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In June 1987, the Paraguayan Minister of Foreign Affairs and the U.S. Ambassador signed a letter of agreement, the first in nearly a decade, wherein the U.S. agreed to provide $200,000 in FY 1987 to help upgrade the DNNDP's transportation, communication, and data storage capability. The signing received wide publicity, and the ceremony included attendance by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Interior and Justice.
It has been decided to re-open a DEA office in Asuncion, and a DEA agent will be present by end of the year.
There has been a slight increase in cocaine use in the Paraguayan population, especially among the wealthy, but inhalants remain the major domestic abuse
abuse problem. However, hard data are not available. The narcotics problem, in both its international and domestic perspectives, is now receiving a great deal of media attention, in part stimulated by the community response which increases daily.
PERU
Summary: Although the delay in starting Condor VI had a detrimental effect on the momentum of anti-drug activities in Peru during the past several months, we believe that
that the GOP will regain this momentum and continue to combat narcotics trafficking and illicit coca cultivation, applying the strategy outlined in its national drug control plan. Its efforts in that endeavor
endeavor will continue to receive U.S. support, i.e., technical and advisory services, specialized training, and commodity assistance. We will continue bilateral efforts with the GOP during FY 1988 to intensify air-supported drug interdiction and enforcement operations, and continue manual eradication while pushing for aerially applied herbicide methods. The U.S. will also sponsor drug demand reduction projects and rural development programs (with UNFDAC) and carry out other public diplomacy initiatives aimed at supporting all of the above. End Summary.
The aerial survey of the Upper Huallaga Valley (UHV) continues. Over 300 tactical maps have been produced (out of an estimated 500 to be generated) and are in use by interdiction and eradication forces. Photo-interpretation through June reveals 23,121 hectares of coca cultivation and 17,184 additional hectares of suspected coca cultivation, for a total of 40,305 hectares in the areas surveyed. We are making every effort to finish the survey this flying year (which ends in September), SO that final estimates of coca under cultivation in the UHV can be formulated.