In Peru, difficult to control coca plantations in times of coronavirus

Audio 02:07

By: Eric Samson Follow

The Covid-19 pandemic largely undermined efforts to eradicate illegal coca plantations in South America, particularly in Peru. In this country as in Bolivia, coca is legally used to be chewed, especially in the Andes, but also to make teas and other products. It is also the raw material for cocaine hydrochloride. A raw material whose price has dropped due to a pandemic.

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The historic result of last year's coca plantation eradication operations is a distant memory in Peru. While more than 25,000 hectares of coca were destroyed in 2019 as in 2018, Interior Minister Gaston Rodríguez confirmed that since the beginning of the year, only 1,430 hectares of coca have been eradicated. By rounding it is eight times less in a year.

It is obviously the general confinement of nearly three and a half months in Peru that is behind the collapse of the figures for the reduction of coca plantations. It was indeed impossible for biosecurity reasons to mobilize the coca leaf eradication teams by planes and helicopters. The Minister of the Interior, during a virtual meeting with the foreign press, also acknowledged that the 2020 figure "would  not even approach that of the last two years  ".

Gaston Rodriguez however indicated that operations will resume as soon as the quarantine is lifted. This will be possible thanks to a fleet of 21 helicopters and land resources that the United States makes available to Peru for the transport of personnel who destroy the plantations and who are gradually emerging from containment.

In the meantime, the prices of the raw material for cocaine-based pulp are still plummeting in the area known as VRAEM, the Valley of the Apurimac, Ene and Mantaro Rivers. Since January, the coca leaf has lost 50% of its value and that of cocaine hydrochloride nearly 20%. The price per kilo of drugs is currently 1,700 dollars, just over 1,500 euros. This is not the case everywhere: the price is stable in the area of ​​the triple border between Peru, Brazil and Colombia… it would have even increased slightly in the region of Cuzco, according to the president of Devida, the National Commission for Development and Drug-Free Life.

This drop in anti-drug activities has also limited operations to prohibit overflights of traffickers' planes throughout the central region of Peru. The pandemic risks having another consequence: even if the price of the coca leaf is low, many farmers may be tempted to plant it in order to survive an economic crisis which is looming extremely severe in Peru where more 9,000 victims of the pandemic have been confirmed.

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• Peru