Timothy Pruett

Publication Date

12-2000

Advisor(s) - Committee Chair

David Keeling, Stuart Foster, Albert Petersen, Richard Salisbury

Comments

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Degree Program

Department of Geography and Geology

Degree Type

Master of Science

Abstract

The problem of underdevelopment in remote regions around the world has governments struggling to meet the needs of isolated populations. Inhabitants of these regions are often ethnically and culturally distinct, and underdevelopment is often accompanied by political and economic isolation. One such region is Peru’s densely forested Upper Huallaga Valley. Its elevation ranges from around 600 meters at the valley floor to over 2,000 meters atop summits just a few kilometers away.

The specific problem within this study area is the involvement of terrorists in the illicit coca industry. The Shining Path insurgency has utilized revenues from the coca industry to finance a guerilla war against the Peruvian government. In 1992, there was no place in Peru, or the world, with as severe problem with terrorism or coca. This study seeks to determine the socio-economic and geographic factors responsible for the location of large-scale coca production and terrorism within a single geographic region.

The background section provides an assessment of the basic geographic regions of the country and an in-depth analysis of the study area. The background to and current trends in the counter-narcotics effort are presented, along with a brief historical evaluation of the evolution and development of the Shining Path insurgency. In the literature review, the works of Jose Gonzales, Michael Smith, Robert Kent, Bruce Kay, Gabriela-Tarazona Sevillano, William Rosenau and Linda Head, and Alberto Arciniega are analyzed. A synthesis of their work was utilized to produce surveys used in the interview process during the field research phase.

The research design was qualitative in nature and based on the author’s analysis of interview data, statistical and graphical data, and empirical observations collected within the study area and in Lima, the capital of Peru. Interviews were conducted with Peruvian and American development officials, counter-narcotics officials, security and terrorism officials, academic area specialists, and coca farmers in the study area. From these interviews, a table of “factors” was created to summarize each interview subjects basic opinions. Basically, the results were opinion-driven and derived from the author’s interpretation of the interviews and analysis of the supporting data.

The results of the study revealed that several factors contributed to the location of terrorism and coca production in the Upper Huallaga Valley (UHV). Large-scale immigration of highland Indians into the region was found to be a precursor to both problems. Other factors such as geographic and economic conditions served to draw the insurgents to the region. The high quality of UHV coca and a lack of profitable alternative crops encouraged the explosion of the coca industry. Some factors were beneficial to both terrorism and coca production such as the lack of state presence and the weak agricultural economy of the valley. Yet other factors managed to exacerbate the problems as they began to develop, particularly the low political priority for development of the UHV and the highly centralized government in Lima.

The formula for the simultaneous existence of terrorism and massive illicit coca production in the Upper Huallaga is simple. The new population of the valley grew coca traditionally in the Andean highlands before migrating to the region. Coca grows well in the valley. He insurgents saw an economic and military opportunity to exploit a fragile economic and social system and to gain a territorial base of support and revenue. There was an isolated and lawless atmosphere in the region that allowed both conditions to flourish in the mid-1980s.

These findings, while useful within the study area, would be difficult to apply directly to many other isolated and underdeveloped regions around the world experiencing political violence. Effective development programs require dedicated local research and competent implementation to have a chance of success. If current and past situations in the Upper Huallaga Valley are a model, time is a necessary requirement in the understanding and rectification of socioeconomic problems related to physical isolation. Time, however, is only a lost resource if governments do not treat isolated and underdeveloped regions as a part of the national whole and people do not hold their governments accountable for development and basic social services.

Disciplines

Agricultural and Resource Economics | Geography | International and Area Studies | Latin American Studies | Social and Behavioral Sciences

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