In Peru, the Defense Department's Section 1033-funded riverine counter-drug program has centered on three efforts: 

• Creating a Joint Riverine Training Center in the Amazon River port of Iquitos in northeastern Peru;
• Training and equipping twelve Riverine Interdiction Units in Peru's National Police; and 
• Creating three floating bases for maintenance and operational support.

In 1998, Section 1033 funds for Peru totaled either $4.296 million or $4.83 million, depending on the Defense Department source consulted. This is expected to grow to about $6.5 million in 1999.¹ Other funding sources contributed to the overall riverine program in 1998: $6.875 million of Defense Department funds spent under the authority of Section 1004 of the 1991 NDAA, $3 million in Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) funds, and $1.25 million of State Department International Narcotics Control funds from the Narcotics Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy in Lima.²

The Iquitos facility began operations in June 1998. As of September 1999, it has trained more than 300 personnel from the Coast Guard and the National Police's Anti-Drug Directorate (DIRANDRO).³ The training center's graduates have been assigned to the first two of an eventual twelve Riverine Interdiction Units (RIUs), or to locally-built "motherships" that will support the units' work. In addition to training, the RIUs are receiving equipment and construction assistance.⁴ The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are supervising construction of counternarcotics floating maintenance facilities, floating support bases, and other support facilities at the Iquitos training center.⁵

As a result of the program, Peru's police and navy began their first coordinated riverine counternarcotics operations in late 1998.⁶

Other sites in this database:

• Section 1004 counternarcotics: Peru
• International Narcotics Control: Peru

Sources:

¹ U.S. Ambassador to Peru Dennis C. Jett, letter to the authors, February 3, 1999.

Ana Maria Salazar, deputy assistant secretary of defense for drug enforcement policy and support, United States Department of Defense, letter in response to congressional inquiry, Mar. 19, 1999.

² Jett.

³ U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, 1998, Washington DC, February 1999 <http://www.state.gov/www/global/narcotics_law/1998_narc_report/major/Peru.html>.

Gen. Charles E. Wilhelm, commander in chief, U.S. Southern Command, Statement before the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control, September 21, 1999 <http://www.ciponline.org/colombia/wilhelm.htm> or <http://www.usia.gov/regional/ar/colombia/wilhelm21.htm>.

Gen. Charles E. Wilhelm, commander in chief, U.S. Southern Command, Statement before the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, Subcommittee on National Security, International Affairs, and Criminal Justice, House of Representatives, March 12, 1998: 18.

⁴ Gen. Charles E. Wilhelm, commander in chief, U.S. Southern Command, Statement before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, Peace Corps, Narcotics and Terrorism, June 22, 1999.

Wilhelm, September 1999.

⁵  U.S. Department of State.

⁶ U.S. Department of State.