US embassy cable - 05LIMA3998

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LIMA 003998 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/13/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, SNAR, PE 
SUBJECT: APRA LEADER SUPPORTS ERADICATION, REELS IN 
REGIONAL PRESIDENT 
 
REF: A. LIMA 3264 
 
     B. LIMA 2813 
 
Classified By: Political Counselor Alexander Margulies.  Reason:  1.4(d 
). 
 
1. (SBU) SUMMARY: APRA Party leader (and former President) 
Alan Garcia, on 9/9, publicly declared illegal coca should be 
eradicated and that coca eradication policy is the purview of 
the GOP, not regional governments.  Garcia was responding to 
warnings by La Libertad Regional President Homero Burgos, 
also an APRA member, that the latter would push for a 
regional ordinance to prevent forced coca eradication in his 
department; Burgos quickly backed down following Garcia's 
pronouncement of the party line.  Garcia's strong 
pro-eradication stance may be a logical extension of his 
criticism of Cuzco Regional President Carlos Cuaresma's (of 
the anti-Aprista FIM party) attempt to promulgate a pro-coca 
ordinance, but it also followed continued Embassy lobbying of 
high-level APRA officials to derail pro-coca initiatives by 
regional officials.  END SUMMARY. 
 
2. (U) Burgos, on 9/7, told a delegation of cocaleros from 
the Ongon district, Pataz Province, that he would submit to 
the Regional Council a regional ordinance prohibiting the 
forced eradication of coca crops.  Burgos subsequently told 
the press that he was opposed to the "unjust" eradication of 
coca, "while the government does not have an alternative plan 
with productive chains and constructs the highway to reactive 
Ongon."  (Note:  Most known coca in La Libertad is in the 
Ongon valley located on the eastern border of the region with 
the coca productive zones of Monzon, Huanuco Department, to 
the south and Tocache, San Martin Department, to the east. 
GOP Anti-drug agency DEVIDA estimates that there are over 
1,000 hectares of coca being grown around Ongon with only 26 
hectares recognized for licit use by the parastatal coca 
marketing agency/regulator ENACO.  PNP Chief for the area 
General Ocatavio Salazar Miranda confirmed in the press that 
the majority of the coca grown in the region goes directly to 
narcotraffickers.  End Note.) 
 
3.  (U)  APRA Congressman (and party co-Secretary General) 
Jorge del Castillo quickly disassociated APRA from Burgos' 
action, which he described to the media on 9/8 as, 
"non-viable, counter-productive and carried out without 
consultation" with party authorities.  Del Castillo added 
that the members of the Regional Council, most of whom belong 
to APRA, would not/not support the Regional President's 
proposal.  He concluded that APRA continues to support the 
State's struggle against illicit drug trafficking. 
 
4.  (U)  The next day, APRA party leader (and former 
President) Alan Garcia met with Burgos and publicly 
reprimanded Burgos.  Coca eradication, Garcia declared, is a 
national policy managed by the GOP and does not fall under 
the purview of regional governments.  He stressed that APRA 
supports the eradication of illegal coca crops, while also 
recognizing that additional resources and alternative crop 
assistance are needed for farmers in the Ongon area.  (NOTE: 
La Libertad is not/not a region for USAID's Alternative 
Development program.  END NOTE.)  Burgos quickly backpedaled, 
stating that he would not/not move forward on the planned 
regional ordinance and instead would just visit the Ongon 
district to study the situation. 
 
5. (C)  The Ambassador, in a 9/13 conversation with Garcia, 
took the opportunity to commend his stance on Burgos' 
initiative for a regional coca eradication ordinance.  The 
APRA leader downplayed Burgos' proposal, saying that the La 
Libertad Regional President had never proposed something as 
bad as Cuzco.  That said, Garcia allowed that Burgos was 
suckered by the mayor of Ongon; he did not know that the 
latter has a criminal conviction for narcotics trafficking. 
The thing local leaders need to do, Garcia concluded, was 
stay out of this issue and let the national government apply 
its policies. 
 
6.  (C)  Polcouns also contacted APRA's del Castillo on 9/13, 
to commend him and Garcia for their swift action to derail 
the Burgos proposal.  Del Castillo was pleased at the 
Embassy's recognition of APRA's public stance and said that 
the USG can count on APRA as an ally in the fight against 
illegal drugs. 
 
7. (U) COMMENT:  Burgos, as is the case with most regional 
presidents, is highly unpopular in his department, and likely 
advanced his anti-eradication proposal in an attempt to curry 
favor with La Libertad's cocaleros.  Given the GOP's and his 
own party's rejection of pro-coca cultivation regional 
ordinances in Cuzco and Huanuco, Burgos' initiative provides 
an indication that national issues have little relevance to 
regional authorities, particularly when local politics are at 
play.  His complaints about lack of agricultural alternatives 
are pure chutzpah.  La Libertad has been one of the principle 
beneficiaries of agricultural exports under APTDEA, a fact 
the Ambassador highlighted for the press on 9/9. 
 
8.  (C)  Garcia's firm position in favor of eradicating 
illicit coca is most welcome; no/no other presidential 
hopeful has yet staked out a similar public stance on 
eradication, though some, like Unidad Nacional's Lourdes 
Flores, have come out against narcotrafficking.  Garcia's 
action may be a logical extension of his criticism of Cuzco 
Regional President Carlos Cuaresma's (of the anti-Aprista FIM 
party) attempt to promulgate a pro-coca ordinance (Refs), but 
it also followed sustained Embassy lobbying of high-level 
APRA officials to derail pro-coca initiatives by APRA 
regional officials.  On 8/23, for example, Polcouns alerted 
del Castillo to a draft coca ordinance developed by an APRA 
regional councillor in Ayacucho; del Castillo said he would 
act on this information and the draft ordinance has yet to 
resurface.  END COMMENT. 
STRUBLE