Peru has formally requested support from the United States to develop a plan to combat drug trafficking. The strategy would focus on reducing coca cultivation, cocaine production, and eventual export, while the country intensifies security measures at its borders.
Peruvian Foreign Minister Javier González-Olaechea formalized the request in December 2023 during a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and said he would travel to the United States in February so that, together they could analyze and shape the agreement.
“To better attack narcotrafficking, Peru fundamentally requires […] logistics support, technology, armaments, and much more sustained prospective intelligence work,” Pedro Yaranga, a Peruvian international analyst, told Diálogo on January 17. “The support that the U.S. could provide in these areas, together with the support of specialized agencies like the FBI and the DEA, would be fundamental.”
“Peru is a cocaine exporting country […]. We are concerned about the production and exportation of cocaine and its derivatives, that is why I suggested [to Blinken] the possibility of having a similar Plan Colombia, adapted to our national reality,” Minister González-Olaechea told the press.
Plan Colombia, or the Plan for Peace, Prosperity, and Strengthening of the State, was a 1999 Colombia-United States bilateral agreement. Its objectives were social and economic revitalization, ending the internal armed conflict, and creating an anti-drug trafficking strategy.
The Plan consisted of a $1.3 billion aid package, 80 percent of which was earmarked to strengthen the operational capability of the security forces and 20 percent for economic and social assistance. It was a fundamental milestone in the rapprochement between both countries in their security cooperation, and key in the process of modernizing Colombia’s security forces, the Colombian Truth Commission indicated on its website.
“We need high-tech equipment and many things that Peru lacks,” the minister said. “We have not yet discussed [U.S. troops access to Peru], although if the case were to arise we would follow the path established by the Constitution; that the Parliament authorizes the entry of specialized personnel to train the Police and our Armed Forces.”
Frank Casas, a Peruvian expert in citizen security, told Argentine news site Infobae that Peru could reach a situation similar to that of Ecuador, which has been experiencing an explosion of drug-related violence, which the government is working hard to stamp out.
“The risk of violence has been there for approximately two years, due to the exclusive presence of these organized groups that have territorial control,” Casas said. “It’s something that did not happen before, but that means that at any moment it could explode.”
Faced with the situation in Ecuador, Peru secured its borders. Military authorities in Colombia reported having information that José Adolfo Macias, leader of the Los Choneros gang, who disappeared from his prison cell and led the Ecuadorian government to declare a state of emergency, intends to cross the border into Peru. Los Choneros group is one of the main culprits behind the violence in Ecuador, Infobae reported.
Yaranga is categorical in that intelligence work should focus on Peru’s coastal area, which includes the mega-port of Chancay, currently under construction and is slated for inauguration by the end of 2024. This port is being built by Chinese state-owned Cosco Shipping Ports, which has been condemned for bribery, cost overruns, delays in the execution of the works, damage to the populations surrounding its projects, and serious environmental impact.
“With the Port of Chancay, crime will increase, because it’s going to be a port hub in Latin America,” Yaranga said. “We must detect and control what goes in and out of that port, to avoid an accumulation of crime.”
“I heard a police commander say at a Peruvian Armed Forces event that there was pressure to minimize security controls in Chancay, because very intrusive security could raise operating costs and increase the time of port activities,” Peruvian international relations expert Farid Kahhat, told Peruvian journalism platform La Mula. “We will have to internalize those costs and those timeframes. If we don’t have adequate security measures [in Chancay] in Peru what happened in Ecuador could happen very soon.”