| Description |
This paper explores the validity of the term "narco-terrorist," coined to imply a relationship between Colombian cocaine traffickers, coca growers and communist terrorists in the Upper Huallaga Valley, an inaccessible jungle region of Northern Peru and the major coca-producing region of the world. Many Peruvian and US policy makers have asserted that the Shining Path, a Maoist guerrilla organization dedicated to the overthrow of the Peruvian state, has allied itself politically and militarily with the cocaine industry. This paper investigates the extent to which the Shining Path participates in coca-growing and cocaine producing activities by first presenting the historical background of the region, initial migration to the area and the subsequent expansion of the cocaine industry. Further, this paper describes the origin and ideology of the Shining Path insurgency, its emergence in the Upper Huallaga Valley, and its motivations to participate in aspects of cocaine production. This project then outlines responses to illicit coca production and leftist terrorism by the governments of Peru and the United States, and the implications for the narcoterrorist thesis. Adherence to this theory of "alliance" has led to the implementation of policies that are counterproductive in terms of US and Peruvian interests, ultimately promoting coca cultivation for the cocaine industry and encouraging indigenous coca farmers to affiliate with the Shining Path guerrilla movement. |
