How has the implementation of Plan Colombia affected Peru?
Last year, the only money in Plan Colombia for Peru was about $32 million for helicopters. Since Peru had just stolen an election, it wasn’t really politically palatable or possible to give it to them. But they’re going to get more next year. A lot of people are speculating that most of the aid for Colombia’s military is being concentrated in an area right along Colombia’s border with Ecuador and Peru, that we’re going to be pushing not just drug trafficking but also violence and refugees into Ecuador and Peru. So we may see an increase in coca and violence on the other side of the border. That spillover is a big worry about Plan Colombia — that’s probably one reason why they’re proposing $90 million in military aid for Peru now. You push the coca growers out of one place, coca’s still profitable, so they might just cross the river and start cutting down jungle on the Peruvian side. Does that military response have anything to do with their “shoot ’em out of the sky” approach? I think
