Pubdate: Fri, 25 Apr 2003
Source: The Week Online with DRCNet (US Web)
Contact:  http://www.drcnet.org/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2514
Author: Phillip S. Smith, Editor

PERU: COCA FARMERS CLAIM PARTIAL VICTORY AFTER MEETING WITH PRESIDENT

In what local observers described as a "partial victory" and "relative
triumph" for Peru's insurgent cocalero (coca farmer) movement,
cocalero leaders met Wednesday with President Alejandro Toledo, who
took some small steps to alleviate their plight and promised more.
Since April 8, cocaleros from around the country had been marching on
Lima to demand the government redress their grievances and the
president meet with them personally. When thousands of cocaleros began
pouring into the heart of the capital Monday, pressure began mounting
on Toledo to heed the demand for a meeting, and by Wednesday, after
preliminary meetings between cocalero leaders, Prime Minister Luis
Solari, and Peruvian drug agency head Nils Ericsson, the long-awaited
event took place.

Peru is the world's second largest coca producer after Colombia, and
Peruvian coca farmers, eyeing the success of their brethren in
Bolivia, have increasingly mobilized to try to block eradication of
the crops, to argue for a larger government-recognized crop, to seek
an uncorrupted alternative development program, and to demand the
release of leaders such as Nelson Palomino. Palomino, the head of the
Peruvian Confederation of Coca Growers (Confederacion Nacional de
Productores Agropecuarios de las Cuencas Cocaleras del Peru, or
CONCPACCP), was jailed last month in Ayacucho on the charge of
"support for terrorism" after he led mass protests in that city.

Palomino remains jailed and the much hated drug law of 1978, which
mandates the eradication of coca crops, remains in effect, but the
government of President Toledo has promised to take steps to better
the situation of the cocaleros. That was enough for cocalero leaders
to call off the mass mobilization for the time being, according to
Peruvian professor and coca expert Baldomero Caceres Santa Maria
(http://www.cocachasqui.org). "The peasants are returning to their
lands," he told DRCNet, "but [federation sub-secretary] Nancy [Rufina]
Obregon [Peralta] and other leaders are remaining in Lima for further
negotiations with the government."

Although at this point, victory appears more symbolic than real, the
cocaleros have already achieved important advances, according to
Caceres and former Peruvian drug agency advisor Hugo Cabieses. "They
won, even if not completely," said Cabieses. "The poor peasants with
their women and children, the combative and beautiful women who
spearheaded this important movement, have won over everyone.

Those who opposed them at the beginning are now allies in their
struggle for dignity," he told DRCNet. "The mass media, which was
skeptical at first, has taken up the cause."

And they appear to have won over President Toledo, although how far
and how fast the government will move to redress cocalero demands
remains to be seen. Cocalero leader Nancy Obregon who stepped forward
to replace Palomino after his arrest, brought Toledo and his advisors
to tears during the Wednesday meeting, Cabieses said.

"You, Mr. President, taught us to struggle against autocracy and for
dialogue when you did your own marches," said Obregon, a mother of
five. "You, Mr. President, who come from the same poverty as us, sit
in the presidency because of us," she told Toledo in front of a crowd
of thousands of peasants at a Lima soccer field.

Then in a moment rife with emotion and symbolism, Obregon, along with
fellow cocalero leaders Marisela Guillen, Elsa Malpartida, Diodora
Espinoza and Lucy Macedo, handed Toledo a gift of coca leaves.

Standing before the assembled multitude, Toledo took the leaves from
their bag, held them aloft, and said, "These leaves are sacred and you
cocaleros are not drug traffickers."

"This is a partial victory, an important first step," said Cabieses.
"The cocaleros have been recognized as citizens, and the Confederation
of Peruvian Coca Growers has been recognized as the legitimate
interlocutor of the growers before the government -- much to the fury
of the bureaucrats, aristocrats and the US Embassy."

The US Embassy is not just sitting idly by, said Caceres. "Prime
Minister Solari went from his meeting with the cocalero leaders to a
meeting at the embassy," he told DRCNet. While details of that meeting
are not known, US policy in the Andes has been steadfast in its
insistence on eradication as the central component of any regional
drug strategy.

But US intransigence on the issue led Bolivian President Sanchez de
Lozada into bitter struggle with cocaleros there and helped push the
cocaleros to political prominence. Peruvian President Toledo
undoubtedly hopes to avoid that trap, and Caceres, for one, hopes the
Americans will have learned a lesson from Bolivia. "We hope the
Americans will be willing to allow an Andean solution to this
problem," he said.

Also on Wednesday, President Toledo signed a decree acknowledging the
legitimate grievances of the cocaleros and instituting a series of
minor reforms. Although cocaleros have repeatedly said they are tired
of promises from the government, Toledo's agreement to meet with them,
his acknowledgement of their cause, and his initial moves to address
grievances have convinced them to give the government more time to
act. Obregon and other leaders remain in talks in Lima, but the
peasant masses, with their signs saying "We are peasants, not
terrorists," "Coca is protein and medicine" and "Liberty for Nelson
Palomino," are heading back to the fields -- for now. If the
government's action's this week are not followed up, the cocaleros vow
to return.

Visit http://www.stopthedrugwar.org/shadows/ for more!
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake