Peru’s Interior Minister supervises the arrival of more than 7 tons of cocaine at the police airport in Lima, on 9/1/14. Getty Images
Peru is aiming to blast the scourge of drug trafficking out of the sky. A report released by the country’s National Commission for Development and Life without Drugs (DEVIDA) on Monday showed that a single radar station detected 175 “narcoflights” entering from Bolivia between May 10 and August 23. According to Congressman Emiliano Apaza, who drew upon military statistics over roughly the same time period, a total of 222 such flights were detected. Apaza claimed that these planes’ purpose was to load up and then transport 77 tons of drugs out the Peruvian valley of the Apurímac, Ene, and Mantaro rivers.
He also noted that between 600 and 1,000 flights have illegally entered Peru this year, 95% of which came from Bolivia. Another congressman, Carlos Tubino, declared that of the 320,000kg of cocaine produced in Peru, 180,000kg were aerially transported out via Bolivia. Cross-border drug trafficking is an issue that alarms both neighboring Andean countries, and they have ramped up their response.
Between January and June the two countries conducted over 5,000 joint counternarcotics operations in their border region. The results were impressive: 7.3 tons of hydrochloride and 6 tons of base paste for cocaine were seized, 1,485 cocaine labs were destroyed in the Bolivian jungle, 1,653 people of numerous nationalities were arrested, and 50 illegal airstrips were dynamited.
Since President Ollanta Humala took office in 2011, Peru has eradicated a record amount of coca crops (used to make cocaine) with U.S. assistance. But the government has been criticized for seizing a relatively small amount of cocaine and leaving the air link to Bolivia undisturbed.
However, last week the Peruvian Congress unanimously approved legislation that allows the country’s air force to shoot down small planes suspected of carrying illegal drugs. “The new standard seeks to reduce to zero the overflight of these aircraft. It does not seek to knock them down, but rather dissuade them… The law is quite technical, there is a protocol of various steps prior to knocking down a plane,” said DEVIDA Executive President Alberto Otárola. Other countries in the region, including Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela and Bolivia, already permit such planes to be shot down, albeit with strict guidelines, reported the BBC.
Meanwhile, on August 17, the U.N. praised Bolivia’s progress in eradicating coca crops. The area under cultivation fell by 11% last year and by one third since 2010, although further substantial reductions are not in the cards. At its lowest level in 13 years, the 20,400 hectares (79 square miles) of coca is just 400 hectares more than what President Evo Morales’ government allows select farmers to legally grow.
Morales said the drop proves Bolivian-style coca eradication is more effective and humane than the tougher U.S.-backed methods — “external military intervention,” as he described it- long employed in Colombia and Peru. “Bolivia’s success is explained by the efforts of the government and social control of the ‘cocalero’ unions and, more important, it’s been done peacefully and with respect for human rights,” added Antonino De Leo, the top U.N. drugs and crime agency official in Bolivia. According to U.N. statistics, Bolivia now accounts for 15% of overall coca cultivation, while Colombia leads with 52% and Peru comes in second with 33%.
Shooting down narcoflights won’t end drug trafficking, but it will restore Peru’s sovereign airspace.
