Andean

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• PERU: Drugs, the second-biggest national problem

  12 July 2010 Hits: 240

  Drugs are the second-biggest problem faced by Peru, according to a survey carried out by the Information and Education Centre for the Prevention of Drug Abuse, Cedro. A total of 45% of respondents across seven cities in Peru put the consumption of drugs and the cultivation of coca leaf as the second most serious problem confronting the country. A massive 85% said the biggest problem was poverty and unemployment.

  Significantly, the respondents were more concerned about the consumption of drugs and the resulting anti-social behaviour than drug-trafficking and coca cultivation, by far the most important concerns at a state level. The survey was confined to cities rather than rural districts, where the results would no doubt have been different.

  The government has faced widespread opposition to its coca-eradication programme in coca-producing regions, suspicious of alternative development programmes. The latest protest was an indefinite strike by the coca growers of the Monzón valley demanding a halt to eradication. This has been called off, temporarily at least, because the government agreed to suspend all alternative development activities in support of coca substitutes: rice, cacao, coffee, cattle breeding and reforestation.

• VENEZUELA: Chávez blows hot and cold on US

  12 July 2010 Hits: 264

  It is easy to see why the US is alarmed by President Hugo Chávez . Yesterday the Venezuelan government said that it wanted to demonstrate that it was a reliable source of oil for the US, so it would dispatch up to eight extra tankers to the US. The Venezuelan energy ministry said that this was designed to help deal with the problems caused by the power cuts in the northeast a fortnight ago. The tankers will carry unleaded petrol.

  A few hours later, however, President Chávez was spouting off about how the US Free Trade in the Americas (FTAA) initiative was neo-colonialist. He said, at a meeting to announce the new wage deal for public sector workers, that the FTAA represented a return to neo-colonialism. Chávez prefers his Alternativa Bolivariana para América. He claims that multilaterals, such as the World Trade Organisation, the World Bank and the IMF, are also agents of neo-colonialism.

  The government claims that its oil production has now hit 3.11m bpd, up from 3.09m bpd. This is significantly higher than industry experts and other outsiders who say that production is about 2.6m bpd. Until the two month strike-cum-lockout started in December last year, the country was producing 3.2m bpd and exporting 2.5m bpd. At the height of the strike, production may have fallen to as little as 300,000bpd. In the first seven months of the year, the country exported 302.2m barrels of crude. Of this 71% went to the US.

• COLOMBIA: US grants anti-kidnapping aid

  12 July 2010 Hits: 248

  Washington has granted Colombia US$25m to help with the fight against kidnapping. Under the new programme, the US will help train and equip the 400 members of the Colombian anti-kidnap unit, Gaula. This latest assistance package is a sign that the US is intensifying its efforts in Colombia despite the ban imposed on military aid to Colombia due to the disagreement over the International Criminal Court (ICC).

  Although incidents of kidnapping are falling in Colombia, down 34% so far this year, it is still a major problem. Someone in Colombia is kidnapped every four hours, and the crime still provides a major source of revenue for rebels groups such as the Farc or the ELN. The Farc was responsible for 36% of the 1,016 kidnappings which occurred between January and July 2003. The Colombian government, in conjunction with the US, has made cracking down on kidnapping one of the central planks of its campaign against these rebel groups.

  The US assistance will provide for the construction of a centre for anti-kidnapping training, the establishment of a database, and improvements in the way in which Gaula is organized. The unit will also receive a small fleet of helicopters specifically for use in anti-kidnapping operations, a batch of M-16 machine guns, and training from foreign experts.

  In a separate incident, Washington announced yesterday that suspected Farc rebels had shot down a light aircraft spraying drug crops north of Bogotá. The pilot of the plane, which was under contract with the US government, escaped from the crash with minor injuries.