COCA COMMUNITIES SIGN UP FOR ALTERNATIVE

UNCLAS LIMA 001299

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SNAR PGOV PE
SUBJECT: COCA COMMUNITIES SIGN UP FOR ALTERNATIVE
DEVELOPMENT DESPITE ELECTION UNCERTAINTY


Sensitive But Unclassified, Please Handle Accordingly.


1. (SBU) Summary: Coca growing communities are signing up
to voluntarily eradicate their coca and participate in
USAID's Alternative Development (AD) Program at a rate on par
to meet the annual target of eradicating 2500 hectares.
Uncertainties regarding upcoming elections and the pro-coca
rhetoric of the front-runner in the polls, ultranationalist
"outsider" presidential candidate Ollanta Humala, have not
decreased interest in the AD Program. If anything,
contractors in the field are seeing a surprising uptick in
program interest including in areas considered to be
AD-reluctant, "hard-core" coca growing regions. End Summary.


2. (SBU) Directors from the four regional field offices of
USAID's contractor for the Alternative Development (AD)
Program told Emboffs on 3/30 that new communities are signing
up to participate in voluntary eradication-linked alternative
development. They said that despite presidential and
congressional election uncertainty and pro-coca rhetoric from
Humala, communities are signing up to voluntarily eradicate
their coca at a rate on par to meet the annual target of 2500
hectares eradicated. Of the 270 communities planned for the
program this calendar year, 10 have completed the process,
with over 100 hectares eradicated. Sixty additional
communities in San Martin and Ucayali departments have
initiated the process to measure their coca fields, a
necessary precursor to signing an agreement with the
counternarcotics agency, DEVIDA, and subsequently eradicating
their quantified coca. In the coming weeks these communities
will take these steps and eradicate their own coca.


3. (SBU) The regional directors of USAID's contractor told
Emboffs that there was no reduction in community interest to
join the program and no action on the part of the communities
to postpone their voluntary eradication agreements until
after the election. According to the USAID contractors,
communities are unexpectedly approaching them to participate
from regions that were specifically not targeted because they
were deemed as "hard core" for their intense coca
concentrations and therefore as having a low probability of
agreeing to voluntarily eradicate their coca. These include
three communities in Huipoca and four communities in Tingo
Maria. USAID and their contractor are having informal
discussions with "hard core" communities in Polvora/Pizana
for them to join the AD program under "no replanting
agreements" once the current programmed eradication campaign
is completed there. (Comment: These communities showing
interest in AD is a testament to the programmed eradication
campaign having a positive impact in encouraging coca growers
to cease coca farming and pursue a licit lifestyle. Two
years ago these communities would not have considered AD. End
Comment.)


4. (SBU) Since their contract is performance based, the
contractor's incentive is to warn USAID if the contractor
senses that communities will not make voluntary eradication
commitments. For the contractor to achieve its targets, it
will have to continue to sign up communities and eradicate on
a consistent basis through the year, including five months
under a new government. These factors add a degree of
credibility to the contractor's statements. The communities
are required under the AD agreements to eradicate their coca
before they receive the development benefits, so it is
unlikely they are gaming the system in the short term,
although they may hope to replant coca under a more compliant
government. Though they could replant coca it would take
time before the communities saw a return, and historically
USAID has observed very little re-planting of coca under the
program. The USAID contractors said they believed the
communities were signing up to eradicate their coca and
receive development benefits because the government had not
done anything for them in the past and they did not expect
this would change with a new government. The AD Program has
developed a reputation of delivering the benefits it promises.


5. (SBU) Comment: The AD Program, coupled with interdiction
and programmed eradication, is an important part of our
counternarcotics strategy. The elections so far have not
had a negative impact on the AD Program - communities are

agreeing to eradicate their coca in exchange for development
benefits. The contractor reports are somewhat surprising
since it would seem that coca communities would delay
eradicating their coca and wait for a new government with a
potentially different coca policy and new development
resources. That the USAID contractor is confident of
achieving their target of 2,500 hectares voluntarily
eradicated bodes well for the success of the AD Program,
particularly given election uncertainties and pro-coca
campaign rhetoric. We will continue to monitor and report on
this very fluid situation. End Comment.
STRUBLE