PERU: NARCOTICS AFFAIRS, DECEMBER 2005

UNCLAS LIMA 005486

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR INL/LP
STATE FOR WHA/PPC
ONDCP FOR D. GEDDINGS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SNAR KCRM ASEC PREL PE
SUBJECT: PERU: NARCOTICS AFFAIRS, DECEMBER 2005

REF: A. LIMA 5203


B. LIMA 5335

C. LIMA 5397

D. LIMA 5440

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SUMMARY
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1. (SBU) The Government of Peru (GOP) eradicated close to
9,000 hectares of coca in 2005, far surpassing its goal of
8,000 hectares. This achievement was accomplished through
the strong commitment of the Ministry of Interior's
eradication force (CORAH) and the drug police (DIRANDRO) that
provided security support. Another measure of this year's
successes was that DIRANDRO destroyed 518 cocaine-base
laboratories in 2005. On December 30, 197 new police
officers graduated from the NAS-funded academies, raising to
394 the number of new police that have graduated from
NAS-sponsored police academies east of the Andes. The newly
graduated police will be assigned to DIRANDRO units in coca
growing zones. In December, Sendero Luminoso adherents
ambushed and killed five DIRANDRO and eight PNP officers in
separate attacks. The UH-2s were used to medevac the wounded.
The FAP and the PNP are doing joint CN/CT operations with
the two FAP-owned C-26 aircraft. The NAS Maritime/Port
Program has started a program to identify airline passengers
who may be smuggling drugs or laundering money. NAS
continues to expand the K-9 program (more handlers, better
facilities),extending its presence in the ports of Paita and
Iquitos and its outreach to private shippers and exporters to
gain useful and timely intelligence. The GOP's national
office of drug policy (DEVIDA) has set an ambitious 2006 goal
to eradicate 10,000 hectares of coca in 2006. In 2006, NAS
will begin measuring the success of our eradication efforts
using the Cocaine Production Averted (CPA) formula developed
by the Crime and Narcotics Center (CNC) in Washington. (END
SUMMARY)

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ERADICATION ENDS FOR 2005: ANNUAL GOAL ACHIEVED
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2. (U) December 14 marked the last day of CORAH eradication
operations for 2005. The final campaign of the year was in
San Gaban in southeastern Peru. During the last four days,
CORAH fielded two teams of over 150 eradicators each to
eradicate the last of the coca in the area. All camp
equipment and personnel were out of the base camp at Mazuko
by December 18.


3. (U) Final numbers for 2005 are as follows: 8,966.26
hectares of coca eradicated, 53,084 square meters of seedbeds
destroyed (the equivalent of 3,539 hectares if they had been
planted) and the discovery and observed destruction of 49
maceration pits. Average density of plants per hectare for
the year was 42,340 plants, with the highest monthly density
average being in San Gaban with 54,120 plants per hectare in
November. Based on plant density and the number of hectares
eradicated, approximately 380 million plants were uprooted by
CORAH.


4. (SBU) The auditing firm Deloitte won the bid to conduct
the audit of CORAH and the Institute of Tropical Crops
(ICT).The accounting firm will do a traditional audit as well
as a review of operations, administration procedures, and
salary scales.

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NEW ERADICATION GOAL SET FOR 2006
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5. (SBU) The 2006 GOP Eradication Plan has a goal of 10,000
hectares to be eradicated--up from 8,000 in 2005. There is
an option to mount campaigns in the Apurimac and Ene River
Valleys (VRAE) and the Monzon that would require the GOP to
commit to establishing a permanent government presence in the
areas, including police, health, education, and economic
development.


6. (SBU) Eradication is scheduled to begin in Polvora-Pizana
as well as in Yanajanca to the south on January 10, 2006.
President Toledo has not yet approved the plan. Farmers have
been replanting based on rumors that CORAH will not return
until 2010.

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"COCAINE PRODUCTION AVERTED" FORMULA READY FOR USE
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7. (SBU) NAS-Lima has seen a real need to develop a formula
for determining the tonnage of cocaine that was not/not
produced due to eradication efforts--the Cocaine Production
Averted (CPA) formula. The formula uses the number of
hectares eradicated, the quality of the leaf and the density
of the plants per hectare in a given area to calculate how
much cocaine production was averted. After much
consultation, NAS-Lima received CNC and DEA approval to use
the formula the CNC devised to determine the CPA. The CPA
will be used at the local and regional levels in public
outreach efforts. Hectares eradicated will continue to be
reported as well.

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POLICE PROGRAM: MORE SEIZURES AND NEW POLICE OFFICERS
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8. (U) In 2005, DIRANDRO's Special Operations Groups
destroyed 518 cocaine-base laboratories in the
Palmapampa/VRAE area. Overall, DIRANDRO seized 4.49 metric
tons of cocaine base, 11.5 metric tons of cocaine HCl, 500
kilos of opium latex. It also destroyed 584 metric tons of
precursor chemicals, seized 64 metric tons of precursor
chemicals, and eradicated 92.50 hectares of opium.


9. (U) On December 30, 197 students will graduate from each
of the DIRANDRO/NAS Basic Training Academy, in Santa Lucia
and Mazamari. All of the new officers will be assigned to
DIRANDRO counternarcotics units east of the Andes to support
eradication and interdiction activities in the VRAE and Upper
Huallaga Valleys. In January 2006, 200 men and 50 women will
start a one-year training program in Santa Lucia, Mazamari,
and a new academy in Ayacucho. This is the first year that
women will receive this training.

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TWO DEADLY ATTACKS ON POLICE BY NARCO-TERRORISTS
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10. (SBU) On December 5, five DIRANDRO officers were killed
in an ambush by 15 to 20 men near San Francisco in the
Ayacucho region while transporting a prosecutor and a
detained narcotrafficking suspect. According to Post
sources, a column of Sendero Luminoso (SL) carried out the
attack. The SL are thought to be trying to neutralize the
presence of DIRANDRO troops in the VRAE where they have been
destroying cocaine-base laboratories. These interdiction
operations caused the price of coca leaf to plummet from 120
to 40 Soles for a 11.5 kg bag of leaf. Precursor chemicals
have tripled in price due to DIRANDRO's roadside inspections
to stop the diversion of chemicals into the drug growing
valleys.


11. (SBU) On December 20, SL members killed eight PNP
officers near the town of Aucayacu, located in the Huallaga
River coca production zone (Ref C). An estimated 20 SL
members ambushed the PNP vehicle near a bridge on the Tingo
Maria-to-Aucayacu highway. Seven police officers died in the
20-minute gun battle. Another died later at a local clinic.
Post believes the pattern of SL activity is changing, and
that the security situation in areas where the Sl is
operating will continue to deteriorate until the GOP takes
effective countermeasures.


12. (C) Post is seeing an increasing involvement of SL in
narcotics trafficking, including a vertically integrated,
FARC-like approach to coca paste production by at least one
SL group. The armed Sendero Luminoso factions in the Monzon
and VRAE valleys have changed both their strategic objectives
and tactics in a way that has implications for our
counternarcotics work and anti-terrorism interests. See Refs
B and D.

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HELICOPTERS CALLED ON TO EVACUATE WOUNDED
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13. (SBU) Two NAS UH-2s were used to extract two seriously
wounded soldiers during an attack by an SL unit on a Peruvian
Army outpost near Quiteni in the vicinity of Satipo. NAS was
also asked to evacuate the PNP wounded in the ambush near
Aucayacu where seven PNP had been killed. Based on
intelligence reports that a specific PNP base would be
attacked during the holidays, NAS stationed helicopters at
Mazamari and Pucallpa for possible emergency support.

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C-26 AIRCRAFT PROVE THEIR WORTH--AND THEN SOME
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14. (SBU) With the increase in CN/CT activity, the two
Peruvian Air Force (FAP) C-26s have provided critical and
timely airlift support and reconnaissance. Overall, the FAP
C-26 CN Air Squadron has provided excellent support, a
positive attitude, and a clear desire to do joint operations
with other GOP entities and the USG. NAS and the FAP have
not been satisfied with the availability of the aircraft
because of unscheduled and scheduled maintenance and the
delivery time for spare parts. The aircraft are maintained
by ARINC, a USG-funded contract. A meeting is schedule with
ARINC on January 5, 2006, to resolve the problems.


15. (SBU) The C-26s are proving to be a valuable asset in
CN/CT operations. During their first 3-plus months of
operation, the C-26s have done the following:
--FLIR missions flown in support of CN/CT operations - 16
--Reconnaissance missions flown
-- Clandestine runways checked - 78
-- Cocaine-base labs discovered - 3
-- Fields of coca/poppy identified - 2
--Airlift support
-- Passengers - 384
-- Cargo - 26,324 lbs
-- MEDEVACs - 5 (4 life saving)
Joint Operations: PNP and Armed Forces of GOP - 6
-- Indentified CT personnel and structures during
operations.

Total aviation support for 2005 by aircraft type:
-- UH-1s and 2s - 6070 flight hours
-- C-208 - 635 flight hours
-- B1900 D - 118 flight hours
-- C-26s - 217 flight hours
-- T-65 - 81 flight hours
-- MI-17 - 120 flight hours
-- Y-12 - 188 flight hours
-- Antonov - 32-161 flight hours
-- Charters (commercial aircraft included) - 123
flight hours

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MARITIME/PORT PROGRAM: SEIZURES AND GOP COOPERATION INCREASE
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16. (SBU) With the support of the NAS Maritime/Port Program,
the GOP seized two containers of Peruvian antiquities
protected by cultural patrimony laws during December. The
smugglers tried to bribe a Peruvian Customs agent who
reported the incident. The U.S. Customs and Border
Protection (USCBP) Advisor sent an alert to the U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) attach in Mexico,
where another container of antiquities was seized by Mexican
authorities. NAS became involved because it was assumed that
the bribery attempt involved narcotics. These seizures
demonstrated to the GOP the value-added of the NAS Port
Programs for preventing the smuggling of its national
treasures.


17. (SBU) NAS has started a program, the Passenger
Analystical Unit (PAU),at the Lima airport to review
passengers suspected of drug/money trafficking to the U.S.
The PAU is performing well in alerting authorities to
counternarcotics smuggling, arrests and some cases of

excessive money transit has been reported. For example,
during December, a person was detained in Los Angeles airport
with $2.4 million dollars due to an alert from the PAU in
Lima. Several people have been arrested for drug smuggling
(80% of arrested smugglers are U.S. Residents or Visa Waiver
Program participants). The goal of the PAU is to create a
joint PNP and Customs unit that mirrors the NAS-sponsored
joint Manifest Review Unit at the Port of Callao and operates
like the USCBP PAU in the Miami International Airport.


18. (SBU) NAS continues to coordinate with Lima Airport
officials concerning the consolidation of PNP and Customs
canine facilities at the airport. The objective is to
consolidate the K-9 programs in one location for training and
kennel services. NAS is also expanding CN efforts in the
Port of Paita, Peru's second largest port by volume. Paita
is now exporting approximately 80,000 containers annually (up
from 8,500 in 2001). The majority of these containers are
shipped to the U.S. On December 16, USG personnel (NAS, DEA,
MAAG) met with PNP and Peruvian Navy officials in Iquitos to
coordinate USG and GOP counternarcotics efforts in the area.
The group will have monthly coordination meetings.


19. (SBU) NAS USCBP personnel have met with various export
and private shipping companies in order to formulate
methodologies for obtaining timely information on suspicious
shipping practices that will assist the MRU in identifying
contraband. NAS met with the majority of private
warehouse/terminal companies and GOP officials in order to
improve the information flow and cooperation between Peruvian
counterdrug entities and warehouses to prevent smuggling.


20. (U) Happy New Year!
STRUBLE