LIMA NAS END OF MONTH REPORT - OCTOBER

UNCLAS LIMA 001808 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR INL/LP NAD WHA/PPC ONDCP FOR LT COL RONALD GARNER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SNAR KCRM ASEC PREL PE SUBJECT: LIMA NAS END OF MONTH REPORT - OCTOBER ¶1. (U) Summary: - New National Police Director and Minister of Interior Named - Eradication - New Graduating Class of the Special Counter Drugs Operations Course: Mazamari - DIRANDRO Statistics - MEDEVAC Policy/Procedures to be Revised - FLIR Back in Business - Change in FAP C-26 Contractors Bring Program Closer to Nationalization - Ports Program Report - Mayor of Major City Arrested on Money Laundering Charges - New Criminal Procedure Code in Cases of Corruption Implemented Nationwide - ILEA RTC/Lima Completes its Final Course for 2008 and other ILEA News - New TIP Information Campaign in Peru -------------- -------------- New National Police Director and Minister of Interior Named -------------- -------------- ¶2. (U) Following the resignation of his entire Cabinet in a corruption scandal involving executives of state enterprises and government officials, President Alan Garcia named retired National Police General Remigio Hernani Meloni to replace Luis Alva Castro as Minister of Interior. Hernani has appointed General Remicio Maguino, a former PNP Chief of Staff with a background in anti-terrorist and intelligence operations, Director of the PNP. -------------- Eradication -------------- ¶3. (U) October eradication reached 1027.85 hectares. Reacting to intelligence reports of possible Sendero Luminoso (SL) activity against eradication forces at various locations and threats of protest by coca growers, NAS modified operations by reducing the time spent in any one location and following no apparent geographical pattern when determining eradication locations. Coca growers in and around Aucayacu organized protests against eradication and confronted CORAH workers on three separate occasions. These confrontations were generally peaceful and eventually broken up by DIRANDRO security forces. In an unrelated incident, two CORAH workers were injured by shotgun pellets from an inadvertently triggered animal trap. Both workers were safely removed from the cite and are in full recovery. On October 17, eighty Peruvian army soldiers were removed from eradication security duty, however PNP security support numbers from the Special Operation Division remained constant. DIRANDRO and CORAH authorities �0A;are working to reestablish military support in these high threat level areas. -------------- -------------- New Graduating Class of the Special Counter Drugs Operations Course - Mazamari -------------- -------------- ¶4. (U) Deputy NAS Director, the DIRANDRO Director, NAS Police Advisor and other NAS personnel attended the graduation ceremony of the fourth Special Counter Drugs Operations (GOES) class. Of the 73 PNP officers who completed this elite special operations course, 63 percent were selected to form the new GOES unit. GOES units are specialized in high risk/long range counter-narcotics operations. As part of their training, the graduates eradicated seven hectares of opium poppy in the Celendin province in the department of Cajamarca - approximately an hour and a half by airplane from Mazamari. -------------- DIRANDRO Statistics -------------- ¶5. (U) During the month of October, DRIANDRO destroyed 1,038 cocaine production laboratories and 16 HCL cocaine base laboratories nation wide. The DIRANDRO Anti-drug Unit covering the VRAE and Huallaga seized and destroyed 39.4 metric tons of chemical precursors and 22 metric tons of various types of drugs. -------------- MEDEVAC Policy/Procedures to be Revised -------------- ¶6. (U) NAS experienced a higher than normal number of MEDEVAC requests from the field for injuries ranging from broken ribs and hypothermia to spider bites and gun shot wounds. However, two of the seven missions were aborted due to poor communication from the field and/or poor medical diagnoses. Therefore, SAA has directed a review of MEDEVAC policies and procedures so as to minimize Night Vision Goggle (NVG) MEDEVACS and eliminate crew rest issues and wasted flight hours. -------------- FLIR Back in Business -------------- ¶7. (U) Repairs for the FLIR imaging system as well as for the ADS digital mapping camera are complete and both are fully operational and mission ready. The availability of this equipment has been much anticipated by the Peruvian Joint Command, who use the FLIR for their operations in the VRAE, and DIRANDRO and CORAH, who use the ADS camera for interdiction and eradication planning. -------------- -------------- Change in FAP C-26 Contractors Brings Program Closer to Nationalization -------------- -------------- ¶8. (U) The maintenance services contract for the NAS-supported FAP C-26s has been awarded to DRS Technologies; former contractor, ARINC, closed their operations in Lima at the end of the month. The new contract is reduced in scope from previous agreements for the contractor is now primarily in a technical advisory role relying on the FAP to conduct the actual maintenance and record keeping on the aircraft. This arrangement under the new contract will move maintenance services of the C-26s closer to nationalization and reduce the actual costs of contract maintenance. -------------- Ports Program Report -------------- ¶9. (U) For the month of October, Peruvian Customs (SUNAT), Peruvian National Police stationed at the International Airport, Customs SERPOST, and the port of Callao seized a 296.286 kilograms of cocaine HCL and detained 12 internal carriers carrying approximately 940 grams of cocaine. The Peruvian Navy, with the PNP, seized 9 kilograms of cocaine HCL from the luggage of a cargo-ferry passenger along the Huallaga River. The NAS/DEA supported Chemical Unit seized 3.5 metric tons of sulfuric acid submerged in a pond near a maceration pit in a remote area northwest of Tingo Maria. The site was abandoned, therefore, no arrests were made. -------------- -------------- Mayor of Major City Arrested on Money Laundering Charges -------------- -------------- ¶10. (U) Luis Valdez, the Mayor of Coronel Portillo-Ucayali/Pulcallpa was taken into custody on Money Laundering charges. Valdez is suspected of being the head are a large criminal organization involved in narcotics production and trade, and has been accused in the past of being involved in the assassination of a local journalist. Authorities began asset forfeiture proceedings involving 124 factories and various financial accounts. 77 people named as persons of interest in the investigation. Valdez is the highest ranking public official to date to be arrested on money laundering charges in Peru. -------------- -------------- New Criminal Procedure Code in Cases of Corruption Implemented Nationwide -------------- -------------- ¶11. (U) Following its national roll out plan, the GOP introduced the New Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) in the judicial district of Arequipa. The CPC replaces a 1940s mixed-inquisitorial criminal procedure model. Anti-corruption components of the CPC, however, went into effect nationwide as of October 2008. -------------- RTC/Lima Completes Final Course for 2008 and other ILEA News -------------- ¶12. (U) ILEA RTC/Lima completed the Senior Officials Awareness course on Trafficking in Persons (TIP) at end of October, the final course for 2008. Current PNP operations manager General Adolfo Mattos has been moved to another PNP position. It is unclear at this time if he will continue with his responsibility as ILEA administrator for the PNP or if that will be given to his replacement. -------------- New TIP Information Campaign -------------- ¶13. (U) The Lima office of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) rolled out a new nationwide information campaign focused on domestic trafficking in Peru. The roll out event included information on the success of the Ministry of Interior's hotline, two television ads and two radio spots focusing on the common methodologies used in Peru to trick victims into sexual exploitation and forced labor. The extensive national press coverage highlights the growing interest and sensitivity of Peruvian journalists to the local trafficking problem. MCKINLEY