ions Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances. However, this did not mean that Peru had become drug-free. Robinson (1998) claimed that some Peruvian farmers did switch from cocoa cultivation to other crops. Robinson (1998) also stated that between 1997 and 1998, Peru eliminated 114,900 acres of cocoa û nearly half of its cocoa fields.
The key factor in this success appears to have been the cooperation of Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori. Fujimori, assisted by the United States, developed a two-prong approach of stepped-up law enforcement and aid to cocoa growers who shifted to planting alternative crops. Special police teams were established with American assistance and in 1997, a total of 10,000 arrests on drug trafficking charges were recorded. Peru also adopted an aggressive policy of shooting down suspected drug planes û 45 in the late 1990s û whose pilots who do not respond to orders to land. According to Robinson (1998), U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) officials in Peru remarked that the number of drug flights in Peru had been reduced from 50 to less than 10 per month.
In Peru, the U.S. War on Drugs also included aid to spur coffee production. U.S. officials believed that it was essential to give cocoa growers a viable means of survival to prevent them from returning to cocoa cultivation. By 1998, the U.S. had provided Peru with $45 million to assist in establishing coffee and cacao farms and planned to spend $107 million in this effort throughout 2000 (Robinson, 1998).
In 2001, it was reported that the United States had spent over $1 billion on the drug war in Latin America, with a substantial portion of this amount going to Peru, Colombia, and Bolivia (A just war, 2001). However, the joint U.S.-Peruvian strategy of shooting down plans suspected of carrying drugs has not been without problems. American surveillance planes flown by CIA contract...