Sunday, November 29, 2009

PERU: General security situation, considerations from my Risk Security Assessment

I visited Peru in February and March 2007 while conducting a Risk Security Assessment mission. The materials used to prepare this blog post have been updated and carefully reviewed in order to provide an idea about the actual security context in Peru.

SITUATION:
Peru is suffering from an increase in crime from simple muggings through to violent kidnapping; mostly confined to urban areas and within the poorer districts during the day but widespread after dark. The current government is slowly becoming increasingly popular, despite of the economic situation declining and local crime rising. Regarding the terrorism groups who used to frighten Peru, Shining Path and Tupac Amaru, both have been almost successfully fought in the Eighties and right now some old militants are trying to reorganize themselves. Those trends are channeling themselves towards the big drug traffic ants as the military-like expertise they can offer is very useful to protect illegal cocaine laboratories and the transportation of the final product. It has to be borne in mind that Peru is the second largest coca producer in South America, after Colombia. Urban driving conditions are appalling and at present they are assessed of being probably the greatest threat to staff in Peru. One of the most common security challenges to personal security is related to the use of taxis. There are almost no road regulations and police is literally not “visible” on the streets. Often illegal taxi drivers put on their car a Taxi sign. It has been reported that a massive quantity of false circulation documents as well as driving permits are fake and easy to obtain, since there is a flourishing market for false documents in Lima.
Furthermore, driving schools often “sell” driving license without performing any practical exams or oral/written tests.
Kidnapping can be considered a high risk factor in Peru, above all for foreigners travelling in Peru.
Often the victim is forced to withdraw money from ATM machines, usually before and after midnight so that the cash amount is double as it refers to two days. The phenomenon is popularly called Millionaire Walking (Paseo Milionario). It is recommended to use secure taxi company before arriving in country. Local staff is required to attend to a specialized security awareness training in addition to the basic security training. This is primarily due to deal with the threat of kidnapping and being involved in a car accident in very remote areas with no communication and close medical facilities.

SECURITY SITUATION - THREAT ANALYSIS
President Alan Garcia is at his second mandate as president of Peru. People are slowly but steadily increasing their support of his administration since he is giving clear signs that he wants to do something concrete to help the poor conditions of his country. For example, he is the author of a law which will ask the major mine companies to pay a “volunteer contribute” (several million of dollars) to organizations involved in fighting hunger in Peru since the State program organizations waist up to 40% of the available resources. If those political actions will help Peru to improve or if this will be a barely cosmetic political move it is not clear.
There are still concerns over renewed insurgency activity from the Shining Path (SL) guerrilla group having them join the drug traffickers with their support in security.
Peru is the second largest producer of cocaine in South America after Colombia. Here coca plantations are not illegal, but coca farmers must accept to sell part of the production to a State owned company. The quantity to be sold is minimal so that the great majority of it is then illegally purchased by drug dealers. The system does not help the fight against drug smugglers as the cultivations are not illegal and it is very difficult to define the line between legality and illegality.
The areas of biggest concern are, however, the common criminality and road accidents. Common criminality is widespread in the country with a peak level in the periphery of Lima. Law enforcement agents are not visible, and according to the official data, are not doing enough to fight this phenomenon. The second area of concern is related to car traffic and accidents. As said, there is a high risk of becoming a victim of a car accident, since there is little order and respect of road regulations. In Peru public transportation managed by government or local authorities does not exist, but it has been left to private companies and individuals. There is little control on authorizations and documents so that virtually anybody who owns a car or a minibus can be a taxi or public bus driver. Furthermore, a long time passes between vehicle technical inspections increasing the risk of mechanical breakdowns and incidents due to the lack of maintenance. The parliament has recently approved a law which forbids the importation of used cars older than five years. The high taxes to buy a new vehicle (50% of the price) have created a stagnant situation which do not facilitate the replacement of older models.


Author posing with a local community involved in an agriculture based project in the Handahuaylas area.

Peru has a working relationship with Brazil, although this has been strained by US aid packages to Lima. However, Peru is a member of MERCOSOR trade region, which is dominated by Brazil, bringing the countries closer together. Bolivia is a close partner, largely due to mutual concerns over Chile. Whilst Peru and Chile have been historic rivals, the current relationship is reasonably amicable, although the dispute over maritime borders is still alive. The two countries are working together on border security and anti-terrorist operations. Border disputes with Ecuador remain a source of tension, although outright combat seems unlikely.
The once special relationship with Japan has been strained, following the flight of Garcia predecessor, Alberto Fujimori, to Japan in 2000 and the associated international pressure on Japan to extradite him for murder. Fujimori undergone a trial, has been accused of several imputations and is now in prison. His daughter Keiko, actual Peruvian politician, is planning to run for President of Peru in 2011. How this element could change the feeling of the Peruvians about a possible return of the former President remains to be seen.
Peru’s relationship with the US has had a rocky past but is now close, particularly with large US funding for narcotics and security operations. However, many in Peru are critical of the US for failing to address fundamental trade and social problems within the country through their funding packages. There appears to be some credible information that international terrorists are present in the country but it is not known to which organization they belong; their activities seem to be linked with drugs, financing and false documentation.
The wave of internal terrorism, which Peru suffered in the 1980s and 1990s, has largely passed, but it has not completely disappeared. Remnants of the Shining Path (SP) movement (estimated at around 300 fighters and an unknown number of political activists) are still active in the Apurimac, Ene and Lower Huallaga Valleys. SP was responsible for the US embassy bombing in 2002. A group of terrorists also abducted gas pipeline workers near Toccate in the Ayacucho Department on 9th June 2003. In addition, the Garcia government, despite of his increasing popularity, remains disliked on basic reforms, which gives the potential for protests and strikes if the economic and social situation worsens. There have been recent protests by coca farmers over crop eradication by US-funded anti-narcotics operations and there are signs that the farmers are becoming increasingly militant in their opposition to the government’s support for US actions. In fact the project of restructuring coca plantations with other cultivations has given low results in terms of production and prices. The United Nations are also seen as a threat by the coca farmers and the SP who have an interest in coca production being the major security provider.
Off road trip on the Andean Mountains to Huancavelica.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

PUERTO LEMPIRA – THE MOST FASHINATING AND CHALLENGING FIELD LOCATION IN HONDURAS

Navigating the waterways around the Puerto Lempira swampland (Honduras).

I am finally able to get back on track updating my Security Risk Assessment blog. I have been very busy lately with several professional projects and evaluations. I hope I will be able to regularly inform you through the columns of my blog about international challenges and security threats.
I visited Puerto Lempira – Honduras during my SRA in April 2009. Puerto Lempira is a very peculiar city due to its geographical and orographical conditions. It’s located in the Mosquitia Region, in the south of the country, bordering Nicaragua. A large part of this region includes swampland-like area featuring several rivers, creeks, natural canals and lakes. The large lagoon facing Puerto Lempira town represents the main water access both to open sea and internal canals.
To carry out its mission the humanitarian international organization I was working for had at its disposal two light boats and two cars. Two local indigenous communities, Uanpusirte and Auas, receive from the organization via boat food and of combustible to help with expensive navigation costs. The great majority of the assisted communities are located along water ways, few in the inner land. The weather conditions are generally good but the rainy season (between July and December). The area is normally very affected during this period by tropical storms and sporadically by hurricanes. The local autochthon ethnic group is Miskito and the most spoken language is Miskito even if the official one is Spanish. Most of the populations understand Spanish. The area is generally calm and few are the crime related episodes reported. The communities are watching their neighborhoods. During the night hours some cases of common crime events were recently reported (little robberies mainly).

Organized criminal activities:
Organized crime is present and its core business is drug trafficking. Several air, sea and land routes cross this region. Traffickers are almost invisible though everybody seems to perceive their presence.
The local communities are involved in the drug business only when a go-fast boat or a tourism private airplane loaded with cocaine coming from Colombia, crashes or faces direct threat by law enforcement agencies and their drug charge is left on the ground. Local populations rapidly take advantage of the situation catching as much content as possible. Police often remains with empty hands. Only boats or the aircrafts are recovered.
Narco traffickers lately buy at “fair” price the drug from the communities.
The general perception is that this is a great opportunity to those poor communities almost disconnected from the rest of the world.
Our local staff have never felt directly threaten from such trafficking. Our boats are clearly marked.
The threat in the Gracias a Dios region posed by organized crime can be assessed as low/medium.


Eating coconuts before the navigation mission on the Caribbean shores

Threat mitigations measures
The level of acceptance of the organization within the local populations is high. Indeed the clearly marked official vehicles and boats help to be recognized. The staff in charge of the Puerto Lempira office are well known and respected.
Contracted motorists conduct our boats along the water ways, canals, lagoon, rivers and open sea. They are very skilled and their knowledge of the area is depth. Staff travel, if possible, always with a representative of the government counterpart of the Ministry of Education who is well known as well. It is mandatory to obtain a navigation permit from the Port Authority prior every trip by boat. The permit includes names of those using the boat, the itinerary and other relevant details. Staff usually call our point of contact in the municipality they are about to visit in order to get fresh security information.
Best time frame to conduct field operation between 6:00 AM and 6:00 PM.
Finally, the good and appropriate personal behavioral conduct of the staff is a further element to consider within the general mitigation measures.

Demonstration / political:
At present, there is no obvious potential for politically motivated violence.
The local departmental branch of Ministry of Education has been recently blocked by protesters, usually teachers. The protests are not violent and usually last one day. The current threat of violent demonstration is assessed as low.

Accidental Shooting:
The risk to be involved in an accidental shooting is low.

Medical Emergency:
In Puerto Lempira is active a public hospital. The two clinics present in the region are located in Gracias a Dios and Dos Leones. Every single municipality has a health centre in which basic emergencies can be treated. Cuban doctors are working in these centers along with Honduran doctors according with an agreement between the governments of Honduras and Cuba.
Only one ambulance is available at Puerto Lempira which often is not operative. Those who need emergency medical care are transported to hospitals with private vehicles or boats. Local populations are very collaborative when a medical emergency occurs. Our staff as well has often helped to transport people to hospital putting at disposal the boat as only available transportation means in the area. In this case the procedure envisages that the passenger signs a discharge of responsibility form allowing staff to transport him/her by official boat/vehicle.
Poisoning snakes are infesting the area and everybody here can be exposed to the risk of being bite.
The risk for staff to not receive adequate medical assistance is high because of the lack of basic medical service in the region, the harsh geographic condition.
Fire
The risk of injury from fire is assessed as low.

Road Travel
As mentioned above, the most used transportation means are the boats. Nevertheless some communities are assisted visited by car since they are located in the mainland (very harsh swampland-like environment).
There are absolutely no paved roads and their maintenance is virtually inexistent. In some cases there are no roads at all and staff drive in the wildness to reach the inner communities. Driving during the rainy season can be very difficult/harmful. The organization’s cars are equipped with special “Tractor” high grip tires.
The hazard posed by road condition is assessed as high.

Boats:
Boats are stored along the lagoon shore at motorist location.
Boats, to be fully compliant must have the following features:
Ø Fire extinguishers
Ø Second emergency engine on board
Ø Bengala signaling rockets
Ø First aid kit
Ø Radio systems including sat phones
Ø Life vests suitable for adults and children.
Ø GPS system

Emergency food transported by an Honduran military helicopter after hurrican strike.

Food transported via boat to the indigenous communities within the lagoon.