US Drug War Money Linked to Massacre in Peru


This won't surprise anyone who's paying attention, from Narco News:

On June 5, the Peruvian National Police (PNP) massacred up to fifty unarmed AwajĂșn and Wampi indigenous people in Bagua who had blockaded roads in protest of land reforms related to a recently implemented US-Peru free trade agreement. Witnesses report that the PNP shot live ammunition from the ground, rooftops, and police helicopters. Anywhere between 61-400 people are reported missing following the attack.

Narco News has discovered that US drug war money is all over the massacre. The US government has not only spent the past two decades funding the helicopters used in the massacre, it also trained the PNP in "riot control."
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The Peruvian National Police is a militarized police force and Peru's only national police force, meaning that Peru lacks a civilian federal police force. For this reason, the militarized PNP carries out regular policing functions in Peru, such as maintaining the peace and providing public security. Furthermore, "Counternarcotics operations in Peru are implemented primarily through the Ministry of the Interior by the Peruvian National Police," according to the US Government Accounting Office (GOA, now known as the Government Accountability Office). For this reason, the PNP receives a significant chunk of US drug war aid to Peru.

Basic details of the Bagua massacre such as exactly which police departments participated and how many indigenous protesters died remain unavailable two weeks after the massacre. Peru's La Primera newspaper--the only news outlet to provide information on specific police departments that participated in the massacre--writes, "The police operation was carried out by about 600 armed police from the Dinoes [Special Operations Department] and from the Anti-Drugs Department (DINANDRO), who shot head-on at protesters' bodies." Dinoes and DINANDRO are two forces within the Peruvian National Police.

Of particular interest is the participation of the anti-drugs police force, known as DINANDRO in its Spanish abbreviation. Between 2002 and 2007, the United States spent over $79 million on the PNP. 2002-2004 funds were for "training and field exercises to enhance the capabilities of DIRANDRO to conduct basic road and riverine exercises, as well as to provide security for eradication teams in outlying areas. These enhanced law enforcement efforts will require additional vehicles, communications, field gear, emergency/safety reaction gear, and drug detector canines." In 2007, the US government's funding for the DIRANDRO was expanded to "enhance the capabilities of DIRANDRO to conduct advanced road interdiction, riot control, greater security for eradication teams, and interdiction in hard-core areas." [emphasis added]. In 2007 the US government also debuted the first of at least four "Pre-Police Schools" for students that have completed secondary school education (that is, these schools are an alternative to high school). The "Pre-Police Scho

The fiasco in the Amazon is beginning to seriously impact the poll numbers of Peruvian President Alan Garcia.


Nat Wilson Turner June 22, 2009 - 10:07am
( categories: Latin America )

Just to note that NarcoNews is completely awesome? They are better than all other drugwar related websites put together :)

--
Hongpong.com

HongPong June 22, 2009 - 11:01am

couldn't agree more. I wish there were more sites like NN.

Nat Wilson Turner June 22, 2009 - 12:28pm

"Don't be an Ugly American," my dad repeatedly taught me. (i don't care that i'm repeating myself.) my brother was born in Lima in 1940. to me, south america (especially the amazonian region) is as good as the mouth of the earth to us humans. the indiginous peoples it's stewards. as they are everywhere. this situation is horrible, horrible, horrible... profane without limit, all the way back to the profanation of their culture and the coca leaf itself.

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Peruvian president's Cabinet chief offers to quit
Fri Jun 19, 2009 4:36pm EDT

LIMA, June 19 (Reuters) - Peruvian President Alan Garcia's Cabinet chief submitted his resignation on Friday after clashes in the Amazon basin killed at least 34 indigenous protesters and police, but it was not clear if Garcia would accept it.

In a letter to Garcia, Prime Minister Yehude Simon and several other Cabinet members who were widely criticized for allowing protests to turn violent two weeks ago offered to resign. The protestors opposed laws that encouraged mining and petroleum projects.

Opposition parties have demanded Simon and Interior Minister Mercedes Cabanillas leave, but they may remain until July 28, when presidents normally shuffle their Cabinets on Peruvian Independence Day.

Garcia, whose approval rating is about 30 percent, has apologized for the violence, the worst political crisis since he took office in 2006. He has said he supports the work Simon is doing, but has not definitively said if Simon will be retained or leave.

Simon vowed on Tuesday to resign in the coming weeks, but said he wanted to first persuade Congress to repeal two investment laws that sparked protests by indigenous groups, who say the measures will lead to the destruction of their land in the rainforest.

Congress overturned the controversial laws on Thursday, following a request by Garcia. The repeal could delay foreign investments in the mining and energy sectors and prompt Peru and the United States to reconsider parts of their free-trade deal. more

'The desire to be free is primal' -adrena ...'From a Partnership to a Dominator culture', indeed...

Zuma June 22, 2009 - 1:10pm

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