Pubdate: Sun, 27 Jul 2003
Source: Sun News (Myrtle Beach, (SC)
Copyright: 2003 Sun Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/sunnews/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/987
Author: Kevin G. Hall, Washington Bureau
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/areas/Peru (Peru)
Note: apparent 150 word limit on LTEs

U.S. PUSHES PERU TO ERADICATE COCA CROP 

AGUAYTIA, Peru - Imagine being sent to war by generals who are unable
to agree on the enemy's strength or where to fight.

That's the case in the war on drugs in Peru, where the United States
is spending more than $140 million this year to eradicate coca, the
raw material from which cocaine is made, and to provide alternative
crops to the desperately poor coca farmers known as cocaleros.

How big is the problem? The best guesses differ wildly.

The CIA's Crime and Narcotics Center, relying on satellite images,
estimates that 88,900 acres of coca was grown in Peru last year, or
139 square miles. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, using
different methodology, puts the figure at almost 116,000 acres, or 181
square miles. Independent researchers suggest the cultivation is as
high as 148,300 acres, or more than 231 square miles.

What is clear is that Peru is losing the battle against traffickers.
According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Peru grows
enough illicit coca to produce an estimated 120 to 140 tons of cocaine
annually. By all measures, new plantings are outpacing eradication
efforts.

Some clarity on Peruvian coca-growing may be coming soon. In a
late-April compromise with the cocaleros, President Alejandro Toledo
agreed to a study on the supply and demand for the legal use of coca
in the country. That may - or may not - help drug-control.

An estimated 1.4 million Peruvians chew coca leaves regularly and
legally or use them in medicinal teas. The National Coca Co., known by
its Spanish acronym Enaco, buys and distributes coca for their use
under an exclusive arrangement. Enaco hasn't surveyed Peru's coca
market or updated its registry of authorized farmers since 1978.
Cocaleros are hoping the new study will justify expanding the legal
market. They say the legal consumption of coca is greater than the
U.S. and Peruvian governments recognize.

In the context of the larger Andean drug war, things are going badly
in Peru. It was held up as a model in the 1990s, when Washington
credited it with reducing the amount of coca under cultivation by 70
percent. But since 2001, the year Toledo assumed office, Peru has seen
an explosion in coca planting.

The Bush administration is wary of any expansion of the legal market,
wanting to hold Peru to its September 2002 pledge of near-eradication
by 2006. Months after making that pledge, Toledo compromised with the
cocaleros, agreeing to give them until 2008 to switch to alternative
crops.

In the Aguaytia area, not far from the Brazil border, the U.S. Agency
for International Development has spent more than $1 million on
infrastructure projects and is trying to wean farmers to another crop,
palm oil, which is used for cooking. But it takes roughly two years
for the palms to reach productive maturity, and farmers complain they
aren't receiving the promised installment payments to get them through
the transition. U.S. officials acknowledge delays but say the program
is working.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin