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Weekly Report - 8 September 2011 (WR-11-36)

PERU: Does forced eradication work?

The new administration of President Ollanta Humala appears to think not. It argues that forced eradication on its own is counterproductive when other aspects of the narco-trade are not fully addressed. The new administration has listed as additional priorities the need for a stiffer crackdown on organised crime and money laundering, the control of precursor processing materials, better policing and the provision of alternative rural livelihoods. It will be a challenge for the Humala government to implement a policy that satisfies at once Peru’s international counternarcotics partners, Humala’s cocalero support base and a local society increasingly infiltrated by narco-cash. It will have to forge a tricky balance between a hardline military strategy and a social focus on rural development. To complicate things, President Humala controversially picked Ricardo Soberón as the new head of Devida, the national drug control commission. Soberón has close links with coca-growing unions, which critics fear could slant his outlook.

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