PERU: NARCOTICS AFFAIRS SECTION, AUGUST 2005

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 LIMA 004176 SIPDIS STATE FOR INL/P STATE FOR WHA/PPC ONDCP FOR D. GEDDINGS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/26/2015 TAGS: SNAR KCRM ASEC PREL PE SUBJECT: PERU: NARCOTICS AFFAIRS SECTION, AUGUST 2005 REF: A. LIMA 3847 ¶B. LIMA 3416 ¶C. LIMA 3264 ¶D. LIMA 3033 ¶E. LIMA 2813 ¶F. LIMA 2699 Classified By: NAS Deputy Director Robert Goldberg. Reason 1.5 (b),(d) -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (SBU) Hostile crowds and random gunshots have not stopped eradication efforts in Mazamari and the Huallaga in August. Eradication continues despite having discovered improvised explosive devices in the fields, rigged to explode when a plant is uprooted. As of August 31, CORAH has eradicated a total of 5,674 hectares, and the 8,000-hectare annual goal now looks within reach. DIRANDRO is working out of the NAS-constructed police base in Palmapampa to destroy cocaine-base laboratories and seize precursor chemicals and coca leaf in the Apurimac and Ene Valleys. The operation has driven down the price of coca leaf and increased the cost--and scarcity--of chemicals. USAID and CORAH are developing a plan to educate farmers on the negative impact growing coca has on their families. The Constitutional Tribunal is expected to rule on the legality of the regional coca ordinances in September; meanwhile, the new coca law the GOP sent to Congress is stalled for the foreseeable future. The new chemical control law remains in limbo due to GOP gridlock. NAS Aviation provided crucial support after an airliner crashed near Pucallpa Airport. The Manifest Review Unit in Callao is now proving its worth in cocaine seizures and intelligence. The final workshop on "Community Anti-Drug Coalitions" trained NGOs in a new approach to community intervention, evaluation, and sustainability. Meetings with the Ministry of Education suggest a possible revival of a now dormant Culture-of-Lawfulness initiative. (END SUMMARY) -------------- -------------- SECURITY INCIDENTS DURING ERADICATION IN SANTA LUCIA -------------- -------------- ¶2. (C) On August 1 during eradication operations at Santa Rosa de Mishollo, home territory of cocalero leader Nancy Obregon, DIRANDRO security forces accidentally wounded a 17-year-old boy. The boy was flown by helicopter for medical attention and later taken home. In another incident on August 4, shots were fired into the CORAH/DIRANDRO camp. No one was hurt. The PNP Special Operations Group (GOES) arrested several people and seized some guns. Between August 27-31, a total of 9 improvised explosive devices (IED) were found in fields during eradication operations in the Santa Rosa area near Santa Lucia. The IEDs were placed at the root of coca plants. A CORAH worker was hit and hospitalized when he triggered an IED; his injures were not life threatening. The rest of the devices were located and disarmed. Plans are under way to use trained explosive-sniffing dogs to clear the areas where CORAH plans to work. (See Ref A.) -------------- ERADICATION UPDATE -------------- ¶3. (U) In the first eight months of 2005, CORAH eradicated 5,674 hectares of coca. Presently, CORAH is eradicating an averaging of 50 hectares a day in areas near Santa Lucia and Mazamari. Operations included communities in the San Martin and Huanuco departments that had not complied with their alternative development agreements with USAID. NAS and USAID are coordinating closely on increasing the number of brigades used for locating, measuring, and eradicating coca in alternative development areas. -------------- --- POLICE: NEW RESOLVE, NEW TACTICS, NEW SUCCESSES -------------- --- ¶4. (SBU) In May 2005, approximately 200 new police graduated from the NAS-sponsored Basic Training Academies in Santa Lucia and Mazamari. These new police were assigned to the Special Operations Unit to support eradication, cocaine laboratory destruction, and vehicle search operations. DIRANDRO's Special Operations Units confronted unruly mobs and pacified hostile areas in the Upper Huallaga Valley (Pizana, Polvora and Santa Rosa) to allow eradication to occur. Up to 300 police have been deployed to protect eradication workers and helicopter operations. As a result, the rate of coca eradication increased substantially and NAS helicopters operated without incidents. The PNP also destroyed 88 cocaine-base laboratories in the Monzon and Upper Huallaga. This is in stark contrast to past when eradication operations were suspended due to strong local resistance and an inadequate response by the PNP. ¶5. (SBU) At NAS's suggestion, DIRANDRO is now using the price of an arroba (11.5 kg) of coca to trigger cocaine-base laboratory interdiction operations. Interdiction drives down the price. The Police return to zones when arroba price rises again. In early August, the price of an arroba of coca dropped from 120 to 60 Soles after the PNP began operations in the Apurimac and Ene River Valleys (VRAE). On August 10, after a two-week lull in interdiction activities, an arroba rose to 90 Soles. The next day, DIRANDRO started interdiction operations again, seizing approximately 200 kilos of cocaine base. DIRANDRO also destroyed 208 cocaine-base laboratories and tons of precursor chemicals and coca leaves, causing a loss to the laboratory operators of the equivalent of US$1.4 million and the possible production of 3.9 tons of cocaine base. ¶6. (SBU) With support from NAS, DIRANDRO formed a Mobile Road Interdiction Group, which is using a gamma-ray machine to inspect vehicles transiting through the Ayacucho area. On August 1-8, this group arrested 4 traffickers and seized more than 150 kilos of chemicals, three vehicles, and a building. These seizures alone are valued at USD 137,000. The activities of this group have forced drug traffickers to transport chemicals via mules on back roads and via rivers, causing the price of precursor chemicals to double. -------------- ICT CONDUCTING SURVEY ON COCA CULTIVATION -------------- ¶7. (U) NAS has advised the Institute for Tropical Crops (ICT) and CADA that they must survey farmers who are receiving technical assistance in cacao management. The survey will provide baseline information to ensure that the farmers are eliminating their coca. The survey will take three months to complete. -------------- -------------- ERADICATION: NEW PUBLIC RELATIONS MESSAGE PLANNED -------------- -------------- ¶8. (U) Discussions continue with USAID and CORAH about a plan to educate farmers on the negative consequences for their families of growing coca. The theme of this plan is "Familia, Si" (Family, Yes). -------------- --- WAITING FOR COURT RULING ON REGIONAL ORDINANCES -------------- --- ¶9. (U) Peru's Constitutional Tribunal has been asked to rule on the constitutionality of ordinances promulgated by three regional governments (Cusco, Puno, and Huanuco) that would legalize coca (Refs B through F). -------------- PRECURSOR CHEMICAL CONTROL LAW LANGUISHES -------------- ¶10. (SBU) Progress has stalled within the GOP to implement the much-touted chemical-control law. The initial concept was to place the data collection function in the Ministry of Production (MinPro). However, as the MinPro does not have an appropriate, networked data collection system, it would have to be built, a costly project. A USG-funded NGO came up with a better option--to use the Peruvian tax collection agency (SUNAT) to collect and distribute the data, since it has the technical capability and an extensive network. The challenge is bringing MinPro and SUNAT together. MinPro wants to maintain control over the information system. -------------- -------------- NAS AVIATION AIDS VICTIMS OF PLANE CRASH IN PUCALLPA -------------- -------------- ¶11. (U) On the afternoon of August 23, a Boeing 737-200 crashed during a storm about 4.4 miles short of the runway at the Pucallpa airport. NAS flight crews, firemen, and medics from the NAS Main Operating Base (MOB) in Pucallpa were immediately mobilized to assist local authorities. The aircraft (flight 204 of TANS airline, operated by the Peruvian Air Force) broke in two when it crashed. The NAS Forward Coordinator sent two helicopters to the crash site to help evacuate the survivors to local hospitals and transport the dead. (NOTE: 45 people died and 53 were injured. 3 Americans died, 7 survived. No USG employees or contractors were aboard the flight.) The NAS helicopters, flown by US and PNP pilots and crews, operated at the crash site at night using night-vision equipment. NAS also provided logistical support and a communications center for the Embassy response effort as well as for the NTSB investigators and Peruvian civil aviation authorities. The following day, NAS personnel located the aircra ft voice recorder. -------------- BEECH 1900 D AIRCRAFT -------------- ¶12. (U) NAS pilots completed flight training for the Beech 1900 D aircraft on August 28. On September 1, the aircraft will be flown to Air Wing (INL/A) in Florida for further crew training and preparation for entry into Peru on September 16. -------------- DRUG SEIZURES INCREASE AT PERU'S SEAPORTS -------------- ¶13. (SBU) On August 24, the PNP seized almost 479 kg of cocaine from a container at a terminal in the Port of Callao through manifest/cargo review and analysis by the NAS/DEA Manifest Review Unit (MRU). Seven people from Mexico and Peru were arrested. Contact information for people in Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia was also seized. The 479 kg were being transported via a Chilean ship destined for Guanajuato, Mexico via the Mexican port of Manzanillo. The 95 cocaine packages, each package weighing 5.4 kg, were found in plastic barrels filled with frozen maracuya (passion fruit) pulp. Based on this seizure, another container from the same company/shippers and with the same product is now detained at Callao. ¶14. (C) This seizure illustrates the value of systemized analysis of cargo, and the importance of conducting joint police and customs information analysis and follow-on operations. The Peruvian private business sector, including exporters, agents, and managers of container stations, know about the MRU and are now providing over 100 intelligence leads per month. An MRU is now being planned for Paita (Peru's second leading port after Callao),in light of the success in Callao. NAS is currently negotiating with SUNAT-Customs on next steps. -------------- -------------- PREPARING TO LAUNCH COMMUNITY ANTI-DRUG COALITIONS -------------- -------------- ¶15. (U) On August 15-19, the U.S.-based Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) conducted a two-day workshop followed by three days of technical assistance. Six NGOs were selected to participate in this final training session, which focused on community interventions, evaluation, and sustainability. The NGOs and CADCA discussed the cultural and social hurdles that must be overcome to have successful coalitions. The technical assistance involved visits to the coalition districts to speak with community leaders and to understand the types of community resources available to the NGO coalition teams. The coalitions will start on October 1, along with other demand reduction programs. ¶16. (U) The coalition effort will include an evaluation team and a communications team. The evaluation team will design instruments to measure regularly the effectiveness of individual activities and the overall impact of the coalitions' efforts. All coalitions will be evaluated using the same criteria and the same instruments by this external team. The communications team will work with the coalition teams to develop social marketing campaigns that have a consistent message. Coalition communication activities will consist of street fairs, local radio broadcasts, posters, personal outreach, parades, etc., taking into account a functional illiteracy rate of 80 per cent. ¶17. (U) While Peru is a developing country with a poverty rate of over 50 per cent, the public will to combat illegal drugs is already strong. Many Lima communities have organized to fight crime, clean up neighborhoods, and take drug dealers off the streets. All these efforts contribute directly to reducing drug consumption. One goal of the coalitions will be to bring together and foster cooperation among these disparate groups. -------------- CULTURE OF LAWFULNESS PLOUGHS AHEAD -------------- ¶18. (U) The Culture of Lawfulness (COL) program (started in 2003) had some early successes in training teachers for a one-year COL course for first-year high school students. It became quickly apparent that the Ministry of Education could not provide much needed resources for the program. So far, 70 teachers have been trained to teach COL. One significant achievement was assisting the GOP in changing the national school curriculum to include COL (called Ethics, Values, and Citizenship by the GOP). NAS Program officers met with the Vice-Minister of Education, Idel Vexler, to discuss the future of the program. Vexler was supportive of the program, but said it needed to be more fully integrated into the curriculum to achieve sustainability. NAS will meet with ministry officials in the coming months to determine how NAS can support further development of COL. STRUBLE