programs, including enforcement programs to disrupt coca cultivation, wholesale purchase, industrial-scale processing, and export of refined coca products. These programs also include judicial reform projects to improve Peruvian judicial process and training and economic assistance programs aimed at both economic restructuring and sustainable development in coca cultivation areas. All specific projects are aimed at institutionalizing Peruvian counternarcotics efforts to achieve the elimination of drug trafficking and production in Peru.

Peruvian coca cultivation has declined in the last six years from an estimated 115,300 hectares in 1995 to fewer than an estimated 34,000 hectares in 2001 (a decline of 70% since 1995). The U.S.-Peruvian interdiction program and manual coca eradication were major factors in reducing coca leaf and base production.

These U.S. Government-supported law enforcement efforts are complemented by an aggressive INL/USAID-funded effort to establish an alternative development program for coca farmers in key coca growing areas to voluntarily reduce and eliminate coca cultivation. Alternative development activities, such as technical assistance and training on alternative crop production, are provided as long as the community maintains the coca eradication schedule. In Peru, activities include transport and energy infrastructure, basic social services (health, education, potable water, etc.), strengthened civil society (local governments and community organizations), environmental protection, agricultural production and marketing, and drug demand reduction. The private sector is beginning to cooperate with this effort creating markets for the new goods -- primarily coffee and cacao.