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Viewing cable 07LIMA3163, IEDS IN ERADICATION OPERATIONS

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
07LIMA3163 2007-09-18 23:45 2011-06-13 00:00 CONFIDENTIAL Embassy Lima
Appears in these articles:
http://elcomercio.pe
VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHPE #3163/01 2612345
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 182345Z SEP 07
FM AMEMBASSY LIMA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6876
INFO RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 5090
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 7588
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ SEP QUITO 1460
RHEHOND/DIRONDCP WASHDC
C O N F I D E N T I A L LIMA 003163 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR INL/LP 
STATE FOR WHA/PPC 
ONDCP FOR LT COL RONALD GARNER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/18/2011 
TAGS: SNAR KCRM PTER PREL PE
SUBJECT: IEDS IN ERADICATION OPERATIONS 
 
Classified By: Susan Keogh, NAS Director. Reason: 1(d) 
 
1.(SBU) SUMMARY: Anti-personnel mines have increased in 
recent months during eradication operations. CORAH and Police 
encountered 68 Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs-also known 
as booby traps) in coca fields by mid-September 2007. In a 
recent 2-week period, 24 booby traps were either exploded or 
disarmed during eradication in Tocache.  Fortunately, the 
recent explosions in the field have not produced any deaths 
or permanent injuries, but they slow down eradication and 
could result in harm to children or other innocent bystanders 
in or around coca fields.  Much speculation exists about the 
IEDs origin and manufacture -- including that unnamed persons 
or groups are paying between 50 and 100 dollars to lay an 
IED.  Recently eradicators discovered a booby trap on a farm 
plot belonging to relatives of Congresswoman Nancy Obregon. 
Obregon herself subsequently declared that booby traps are a 
way for cocaleros to defend their coca crops.  END SUMMARY. 
 
2. (SBU) Eradication of illegal coca cultivation in the 
Tocache area of the Upper Hualaga Valley is now further 
complicated by the proliferation of anti-personnel mines or 
IEDs.  As a precaution, an anti-mine K-9 group routinely 
sweeps the fields before CORAH begins to work.  By 
mid-September 68 IEDs had either been detonated by workers or 
disarmed by the EDEX explosives team.  Between August 25 and 
September 15 alone, 24 booby traps had either exploded or 
were disarmed during eradication operations. 
 
3.  (SBU)  On September 3, Jorge Valencia, head of the 
reduction of supply office at DEVIDA, reported a significant 
increase in the number of attacks on coca eradication 
brigades this year.  Valencia said that there were 93 attacks 
through the end of August, compared to 47 attacks in all of 
2006 and only 23 in 2005.  Valencia said that his office has 
registered 7 direct attacks on eradicators and 23 acts of 
harassment involving firearms.  As a result of these attacks, 
one eradication worker has been killed and 19 wounded in the 
first 8 months of the year.  Valencia also reported on the 
deactivation of mines planted to injure or kill members of 
the eradication brigades.  Cocalera Congresswoman Nancy 
Obregon declared September 13 that laying booby traps is "an 
expression of the radical position many cocaleros are taking 
in their desperate efforts to defend the coca leaf." Her 
statement came after CORAH had discovered a hole with an IED 
box inside it the previous week while eradicating the illegal 
coca crop of Obregon's sister Marleni.  Her field lay in 
close proximity to 2 maceration pits. 
 
4. (C) The IED's recently encountered are artisan-type 
constructions, extremely sensitive and easy to detonate. 
Recently unearthed mines were encased in a double D battery 
flashlight to encase the explosive, normally a stick of 
dynamite.  It is the trigger mechanism however, that makes 
these devices unique and lends meaning to the descriptive 
"improvised".  A large capacity mouse trap, such as would be 
used for large rodents, is adapted to a block of wood with a 
nail driven through and protruding out of the other side of 
the board.  The nail is positioned so that when the mouse 
trap is released, the trap bar will strike the nail and move 
it forward, barely touching the cut off primer end of a 16 
gage shotgun shell.  The primer has a blasting cap stuck onto 
the shotgun shell primer, that is inserted into the dynamite 
stick.  Digging a hole as little as one foot and as much as 
twenty inches deep next to a coca plant, the booby trap is 
placed into a wooden box inside the hole.  One end of a 
string, fishing line or wire is tied off to the release 
mechanism on the mouse trap and the other end to a root of an 
adjacent plant.  Once the plant is pulled, the release 
mechanism allows the mouse trap to slam into the nail, 
driving it forward where it strikes, in the same way as a 
firing pin does on a weapon.  The primer in the shotgun shell 
causes it to fire, in turn setting off the blasting cap and 
exploding the dynamite.  Often, the device is coated with tar 
as an attempt to make it more weather resistant.  On at least 
two recent occasions, pressure on the ground around the plant 
apparently caused the release mechanism to function, 
resulting in explosions. 
 
5. (C) While the target is the CORAH eradicator or police, 
the booby traps are indiscriminate.  Anyone in proximity to 
the blast will be affected.  Since August 25 when the new 
wave of IED's began appearing, the charges have been 
relatively small and have not included any items to increase 
the damage such as nail and glass, although bags of nails and 
broken glass have been found in the zone, along with booby 
traps under construction.  Consequently, the protective 
measures taken to protect workers so far have precluded major 
injuries, apart from blast damage and dirt debris in the 
eyes.  However, it is important to note that the methodology 
utilized up to now could adapt to more dangerous charges, 
including some type of improvised shrapnel. 
 
6.(SBU) CORAH has adopted diverse security measures to 
minimize the damage caused by booby traps.  Utilizing 
protective vests, eyewear and helmets, personnel now stand up 
hill of the coca plants whenever possible.  More importantly, 
CORAH is now using two tools adapted to keep a distance of 
around 3 meters between the eradicators and the plants: the 
telescopic "cococho" and a long spade-like implement that 
allows eradicators to dig around the plants, feeling for the 
wooden boxes used in the IED's. These measures were put into 
place after the first day of operations in this zone when 2 
CORAH workers set off devices causing minor eye injuries. 
Their overall effectiveness is clear: since being put into 
effect, eradicators have experienced no serious injuries. 
 
7.(SBU) Explosive detecting dogs are being employed 
successfully, albeit results are less than perfect. The dogs 
have detected some, but not all of the devices encountered 
prior to exploding.  The CORAH Operations Director is 
preparing a report covering the K-9 deployment during this 
phase of the operations with details on what the dogs 
actually discovered, what they did not, and what may be 
preventing more effective utilization.  NAS continues to work 
on remedying shortcomings in the program; however, the 
psychological effect of having K-9s in the field is a bonus 
to workers and security personnel. 
 
8. (SBU) Members of the PNP's explosive disposal unit, (EDEX 
by its initials in Spanish) accompany the eradicators and 
have successfully disposed 9 devices, primarily by way of 
controlled explosions.  On September 9, 2 EDEX personnel were 
seriously wounded at the Santa Lucia base in what are still 
cloudy circumstances.  According to the official police 
report, they were preparing their equipment to take to the 
field in their rooms when an explosive went off.  A full PNP 
investigation is underway. 
 
9.(C) Comment:  Explosive devices have become a daily part of 
the eradication operations.  So far this year, the devices 
have not produced any permanent injuries in the field, but 
officials directing eradication operations are concerned that 
these "indiscriminate killers" could result in either death 
or serious injury to workers, or to children or innocent 
bystanders in or around coca plantations.  Despite the 
anxiety of working in minefields, having explosives go off 
without causing major harm is actually improving workers' 
morale as CORAH feels the countermeasures they take do pay 
off.  The major challenge is to emphasize personal safety, 
while maintaining the pace of eradication. 
 
10. (C) Comment Continued:  The established presence of 
Sendero Luminoso in the area leads to speculation on who is 
behind the IEDs.  As yet, nothing conclusive has emerged to 
clarify whether cocaleros are undertaking these actions on 
their own, have undergone training by subversive groups to 
learn how to fabricate and place IEDs, or whether it is 
strictly an outside action.  At least three farmers have 
reported that the going price for "someone" to place an IED 
in coca fields is between 50-100 USD.  Police Intelligence is 
currently investigating two names provided by different 
cocaleros.  In addition to looking for the culprits, police 
are also searching for the purpose of the mines.  The most 
recent devices do not appear to be as forceful as those found 
earlier in the year in Yanajanca, and do not use shrapnel. 
They could carry an implied threat that if CORAH does not 
cease operations violence will escalate.  For now CORAH and 
the GOP are intent on continuing operations and not 
abandoning the area until all the coca there is eradicated. 
 
NEALON