Peru- Coca / Cocaine - World’s Top Producer.
April 1, 2008
Coca cultivation is an old tradition practiced by Ancient Andean Inca Empire. The Incas used coca for religious and medical purposes and chewed the coca leaves as a method of easing hunger, protection from cold in the high Andean altitudes. It is assumed that 80% of the rural Andean population use coca leaf for healthcare purposes.
Cocaine originates in the jungles of Peru and Columbia. The coca plant is cultivated, harvested, reduced to a paste and then flown to Columbia to make cocaine for shipment to the U.S, U.K and the Caribbean to be consumed.
Since the 1980’s, the primary coca growing and drug trafficking activities in Peru have been in the upper Huallaga Valley before finding its way to Peru ports from where it is being shipped to other countries. In an underdeveloped country like Peru, transportation from farmland to the market is difficult. A pound of coca paste is easily moved.
Air transportation is the most costly for shipping cocaine products while river shipments took longer to complete and run a greater risk of losing cocaine and being caught by law enforcement officials. Ninety percent of Peru’s cocaine is flown directly to Columbia and other countries via small civil aviation aircrafts. These aircrafts illegally entered Peru’s airspace and flew without legitimate flights.
People have chewed coca leaves for centuries but over the last twenty years has coca become a major cash crop. It supports local economies, feeds inflation and affects the social behaviors of individuals worldwide. The production of coca now has ties to organized crime and an increase in drug addiction. Nearly seventy five percent of Peru population is unemployed due to the severe economic hardship. However, many peasant farmers in the rural areas have turned to coca production which is the most profitable cash crop in the Andes.
The rise in cocaine production shows that the America’s emphasis on targeting coca growers need to change. The solution lies in the focusing on other links of the drug chain such as money laundering and corruption.
The missing link to the drug chain has been rebuilt and coca prices would soon rise again. However, Peru would resume to race to regain its status as the worlds’ top coca producer, lost to Columbia decades ago.
When the US and UK citizens understand how profoundly the drug trade is part of the Peruvian Society, hopefully they will put efforts to eradicate coca seedbeds and conduct law enforcement operations against drug traffickers.
How do you feel about the prevalence of illicit substances around impressionable children and the reinforcement of a strong family centric upbringing?
Apsana
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