US embassy cable - 05LIMA2187

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 LIMA 002187 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR INL, WHA/AND, DS/DSS/ITA, DS/IP/WHA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SNAR, ASEC, PGOV, PINS, PE 
SUBJECT: KILLINGS AND KIDNAPPINGS BY INDIGENOUS GROUP 
APPARENTLY NOT CONNECTED TO OPIUM TRADE 
 
 
Sensitive but Unclassified.  Please protect accordingly. 
 
1.   (SBU) Summary:  The murder of four health workers 
followed by the kidnapping of a journalist and his assistant 
by indigenous Aguaruna tribesmen sparked speculation that 
these incidents were linked to efforts to cover up local 
opium cultivation and trafficking.  An ongoing police 
investigation, however, indicates that this is not/not the 
case.  The two hostages were released on 5/10, after a 
high-level GOP team agreed to consider Aguaruna requests for 
health, education, and communication infrastructure 
assistance. The Aguaruna agreed to cooperate with the police 
investigation and denied that opium was being cultivated in 
the area, inviting the authorities to overfly the area.  A 
U.S. AT-65 plane conducting reconnaissance for possible opium 
poppy fields temporarily suspended operations in the area 
during the hostage crisis, but we intend to resume flights 
there soon.  End Summary. 
 
2.  (U) On 5/6 a group of Aguarunas, an indigenous people, 
took a journalist and his assistant hostage in Pampa Entsa in 
the province of Condorcanqui, Amazonas Department.  A 
high-level Technical Commission composed of Ministry of 
Interior representatives and police met with Aguaruna 
leadership on 5/10 and successfully negotiated the release of 
the two hostages.  The Aguaruna leaders agreed to cooperate 
with the police investigation into the killing of four GOP 
health workers in late April, and invited the authorities to 
fly around the site of the murders (Tagkijap) to confirm 
Aguaruna claims that there are no/no opium poppy fields in 
the area.  The Aguaruna leadership also requested that the 
GOP construct health and education centers and roads in the 
communities and install community telephones, radios, and 
solar panels.  The Commission agreed to bring these requests 
back to the appropriate government agencies. 
 
3.  (U) On 5/3 a search party in Numpatkain discovered the 
four bodies of a Ministry of Health team which had been 
missing since 4/20.  The team had been providing medical 
assistance to Aguaruna communities.  Press reports indicate 
that three of the four had been killed by shots to the head, 
while the fourth had been beaten to death, but our police 
sources have not yet confirmed this report. On 5/5 the 
Organization of Indigenous People of the Northern Amazon 
Region of Peru released a statement claiming that inebriated 
Aguaruna tribesmen in the community of Tagkijap had murdered 
the health team.  The statement explained that some women in 
the community had complained that the victims obliged them to 
disrobe in public for examinations and that the tribesmen, 
who had been celebrating Mitayo, a traditional festival, 
responded with a drunken rampage. 
 
4.  (SBU) Some press and local leaders, however, speculated 
that the deaths were related to narcotrafficking as they 
believe there is significant opium poppy cultivation and 
trafficking in the area.  National Police and Public Ministry 
authorities are investigating the murders; the latest 
information we have received indicates that the authorities 
believe that the murders were not/not narco-related. 
 
5.  (SBU) According to conversations with contacts familiar 
with the program, the health workers were unlikely to behave 
in a grossly insensitive manner since they were trained and 
at least two of the four were experienced in the communities. 
 The health worker program (ELITE) has been in place since 
1998 with no other fatal incidents.  One year ago, another 
ELITE group was denied access to an Aguaruna community 
because the community feared the health workers were police. 
According to sources, one month prior to the murders, 
Aguarunas in the community believed that police were looking 
for opium poppy around their community. 
 
6.  (SBU) A U.S. AT-65 plane conducting reconnaissance for 
possible opium poppy fields in the area temporarily suspended 
operations in the region, pending resolution of the Aguaruna 
situation.  The plane was deployed to the Tingo Maria area to 
continue reconnaissance in the meantime. 
 
7.  (SBU) COMMENT:  Intelligence gathered from local 
authorities and the police points to large-scale opium poppy 
cultivation and a surge in violent crime in the area in 
question, especially around the town of Jaen.  While the 
Aguaruna have not/not been previously linked to the opium 
trade, it is certainly possible that they have reached an 
understanding with traffickers.  Most Aguaruna are 
monolingual and have limited contact with the outside world, 
but bilingual members of the community could act as 
go-betweens.  The Aguaruna lands are remote and largely 
off-limits to GOP officials, making them potentially 
attractive to opium poppy growers and traffickers.  END 
COMMENT. 
STRUBLE