HomeNewsBriefPeru Sets Record Coca Eradication Target for 2014
BRIEF

Peru Sets Record Coca Eradication Target for 2014

COCA / 6 JAN 2014 BY CHARLES PARKINSON EN

The Peruvian government has set a target of 30,000 hectares of coca crops to be eradicated in 2014, a more than 30 percent increase on the record eradication registered in 2013, perhaps hoping to lose its recently acquired position as the world's number one cocaine producer.  

The target was announced on January 4 by the government's National Commission for Development and Life without Drugs (Devida) and follows the eradication of 23,600 hectares of coca crops in 2013 -- exceeding the 2013 target of 18,000 hectares by more than 30 percent, reported Los Tiempos.

SEE ALSO: Coverage of Coca

Much of the success seen in 2013 came as a result of large-scale eradication in the Upper Huallaga Valley, a key coca growing region. However, in announcing the new 2014 target, Devida’s president Carmen Mesias acknowledged that it could only be achieved by entering the VRAEM, the Apurimac, Ene and Mantaro River Valleys, an inhospitable collection of river basins which is the last remaining stronghold of the country’s Shining Path guerrilla insurgency.

InSight Crime Analysis

Peru is now the world’s primary producer of coca and cocaine, something Peruvian President Ollanta Humala may be seeking to redress through such ambitious targets.

His government -- which came to power in mid-2011 -- initially received strong criticism for its poor performance fighting drug production, with Humala’s original drug czar, Ricardo Soberon, attracting criticism from US officials for halting eradication efforts, until he was removed in January 2012.

Humala’s government has since won praise for its aggressive eradication efforts, which have been boosted by the apparent demise of the Shining Path in the Upper Huallaga Valley, allowing more effective government efforts in the area.

Overseeing eradication in the VRAEM poses a more significant challenge, with the Shining Path faction exercising considerable control over cultivation and trafficking. Peru does not allow aerial fumigation, as has been the mainstay of eradication in neighboring Colombia, placing manual eradicators at risk of attack from the guerrillas.

Peru’s outstanding eradication performance in 2013 came at the same time Colombia failed to hit its targets, after aerial fumigation was halted by guerrilla attacks. Nevertheless, Colombia still eradicated more than 70,000 hectares over the course of the year, meaning Peru will face an uphill challenge shaking off its status as the world’s primary coca producer should Colombia begin aerial fumigation again.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Tags

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

COCA / 2 JUN 2022

Rich in resources, Peru's Amazon is being plundered at an accelerated rate, losing more than 26,000 square kilometers of forest…

BRAZIL / 4 APR 2023

In Leticia, a tri-border between Colombia, Brazil, and Peru, Brazilian gangs are pushing up violence as the battle for control.

BOLIVIA / 2 SEP 2022

Peru coca prices are low. And that's leading to potential cocaine production in Bolivia.

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…