PERU ARRESTS LEADER OF COCA PROTEST

LIMA, Peru (AP) - Police arrested a prominent coca farming leader Friday as
protests in rural Peru against the eradication of coca - the base
ingredient in cocaine - moved into their fourth day.

Police in the city of Ayacucho, 205 miles southeast of Lima, told The
Associated Press that they arrested Nelson Palomino, head of the Apurimac
River Valley Agricultural Producers Federation, for alleged "terrorist
propagandizing."

Hundreds of poor farmers in the jungle town of Aguaytia, 235 miles
northeast of Lima, began blocking isolated highways on Tuesday in protest
of government programs to destroy illegal coca crops.

Palomino's arrest is believed to be an attempt to stop the spread of
solidarity protests, which have sprung up in the Ucayali region.

Interior Vice Minister Roberto Vasquez said police have identified protest
leaders who they believe are tied to drug traffickers and "are taking
measures."

Peru was once the world's leading coca producer, but cut crops from 285,000
acres in 1995 to 84,000 acres in 2001, thanks to low coca prices,
eradication and programs to help farmers grow alternate crops. The acreage
increased last year to 90,400 acres, mainly due to the intensifying civil
war in neighboring Colombia.

Increasing demand has raised coca prices in Peru from about $2 a pound in
1998 to almost $9 a pound last year, according to government statistics.