Illicit crops in the frontier margins: Amazonian indigenous livelihoods and the expansion of coca in Peru

ABSTRACT

This paper explores illegal coca crop expansion in indigenous Amazonian communities in Peru. The ethnographic study sheds light on the historical development of these areas as frontier spaces, where the growth of illicit crops intertwines with socio-ecological transformations and gives rise to conflicts over new forms of land control, opportunities for capital accumulation, and political power dynamics. The paper argues that this expansion is shaped by dual processes: from ‘below,’ involving small-scale migrant farmers from the Andes, and from ‘above,’ primarily driven by state-led agrarian interventions. Consequently, communities experience significant tensions, as they adapt to the forces of market expansion to secure their livelihoods, while simultaneously facing risks of violence and insecurity.

KEYWORDS:

• Drug economies
• coca
• indigenous politics
• Amazon
• frontiers

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Victoria Chicmana and Danae Román for the fieldwork collaboration and we are indebted to the Asháninka communities and organisations in the VRAEM.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 The Peruvian state recognizes 55 indigenous peoples, of which 51 are Amazonian and four are Andean.

2 The state built the Tambo–San Francisco highway in 1964 and the San Francisco bridge in 1971 (Mendoza and Leyva 2017, 39).

3 Collective legal recognition of Andean Indigenous communities was granted in 1920.

4 The three protected areas were created on January 14, 2003, through Supreme Decree No. 2003-2003-AG.

5 The area under coca cultivation in the VRAEM went from 11,475 hectares in 2000 to 27,944 in 2020, and the area became the country’s largest illicit coca producer from 2010 (DEVIDA 2021b).

6 The total hectares of forest transformed into agriculture areas in the VRAEM represents 12% of the total at national level, estimated at 451,583 hectares during the same period. This is based on the data on land use change, which is a proxy indicator that shows the conversion of forest to economic activities such as agriculture. The data on land-use change from MINAM’s Geobosques (2022) program are only available from 2000 to 2016.

7 Throughout Peru, over the period 2001–2018, 18% of deforestation took place in the territories of native communities. Although most deforestation occurs under the landholding system, in contrast to territorial expansion, this represented just 3% of forest loss (DAR 2022, 66).

8 According to CENAGRO, 2012, in the Apurímac Valley 50.8% of individual properties are untitled; while in the Ene Valley 39.2% lack title deeds (Mendoza and Leyva 2017, 154).

9 Coca is also produced for ceremonial use (pagapos).

10 Killick (2020, 292) identifies this complex process in the case of the Asháninka population of Gran Pajonal and their participation in logging, which we think dialogues with the situation of the Asháninka population of the VRAEM and coca production.

11 Clara, comunera, Aosriri IC, Pichari, May 2021

12 Matías, former community leader, Kisaari IC, Pichari, May 2021

13 Nicolás, self-defense president, Kiteriri IC, Kimbiri, May 2021

14 Noelia, comunera, Aosriri IC, Pichari, May 2021

15 The average annual price per kilogram of coca leaf in the VRAEM between 2000 and 2017 was 7.46 soles, while the price peaked at 10.40 soles in 2014. During the peak stage of the pandemic (March 2020–May 2021) the price per kilogram of coca leaf fluctuated between 4.3 and 6.3 soles (DEVIDA 2022).

16 Omar, community president, Kiteriri IC, Kimbiri, May 2021

17 Jorge and Juana, comuneros, Asoriri IC, Pichari, May 2021

18 Today, the Shining Path terrorist group is more involved in drug trafficking than in political struggle against the state, and its territorial control is limited to a few localities in the Vizcatán del Ene district; moreover, the group has been weakened by the capture of its leading figures over the last decade (see Paredes and Pastor 2021).

19 For instance, since February 2019, a total of seven inter-institutional agreements have been signed between DEVIDA and the Asháninka federations (DEVIDA official, Lima, April 2021).

20 Interview with the president of the Asháninka Federation 4. Satipo, January 2021.

21 Interview with the president of the Asháninka Federation 2. Satipo, January 2021.

22 Field note, Río Tambo, December 2019.

23 Field note, Río Tambo, February 2020.

24 As Lobo and Vélez (2022) argue, the alignment of initiatives between presidents/authorities and community grassroots is a central aspect in community resistance to illicit economies.

25 Nelson, community leader, Kisaari IC, Pichari, May 2021

26 Jaime, president of the Ashaninka Federation 1. Satipo, January 2021

27 Josefa, community leader, Kichonkari IC, Río Tambo, May 2021.

28 Claudio, president of Self-Defense Committee 2, Pichari, May 2021.

29 Jaime, president of the Ashaninka Federation 1. Satipo, January 2021.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Global Challenges Research Fund Project (E3584318) at the University of Reading; and The Consorcio de Investigación Económica y Social - PERU (PI IND/A1-PB 34).

Notes on contributors

Maritza Paredes

Maritza Paredes is a Professor of Political Sociology in the Department of Social Sciences and Director of the Ph.D. Program in Sociology at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Paredes’ research focuses on political and environmental sociology, as she has conducted extensive research on mobilisation and conflicts related to extractive industries, illegal economies, indigenous peoples politics and most recently climate change. She holds a Ph.D. in International Development from Oxford University. Recent papers include ‘Toxic mobilisation: mining, pollution and power in the highlands of Peru’, Environmental Sociology, DOI: 10.1080/23251042.2022.2124621, 2022; ‘From criminals to citizens: The applicability of Bolivia’s community-based coca control policy to Peru’ (with T Grisaffi, L Farthing, K Ledebur, and A. Pastor) World Development 146, 1056107, 2021 and ‘The State's Developmentalist Illusion and the Origins of Illegal Coca Cultivation in Peru's Alto Huallaga Valley (1960–80)’ (with H. Manrique) Journal of Latin American Studies 53 (2), 2021.

Alvaro Pastor

Alvaro Pastor Master student in Sustainable Development at KU Leuven. Licentiate in Sociology from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP). Pastor has extensive experience on ethnographic research on drug economies. Recently he has published ‘From criminals to citizens: The applicability of Bolivia’s community-based coca control policy to Peru’ (with T Grisaffi, L Farthing, K Ledebur, and M Paredes) World Development 146, 105610 7, 2021; ‘Erradicación en suspenso: La dimensión simbólica de la pacificación negociada en el VRAEM’ (with M Paredes) Revista de ciencia política (Santiago) 41 (1), 2021; and ‘Addressing Socio-Environmental Challenges and Unintended Consequences of Peruvian Drug Policy: An Analysis in Two Former Cocalero Valleys’ (with L Grillo, A Kendra, A Pastor, H Manrique López) Journal of Illicit Economies and Development 3 (1), 2021.