DANGERS STILL REAL IN PERU

Peru is still a tough place for diligent journalists, but it's not nearly
as dangerous as it was in 1989 when Todd C. Smith was killed while
reporting on the coun try's link to Colombian drug cartels.

Thirty-one journalists, including Smith, have been killed in the South
American country since 1983, says a spokeswoman for the Committee to
Protect Journalists in New York City. The last one was slain in 1993.

"The type of attacks on the press in Peru has definitely changed. There
hasn't been a lot of killings for reprisal. This is obviously a very
positive sign," says CPJ's Marylene Smeets.

Worldwide, 474 journalists were killed between 1987 and 1996, according to
CPJ.

Earlier this year, Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori was named by CPJ as
one of the 10 worst enemies of the press.

"Fujimori's intelligence arm has engaged in assassination plans, death
threats, wiretapping, surveillance and smear tactics to harass and imperil
journalists, often forcing or ordering them into exile," states a CPJ article.

Ironically, Fujimori, who took office in 1990, has claimed credit for the
near-elimination of the Shining Path terrorists, the group accused of
working with drug traffickers to kill Smith.

The group's top leader, Oscar Ramirez Durand, was captured by army
commandos in July following a two-week pursuit through mountains and
jungle. Known as Comrade Feliciano, he was the last national leader of the
Maoist insurgency to be caught.

Fujimori said Durand's capture represented the "decapitation" of the group.

The Shining Path's army of 10,000 in the early 1990s is now believed to
number fewer than 1,000. The rebels remain in the Huallaga Valley and
Ayacucho, the birthplace of the rebellion.

More than 30,000 people, including soldiers, rebels and bystanders, have
died in Peru since the group took up arms in 1980.

In 1995, authorities began an intensive effort to interdict the airplanes
carrying coca paste from Peru to Colombia for processing, says Michael
Greenwald of the U.S. Embassy in Lima.

"Before that, narcos were flying with impunity," he says.

The efforts appear to be working, Greenwald says. Peru remains a top coca
producer, but cultivation has been cut in half since 1995, according to the
U.S. State Department.

The price paid to Peruvian farmers by drug traffickers dropped considerably
when getting the paste out of the country became difficult, Greenwald says.

"A lot of farmers have abandoned their coca fields," he says, turning
instead to legitimate crops such as coffee beans and cacao, used in chocolate.

With the near-elimination of the Shining Path terrorists and the drug
traffickers, the government is now teaching villagers the concepts of
self-government, Greenwald says.