There She Blows!

Peru Suspends Coca Eradication

Peru’s newly elected center-left government has announced that it will temporarily suspend its coca eradication program while it re-evaluates the government’s anti-drug policies. While it might seem counter-intuitive to suspend the policy of coca eradication, experts point out that it is merely a temporary halt of a policy that has been failing for over a decade and is funded by $70 million U.S. dollars annually. And yet, Peru failed to notify the U.S. about the suspension. “It would have been nice to have been informed in advance,” said U.S. ambassador Rose Likins.

Peru’s new anti-drug chief, Ricadro Soberdon, says that the government is seeking a more effective way to utilize the U.S. monetary support. Despite the generous US funding, Peru, which is the world’s second largest cocaine producer after Colombia, has eliminated only a small percentage of coca grown in the country and the amount of coca in cultivation is increasing.

There has also been little indication as to how Peru plans on improving the anti-drug program; a bad omen for those hoping the country will be able to win the war on drugs. One of the few concrete ideas mentioned by Defense Minister Daniel Mora is incorporating the use of satellite technology to detect the illegal coca and encourage the growth of alternative crops.

It looks like Peru won’t be winning the fight against drugs anytime soon!

Read more at the Global Post.