Peru Prepares Major Offensive Against Shining Path In VRAE – Report

President Ollanta Humala’s government is preparing a large-scale offensive against remnants of the Shining Path insurgency in the isolated coca-growing Apurimac and Ene river valleys, or VRAE, daily El Comercio reported, citing Reuters. The report said the offensive is the biggest in almost two decades, and seeks to deliver a major blow to the Shining [...]

Peru’s coca growing areas increase for 4th consecutive year, UN reports

Peru’s failure to stem the growth of coca production was reconfirmed in the United Nations’ International Narcotics Control Board report, released this week.   Also released this week was the U.S. State Department’s annual report on International Narcotics Control Strategy. According to the UN report, in 2009 the number of hectares used for coca cultivation had increased for [...]

Huanuco military base attack, one soldier killed

An attack on a military base in Peru’s coca growing Huanuco department has left one soldier dead, daily El Comercio reported. The attack occurred early Monday morning at the base located in Huanuco’s Leoncio Prado province. Authorities believe that drug traffickers are responsible for the assault in retaliation to the military’s discovery of a drug [...]

Defense Minister: New equipment will allow military to defeat drug traffickers in VRAE

Peru’s purchase of modern military equipment will allow the country’s Armed Forces to defeat drug traffickers in the isolated coca growing areas that cover the Apurímac and Ene river valley’s, known as the VRAE, Defense Minister Rafael Rey told state news agency Andina. Rey said that for a long time the armed forces had older [...]

Devida: Peru to spend $32 million in 2010 on counternarcotics programs

Peru’s government will spend 93 million soles, about $32 million, in 2010 to combat drug trafficking, according to the head of the anti-drug agency Devida, Rómulo Pizarro. Pizarro said last week that 40 million soles, or $14 million, will be used to finance sustainable development projects in the coca growing areas that cover the Apurímac [...]

INCB: Cocaine production increases in Peru; down in South America

The International Narcotics Control Board, in its annual report released on Wednesday,called on Peru’s government to enhance its programs to reduce the country’s growing illicit cultivation of coca and consequent drug supply. The United Nations agency said in its 2009 report that the area used to cultivate coca leaf – the raw material used to [...]

European Union to help Peru with “war on drugs” as of 2010

As of 2010, the European Union will help Peru with its “war on drugs” by funding alternative crops and reforestation projects as well as by providing police training,  according to the President of Peru’s National Commission for the Development of Life without Drugs, or Devida.

Comrade “Artemio” wounded during confrontation with police in Peru’s Huallaga Valley

Comrade “Artemio,” the only known Shining Path leader from the group’s original directorate, was wounded during an armed confrontation with police before managing to escape Tuesday morning in the Huánuco district of Yanajanca. According to police, in his race to get away, Artemio left behind flyers, personal documents, and a CD filled with sensitive information [...]

Devida: drug trafficking is contributing to deforestation and contaminating rivers in Peru’s Amazon region

More than 15 million liters of toxic chemicals used in the processing of coca and production of coca paste and cocaine are dumped into the Amazon’s rivers every year, reported Peru’s National Commission for the Development of Life without Drugs, or Devida on Thursday. “The perverse business of drug trafficking has no consideration for the [...]

Giant coca paste maceration pit smashed by police in jungle Department of Loreto

A giant coca paste maceration pit — measuring more than 25 meters in length — was found in Peru’s Amazon Department of Loreto and destroyed by police, daily El Comercio reported Monday. As part of “Operation Piranha,” 35 anti-drug police left Iquitos for the isolated jungle town of San Isidro late Thursday night. Because of [...]

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