US chews out Peru on coca eradication; Bolivia chews back
US chews out Peru on coca eradication; Bolivia chews back
Submitted by WW4 Report on Mon, 03/26/2012 - 20:53.
The US State Department's 2012 International Narcotics Control Strategy report contains harsh words for Peru, lamenting the country's "slow advance" in coca leaf eradication. The report says the country has 53,000 hectares under coca cultivation. Colombia has 100,000 hectares—but Peru's total has increased in recent years, while Colombia's has dropped. (Although Peru has challenged these claims.) The report calls out Peru's Customs Service, Coast Guard, Port Authority and Publica Ministry as blocking progress in the anti-narcotics struggle. State Department analyst Pedro Yaranga told Lima's La Republica that "there does not exist a decision to attack the coca source areas [cuencas cocaleras]." He particularly named the Upper Huallaga Valley and Apurímac-Ene River Valley (VRAE).
Last year, the Peruvian coca eradication agency DEVIDA eradicated more than 10,000 hectares of coca, said to be equivalent to 71 tons of export-quality cocaine. The goal for 2012 is to eradicate 14,000 hectares, and to begin eradication in new areas. (Colombia Reports, March 12; Peruvian Tiimes, March 10; La Republica, March 9; DIPNOTE State Department blog, March 6)
The report charges that Bolivia, Venezuela and Burma "failed demonstrably" last year to adhere to their obligations under international counter-narcotics agreements. This claim comes after moves by the Obama administration to censure Venezuela and Bolivia for perceived drug war failures. (El Universal, Caracas, March 8) The State Department narcotics reports have repeatedly singled out these nations in recent years.
As the report was released, Bolivia’s President Evo Morales admonished the meeting of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Vienna for continuing to ban the coca leaf. Actually brandishing a coca leaf before the august body, Morales said there was no data to show that the coca leaf has adverse effects on human beings. Said Morales: "I call upon you to correct, to repair an error that has gone on for more than 50 years. Because it is only just to recognize legal consumption of coca leaf chewing." He plugged products such as coca marmalade, as well as the more traditional coca tea.
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