ANTI-COCA PROGRAMS SHELVED TO PLACATE FARMERS

Peru, a nation hailed by the United States as an Andean success story in
the war on drugs, has suspended its participation in U.S.-funded
coca-eradication programs.

Also halted in the process was the related crop-substitution program, under
which Peruvian farmers are paid to grow crops other than coca.

The programs were suspended after Peruvian officials met with farm
representatives Friday and agreed to immediately end eradication of the
coca plant -- from which cocaine is made -- in the Upper Huallaga Valley.

Drug Enforcement Agency spokesman Thomas Hinojosa said yesterday that the
DEA was aware of the situation, but that it "is only temporary and will be
back to normal" soon.

That view was also espoused by the Peruvian ambassador to the United
States, Allen Wagner, who told The Washington Times last night that "the
fight against drug trafficking in Peru has not suffered any setback."

The agreements between the Peruvian anti-drug agency and coca farmers deal
with the "temporary suspension of the eradication programs in order to
initiate immediately a coordinated eradication program in which the farmers
will receive resources to replace coca cultivation with alternative crops."

Peru's action followed a series of violent protests by coca farmers against
drug-eradication efforts.

It came just three months after President Bush visited Peru and promised to
triple anti-drug money for the nation to $195 million.

Friday's meeting between Peruvian officials and farmers who grow coca ended
two days of anti-U.S. strikes and protests in central Peru, in which
growers sought to end both types of programs.

Coca farmers have decried a lack of compensation when government forces
come and chop down their plants. Unlike in neighboring Colombia, aerial
spraying is not used in Peru.

Farmers have also complained that programs in which they are paid to grow
such substitute crops as vegetables have not worked.

The move frustrates U.S. hopes of stopping the rising cocaine production
throughout the region, analysts said.

A further increase could threaten Peru's ability to receive aid from the
United States and international agencies such as the World Bank.

"Our drug policy to Peru has been based on eradication and interdiction,"
said Adam Isacson, senior associate at the Washington-based Center for
International Policy.

The change "could even effect Peruvian certification status next year," he
said.

Peruvian officials said they formed a commission to evaluate the efficacy
of U.S. drug strategy and to find ways to ensure that money for crop
substitution goes directly to farmers instead of middlemen.

Crop-substitution programs in some regions have also been suspended until
the commission reaches an agreement.

CARE, an Atlanta-based organization that has promoted
alternative-development strategies in Peru for the U.S. Agency for
International Development, met yesterday with the commission.

CARE has halted its program for alternative-development strategies in
Apurimac Valley, one of four areas where it has operated for the past year,
spokesman Allen Clinton said in a statement.

The sudden change will not soften the United States' stance toward Peruvian
cocaine production, the DEA's Mr. Hinojosa said.

"We're obviously concerned," he said. "We're not going to let this stop our
drug efforts down there."

The United States supports and trains coca-eradication brigades in Peru
that are supposed to uproot 13,000 acres of plants this year.

But coca acreage -- currently 86,000 acres -- has been increasing, raising
doubts about the effectiveness of eradication efforts.

As strikes and riots have become commonplace in Peru, President Alejandro
Toledo has told coca farmers he supports alternative-development programs
over eradication efforts, which most farmers oppose.