HomeNewsBriefPeru Ups Anti-Drug Budget, But Is It Enough?
BRIEF

Peru Ups Anti-Drug Budget, But Is It Enough?

COLOMBIA / 6 MAR 2014 BY MIMI YAGOUB EN

Peru plans to dedicate $300 million to anti-drug efforts in 2014, showing the country's commitment to diminishing its role in the cocaine trade, though the sum is small when compared with the amount of money that has been poured into similar efforts in neighboring Colombia over past years.

Peruvian Prime Minister Rene Cornejo noted that the budget represented an increase on the $278 million set aside for counternarcotics efforts in 2013, reported El Comercio.

The European Union (EU), meanwhile, has pledged $44 million in anti-drug assistance to Peru over the next four and a half years, reported RPP. The money will be used to provide technical assistance to Peruvian bodies dedicated to combating the drug trade. Additionally, EU experts will help improve controls at the country's ports and airports.

During the signing of the agreement with the EU, Cornejo said that as Peru's illegal drug trade "largely exceeds" the country's capacities to combat it, the government will rely on international support for anti-narcotics efforts.

Cornejo also reiterated that this year the country hopes to eradicate 30,000 hectares of coca, up from the record 23,600 hectares of coca crop eradicated in 2013.

While Peru's anti-drug budget is increasing and the EU is stepping in, US aid is on the decline. According to Just the Facts data, the White House cut narcotics control and law enforcement assistance to Peru by 10 percent in 2014 compared with 2013.

InSight Crime Analysis

Though eradication efforts in Peru have shown success over the past few years, the country remains the world's primary producer of both coca and cocaine. Total illegal coca cultivation rose from 46,200 hectares to 62,500 hectares between 2001 and 2011, according to a 2013 report by the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB).

SEE ALSO: Coverage of Coca

While Peru's increasing anti-drug budget, as well as its optimistic coca eradication goals, shows a growing commitment to combat this problem, this funding is still relatively low when compared to the billions of dollars poured into regional efforts by the US in past years, much of which has been directed to Colombia and Mexico. Peru's coca-growing neighbor, Colombia, has received over 31 percent of US military and police aid to the region over the past six years, according to Just the Facts.

US aid has been tapering off in Latin America, with the United States planning to cut anti-drug funds to the region by a further $285 million for 2015. Various Latin American countries have begun turning to other sources of technical assistance and equipment, such as the EU and China, while Colombia has stepped up as a regional provider of police training and support.

US efforts have largely shifted to the Central American drug trafficking corridor, as that region's importance to the transnational drug trade continues to increase.

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.

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

AUC / 11 MAR 2022

Alleged drug trafficker alias "Memo Fantasma" or "Will the Ghost," was formally charged during a March 9 virtual audience, of…

COCAINE / 21 NOV 2022

Feuding guerrilla factions for control of Colombia’s coca-rich southern state of Putumayo continue to claim dozens of lives.

COLOMBIA / 11 AUG 2022

Colombia's last remaining guerrilla group may be the linchpin to future negotiations the Colombian government is expected to enter into…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Chemical Precursor Report continues to be a reference in the region

19 MAY 2023

For the second week in a row, our investigation into the flow of precursor chemicals for the manufacture of synthetic drugs in Mexico has been cited by multiple regional media…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime’s Chemical Precursor Report Widely Cited

THE ORGANIZATION / 12 MAY 2023

We are proud to see that our recently published investigation into the supply chain of chemical precursors feeding Mexico’s synthetic drug production has been warmly received.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime’s Paraguay Election Coverage Draws Attention 

5 MAY 2023

InSight Crime looked at the various anti-organized crime policies proposed by the candidates in Paraguay’s presidential election, which was won on April 30 by Santiago Peña. Our pre-election coverage was cited…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in OAS, CARICOM Reports

28 APR 2023

This week, InSight Crime’s work was cited nine times in a new report by the Organization of American States (OAS) titled “The Impact of Organized Crime on Women,…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Staff Cited as Experts by International Media

21 APR 2023

This week, InSight Crime deputy editor, Juan Diego Posada, was interviewed by the Associated Press about connections between the ex-FARC mafia and Brazilian criminal groups, and…