on Saturday announced that the Peruvian Government reached an agreement with the United States to unblock the interdiction of aircraft suspected of engagement in drug trafficking activities in the national territory —after twenty years.
The Cabinet chief affirmed it is a historic consensus, since it will allow the Peruvian Air Force to receive cooperation once again from the U.S. in terms of radars, intelligence, financing, communications, maintenance, training, as well as logistical, technical, and administrative support to strengthen actions against illicit drug trafficking.
"Thus, Peru will be able to exercise and use non-lethal aerial interdiction. The (criminal) organizations and drug cartels are notified. The country will start an intense fight against the entry of illegal light aircraft that violate our skies. We will act without hesitation to intercept them," he emphasized.
The high-ranking official stressed that this understanding is
part of the policies announced by President Dina Boluarte in order to strengthen the fight against drugs.
"This also means reducing the coca growing area, as irresponsibly previous governments have left us with 100,000 hectares of coca. We are going to work starting this week in Putumayo (province in Loreto region), which is another area in which organized criminal organizations are acting with impunity," he said.
The agreement with the United States is the outcome of an intense negotiation process led by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense, with the participation of the Transportation-Communications and Interior sectors.
On this occasion, he was joined by Interior Minister Vicente Romero.