US embassy cable - 05LIMA4217

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 LIMA 004217 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SNAR, PGOV, PINS, PE 
SUBJECT: CONSTITUTIONAL TRIBUNAL RULES REGIONAL COCA 
ORDINANCES UNCONSTITUTIONAL 
 
REF: A. LIMA 3416 
     B. LIMA 3264 
     C. LIMA 3033 
     D. LIMA 2813 
     E. LIMA 2699 
 
1.  SUMMARY:  The Constitutional Tribunal (TC), on 9/27, 
ruled unconstitutional the pro-coca ordinances issued by the 
Cuzco and Huanuco regional governments.  While siding with 
the GOP on the main legal point -- that coca policy is 
exclusively within the national government's domain -- the TC 
also harshly criticized the government's coca policies and 
their implementation, exhorted the GOP and its anti-drug 
agency DEVIDA to implement more effectively its Program of 
Alternative Development, called on the Congress to include 
the coca plant in the list of plants recognized as "Natural 
Patrimony of the Nation," and asked the National Institute of 
Culture to declare the traditional use of coca as "Cultural 
Patrimony."  The TC's recommendations to recognize 
traditional coca as national or cultural patrimony are of 
concern, and we will be consulting with our counter-narcotics 
and legal sector contacts as to their  implications.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
2.  The TC's decision was announced on 9/27, just four days 
after it held oral hearings on the GOP's challenge to the 
Huanuco and Cuzco coca ordinances (Refs A, B, D, E).  In its 
59-page ruling (available at www.tc.gob.pe), the Tribunal: 
 
--  held that the Cuzco and Huanuco regional governments' 
pro-coca ordinances were unconstitutional. 
 
--  called on President Alejandro Toledo to re-evaluate 
Peru's national and international anti-narcotics policies so 
as to make them more "efficient and in accordance with the 
national and regional law and reality," in particular with 
the critique of the GOP's policy made by the consultancy 
Grupo de Analisis para el Desarrollo (Analyis Group for 
Development or GRADE), whose findings that the GOP placed too 
much emphasis on forced eradication and not enough on 
interdicting precursor chemicals were cited approvingly by 
the TC in paragraphs 135-142 of its ruling. 
 
--  called on Congress to include, "as soon as possible," the 
coca leaf plant in the list of plants recognized as "Natural 
Patrimony of the Nation." 
 
--  called on the National Institute of Culture to initiate 
the administrative proceedings necessary "to evaluate the 
technical appropriateness of declaring the traditional use of 
the coca leaf plant as non-material cultural patrimony, in 
conformance with international rules." 
 
--  called on the Executive Branch, and in particular DEVIDA, 
to adopt the necessary measures to implement, "as soon as 
possible," the Program of Alternative Development provided in 
the National Strategy in the Fight Against Drugs 2002-2007, 
which was approved by Supreme Decree in 2005. 
 
3.  DEVIDA Director General Fernando Hurtado praised the TC's 
decision, which he claimed "cleansed" the country's 
international image that had been tarnished by the regional 
coca ordinances.  Hurtado went on to urge Congress to pass 
the Coca Leaf Law proposed earlier this year by the 
government (Ref C), commenting that this law, combined with 
the issuance of regulations implementing the Precursor 
Chemicals Law should provide the GOP with the tools to carry 
out the TC's directives. 
 
4.  Independent Moralizing Front (FIM) Congressman Fausto 
Alvarado said that his party, which had previously supported 
fellow-FIM Cuzco Regional President Carlos Cuaresma on the 
Cuzco coca ordinance, accepted the TC's ruling and would 
abide by it.  Alvarado added, however, that the Cuzco 
Regional Government had the right to take the "measures it 
deems convenient" in response.  Cuaresma himself said that he 
would obey the ruling, hinted that Cuzco may appeal it to 
higher legal bodies (i.e., the Inter-American Court of Human 
Rights), and warned that it could spark cocalero protests. 
 
5.  Huanuco Regional Vice President Hamilton Estacio also 
stated that the Huanuco Regional Government would respect the 
TC's decision.  He added that it would continue to promote 
the registration of Huanuco cocaleros as licit growers and 
oppose the forced eradication of coca leaf. 
 
6.  COMMENT:  The Constitutional Tribunal's ruling clearly 
establishes the essential constitutional/legal doctrine that 
anti-narcotics and coca leaf policy in Peru are the exclusive 
domains of the national government.  This should obviate 
concerns that regional and municipal authorities will attempt 
to issue their own coca/drug regimes.  The TC's critique of 
GOP anti-drug policies and their implementation, as well as 
its recommendations to recognize traditional coca leaf and 
its use as national and cultural patrimony are of concern, 
however, and we will be consulting with our counter-narcotics 
and legal contacts as to their implications.  END COMMENT. 
STRUBLE