Coca and Cocaine Economy and Social Change in the Andes of Peru

Author(s): Edmundo Morales

Source: Economic Development and Cultural Change, Vol. 35, No. 1 (Oct., 1986), pp. 143-161
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
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Coca and Cocaine
Economy
and Social
Change
in the Andes of Peru*
Edmundo Morales
City University of
New York
I. Introduction
In recent
years, Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru have become the coun-
tries most often cited in connection with coca
(Erythrocylon coca)
cultivation, coca
preparation,
and traffic in coca
paste
and cocaine
hydrochloride.'
Most of the cocaine refined in Columbia comes from
the
jungles
of Peru.2 The President's Commission on
Organized
Crime
reports
an estimated annual revenue from illicit
drugs, including
cocaine, of
approximately $80 billion.3
Historically,
coca has been
part
of the Andean
economy,
and the
Peruvian Indian has
always
been tied to the
production
of the coca
plant
and the
consumption
of the leaves. As
early
as 1800
B.c.,
the
inhabitants of the Peruvian Pacific coast were
already chewing
coca
produced
in the rain
forests.4
This traditional
ecological interchange
was based on
patterns
of
reciprocity
between
populations
with subsis-
tence
agriculture.s
The remarkable
importance
of coca was further
emphasized
and
exploited during
the colonial
period.
The
Spanish conquerors
max-
imized the cultural
(chewing)
and stimulant effects of coca leaves in
Potosi and other mines in the Andes." In modern times, to
satisfy
and
protect
the needs of the
coca-chewing Indian, the Peruvian
govern-
ment
incorporated
the
production
of coca in the national economic
institution and created an exclusive administrative office to collect
revenues from coca trade
(estanco
de la
coca).
As
part
of the
legal
coca
trade, Peru also
produced
limited amounts of cocaine for scientific and
medical uses. Coca did not
represent
a
major
social
problem. Thus,
existing
scientific literature deals
only
with the cultural
aspects
of coca
chewing
and the social and
pharmacological
effects of
coca-paste
smoking among
modern and
indigenous
groups.7
Why
is it
important
to understand in detail how coca and cocaine
?
1986
by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.
0013-0079/87/3501-0009$01.00
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144 Economic
Development
and Cultural
Change
trade has
changed
in the Andes? The boom in
drug
abuse in industrial
countries, such as the United States, has
captured
the attention of
government
officials who are
trying
to formulate and
impose
new
policies
of
production
of coca
upon
cocaine source
countries.8
On the
other hand, because of its
availability
and ease in traffic, consump-
tion of coca
paste
is
becoming widespread
in some Latin American
countries.9
Moreover, the international consumer market in cocaine is
experi-
encing
the circulation of an
unspecified
version of a
low-price
cocaine
under the name of "bazooka."o'0 Sale of bazooka
may
well be the result
of the
tight
law enforcement exerted on the international traffic in
cocaine
hydrochloride
and the
production
of coca
paste
in the Andes.
Cocaine, initially
served as desserts at
posh parties
in
Hollywood,
is a
problem present
in the
workplace
and other social institutions."
While in industrial societies cocaine is a social evil, in the Andes of
Peru, coca and cocaine elaboration and traffic are
part
of the traditional
ecological exchange
and a cash source, as well as a fashionable
drug.
By looking
at how the
peasants
of the northeastern section of Peru
are enmeshed in the new coca and cocaine
dynamics
and how their
involvement
supports
the international cocaine market, this
paper
takes another
step
toward an
ethnographic
documentation of the im-
pact
of cocaine in the Andes. The
purposes
of this
paper
are
(1)
to
convey
an
understanding
of how the centuries-old
ecological
inter-
change
of labor and food
by
means of coca
supply
has been infiltrated
by
the international underworld, which uses the
peasants'
coca culture
and
economy
as effective
agents
of
production
and traffic, and, to a
certain extent, of the use of the
drug
in its basic form; (2) to evaluate
the
gradual
involvement of
people
with
simple ways
of life in more
complex
social relations that are
causing profound changes
in the be-
havior of the
indigenous; (3) based on
empirical
data from one substan-
tive area in the Andes, to contribute to the identification of
general
social and economic
categories,
the latter of which
emerge
from the
combination of the
corresponding
demands and
supplies
of both the
traditional
groups
and international
underground organizations; (4) to
document the
increasing dependency
of the
peasantry
and the unem-
ployed
on the
underground
cocaine world; and (5) to shed
light
on the
formulation of new
policies that, in the
long run, may help
control
the
illegal production
of cocaine.
By explaining
the
participation
of the
peasantry
in the
production
of cocaine as a livelihood
activity,
in this
article I
suggest
the need for alternatives that
may
offset the
scarcity
of
cash and minimize the
peasants' support
of the cocaine black market.
II. Fieldwork Area
Ethnographic
data for this
study
were collected in a
community of five
villages:
Rurin and six small towns in the northeastern Andes of Peru
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Edmundo Morales 145
(names identifying
individuals and
places
are all
fictitious).'2
The five
villages
of Rurin consist of 375 families with a total
population
of 1,900
inhabitants.
'13
Although, theoretically,
Rurin
peasants
are
part
of a
legally orga-
nized
community (Comunidad Campecina
de Rurin), they
are
openly
opposed
to
accepting
land-reform laws. Thus, they
neither are
legal
owners of the land that
they
have farmed for
generations
nor do
they
participate
in the collective
system
of
production.'4
Unlike
peasants
who
participate
in the state-controlled
agrarian
production,
Rurinos are free to sell their
products
at
prices
determined
by
local demand and
supply.
Most of them sell their
crops
in the
jungle,
where
they get higher prices
than in local markets.
Crops transported
to the
jungle
as well as ones sold in local markets
may satisfy
cash
needs but also reduce food intake in the
community.
The reason for
this is that foodstuffs
brought
to the forests are not
surplus production;
the sale of food is
necessary
to meet their needs for cash.
III.
Methodology
In
May 1980, I first visited the
setting
for 2 weeks. The
peasants
tried to
expel
me from the
community
a few hours after
my
arrival in one of the
villages.
I
suggested
that we have a "farewell drink of alcohol."
By
the
time we finished the bottle of alcohol (500 milliliters), we all were
"friends" and I was welcome to remain in the
village
for as
long
as I
wanted to.
During
this short
stay,
I contracted two
key persons,
a local
teacher and a
community peasant leader, who were
willing
to
cooper-
ate in the research.
The
project
was
programmed
to be carried out
during
the summer
and fall of 1981, since these are the seasons (winter
and
spring there)
when almost
everyone
in the
community
is
present
because of the
harvest. Moreover, I needed and wanted to
get
most of the
villagers
interviewed as
rapidly
as
possible
so that I could
rely
on the data
without
having
to take into account
changes
that
might
have taken
place
in the interval.
In the
spring
of 1981, before
my trip
from New York, I asked one
of
my
advisors to
sign
a letter in
Spanish
addressed to the head of the
police,
the director of education in the
province,
the
mayor,
and the
local
judge.
With the
previous year's experience,
clearance was
impor-
tant for the
stay
in the area and the
community.
My plan
was to visit
immediately
the leader who, during my
first
stay,
had offered me full
cooperation.
This time, he came
up
with the
excuse that the documents that he held were in Lima in the hands of
one of his sons, and he "advised" me to
pick
another
community
to
avoid
problems
with the
population.
He
secretly
had started to warn
his
covillagers
of the
danger
that
my presence
in Rurin meant because
of
my
"identification with the other
party"
and that
they
should take
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146 Economic
Development
and Cultural
Change
the initiative to throw me out of the
community,
for I had no official
authorization to be in Rurin. He did not know that I had been au-
thorized
by
the national authorities in the
province.
He was
surprised
when he learned that I had been cleared in
every respect.
It was
my
plan
first to collect historical and
political data, but the result of
my
visit to the leader made me alter this. I decided to start
interviewing
and
observing
the
population. Nobody
resisted at all.
A total of 101 families, from the 125
planned,
were observed, and
informal interviews were carried out with the heads of households.
Early
bird
(7:30-9:00 A.M.) or
late
(5:30-7:00 P.M.)
visits were
pro-
grammed
to
try
to find the heads of families before or after their
daily
activities out in the field. Three to five families
per day
were visited.
The rest of the time was
spent talking
with
shepherds
and workers in
the fields or
taking
field notes. Interviews were conducted in
Quechua
to make them feel comfortable and to facilitate a better and more
precise expression
of their
feelings, opinions, attitudes, and ideas.
During
data
collection, there were instances when
jotting
down
field notes was difficult or
impossible
because of the inconveniences
found in the
setting
or because of the time of the interviews. In these
difficult times, audiovisual instruments made the
process
of data col-
lection more effective.
Ninety
minutes of
Super
8 sound film and tens
of rolls of still, positive
film were shot.
5
The research
proposed
to
study
the effects of land reform and
modernization in the Andes. A basic
questionnaire designed
to
get
data
on the
demographic, social, and economic
aspects
of the
community
was taken to the field. In the
process
of
my
visits and interviews, I
discovered that, right
after the harvest, some
peasants
started
making
preparations
for a
long trip.
So
my initially
structured
plan
had to be
changed
to fit what was
going
on in the field, which was different from
what I had conceived before the research itself.
After
discovering
the new research material, I centered
my
efforts
on the montanero (in a local dialect, "the one who
goes
to the
jungle")
peasants
and some informants in small towns in the area. In the towns I
began socializing
with
petty
dealers and
migrant
workers.
My
"ses-
sions" with these
key
informants took
place
in town corners and
park
benches. The first
approach
was
always
a "Coca" (Coca-Cola)
drink
treat. The use of the word "Coca"
opened
a
variety
of conversations
leading
to different
aspects
of coca
paste
and cocaine.
Some informants assumed that
my
indirect
approach
to coca
paste
was an indication of
my
interest to
get
into the "business." On more
than one occasion I was offered certain amounts of the "best stuff"
(refined cocaine). But I
cautiously
avoided both too much information
and direct or indirect involvement in
drug dealings. My cautious, low-
key
attitude was based on
my suspicion
of a
trap
set
up by
local
drug
lords.
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Edmundo Morales 147
IV. The Traditional Coca
Economy
It
may
be true that,
in some areas where barter takes
place,
there is
little or no cash
economy
and vice versa. However,
in the
highlands
of
Peru, bartering
of coca for
goods produced by
the
peasants'
labor in
different
ecological
niches is
generally accepted
and
socially approved.
This does not mean that coca is the standard and universal
commodity
of
exchange;
neither does it
imply
that
commodity exchange
and cash
economy
are two
mutually
exclusive activities. One
way
or another,
both economies are
present among
Andeans.
Coca, produced
at altitudes of 600-2,000 meters above sea
level,
is
picked, dried, and
pressed
in bales of 1-2 arrobas (25-50 pounds).
Traditionally,
in the area of fieldwork, there were two kinds of coca
traders who
brought
coca leaves from the rain forests
up
to the
high-
lands.
(1) Some townsmen would
go
to the
jungle
to
bring
back coca,
coffee beans, and some dried fruits. Back in the
highlands, they
would
sell the coca to the
bodegueros.
Coffee beans and dried fruits were
distributed in
exchange
for women's and children's labor.
(2)
Occa-
sionally
a number of
peasants
made
trips
to the closest fields of coca
production
and returned with a few
pounds
of coca leaves, mostly
for
their own
consumption.
The townsmen traded food for coca while the
peasants
were
paid
in coca leaves for their labor in small coca
planta-
tion fields. The movement of coca from the
jungle
was
legal
and
regu-
lated
by
the national
government.
Small
strategic
towns near coca
plantations
functioned as
ports
of
exit of coca. In these administrative localities, the national
government
had its
representatives
in
charge
of collection of revenues from coca
trade. The recaudador
(tax collector) also controlled the
retailing
of
coca and salt
coming
from the coast. The retail of coca was
always
in
the hands of small-town
bodegueros
and
storekeepers
in
large
towns
and cities. In some cases, villagers
had to walk 1-4 hours for their
supply
of coca. The license to sell coca was issued
by
the recaudador
in the form of a tin
plate reading
estanco de la coca to be
displayed
on
the door of the
bodega
or tienda, as
they
call small
shops
in some areas
in the Andes. In the
ports
of exit in the late fifties, the direct tax
imposed
on coca was about 5 soles
per
arroba
(US$0.30
in 1958 ex-
change rates).16 Today,
this
type
of tax collection has
disappeared
in
the Andes, and now the movement and market of coca, with certain
limitations to be discussed in the next section, is more or less free.
In
highland communities, coca leaves reach the
peasant
chewer in
one of two forms. Either he
gets
his own
supply
for his
personal
and
social use, or coca is
provided
to him as
part
of the reward for his
labor.
During
work hours, the
peon (day laborer) gets
his ration of coca
leaves
along
with alcohol or chicha (a beerlike alcoholic
beverage).
These
supplies
are in addition to the 250 soles
(US$0.50
in 1981 ex-
change rates) of
wages paid
and one or two meals. It is a traditional
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148 Economic
Development
and Cultural
Change
social use to serve the
peon
a
yahuapa (breakfast) and/or heavy
merienda
(dinner).
Lunch is
usually skipped; they
work with their coca
quids
in their
mouths."7
Ishku (lime),
an
ingredient
added to the chew-
ing,
is carried
along
at all
times.8'"
In the cash market, 1
ounce of coca
leaves is sold at 200 soles (US$0.40
in 1981 soles), and
only a few
storekeepers
have it in stock because coca
coming
from the
jungle
usually
ends
up
in the illicit market.
Before
discussing
the
exchange commodity
role of coca, it must be
noted that
today,
in the Andes, the metric
system
of measure has been
adopted
in almost
every respect. However, the unit of measurement to
weigh
coca leaves is still done in ounces, pounds,
and arrobas.
Coca leaves come to Rurin and other
villages
in
high
altitudes
mostly by way
of trade with wheat and Andean roots
produced by
the
traditional
agriculture. Despite
its
dependence
on seasonal rains,
Rurin
land has a
good
subsistence
agriculture,
and the
quality
of its
crops
attracts
many traveling
merchants and traders.
The trader visits the
community usually
at least
1
month before the
beginning
of the harvest season, or he comes
during
harvest activities,
knowing
that the
crops
are
promising. If, because of
drought
or flood,
the
quality
of the
grains
does not meet the standards of the demand in
the market, he does not come to the
community
at all. But in the case
of a
good crop,
the trader makes two
trips
to the
community.
The cuca-
tumasik (coca trader) brings
with him a few
pounds
of coca, clothing,
tools, and
plastic
wares. The Rurin
peasant
has the choice of either
taking
a
partial payment
in coca for his
product
or the full amount in
advance. Others take
only
a
llanqui,
which consists of a fistful of
coca.19
The rate of
exchange
in Rurin in 1981 was a
half-pound
of coca for
2 arrobas of select wheat
(the
best
crop
in the
community).
The cuca-
tumasik does not
go
from house to house; as the
Quechua
term indi-
cates, he
"just
walks around" the
villages
with his load of coca and
other
goods
on his burro.
Weeks later, the trader comes back to Rurin to
pick up
his
grains
with as
many pack
animals as are needed to
transport
his wheat. The
trader takes the
grains
to the towns that have road service to Lima and
other cities. Here, he sells the wheat to truckers for 1,300 soles ($2.60)
per
arroba. The
peasant
is
paid
in coca leaves, 1,200 soles ($2.40) for 2
arrobas of wheat that are worth 2,600 soles ($5.20). This is done de-
spite
the fact that the
villagers
are aware of the current cash
prices
of
both coca and wheat. When
they bring
their
crops
to towns, they
sell
them at
regular prices and, sometimes, they
even want better
prices.
But when coca leaves are used as the medium of
exchange, regardless
of the
setting
of the transaction, they accept
the rates established
by
the other
party. Thus, the trader makes a 10-fold
profit,
for the
wholesale
price
of coca he
paid
is lower than the 200 soles retail
price
value.20
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Edmundo Morales 149
Thus far, the
peasants
of Rurin have been seen
only
in the context
of their
participation
in the traditional coca trade
tangled
in the
produc-
tion of food to
satisfy
their coca needs. This
may
not be the correct
and full
picture
of them. The next section shows how the Rurinos fit
into the new economic
phenomenon
created
by
the
powerful
Andean
shrub.
V. New
Dynamics
in the Coca and Cocaine Trade
During
the late fifties and
early sixties, the
government
of Peru initiated
a colonization
program
of the
jungle along
the eastern
slopes
of the
Andes
by distributing
land to families who were
willing
to relocate in
the forests. To facilitate communications between the frontier lands
and
metropolitan areas, the
government began
the construction of a
road that still had not been
completed.
Most land distribution took
place
in the
province
of Leoncio Prado, whose
capital town, Tingo
Maria
(now
known as the "white
city"),
is located at an altitude of
about 1,250 meters above sea level.21
Since the
plantations
of tea, coffee, and tobacco did not
yield
the
expected returns, the colonists turned their lands into coca
farming.
Through
the sixties to the
present,
the need for coca increased and the
growth
of
cocaine-processing
hideouts in the forests boomed. The
town of
Tingo
Maria became the mecca of cocaine traffic. At the same
time, small towns such as Monson and Uchiza, because of their isola-
tion, emerged
as
strategic settings
for cocaine elaboration and distribu-
tion
(these
three towns are famous for their cocaine movement, so
there is no need to
give
fictitious
names).
Tingo Maria, unlike Monzon and Uchiza, gets
consumable
goods
directly
from
productive
areas
by
air and surface
transportation. Here,
the
peasants
of Rurin and their commodities encounter
heavy compe-
tition from manufactured
products
from urban areas. As a result,
Rurinos concentrate their economic efforts on the
populations living
around the towns of Monson and Uchiza, which are, respectively,
5
and 7
days' journey
from Rurin.
The Goods-Coca
Exchange
Circuit
After storing up
a food
supply
for at least 7 months, the montanero
starts his
preparation
for the
long trip
to the
jungle.
The first
thing
of
which he makes sure is a suitable travel
companion, generally
a
com-
padre,
a
relative, or a close friend from the
community.
His second
task is to secure
good transportation,
that is, mules and
donkeys.
Horses are not used because
they
are not as
strong
as mules and
montanero
donkeys.
The owner of the
pack
animal to be used on the
trip
receives a
llanqui
in
money
or in kind.
Only
after both
companion
and animals for
transportation
are
procured
will the montanero
peasant
set an
approximate
date of
departure.
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150 Economic
Development
and Cultural
Change
The best
goods
for
commodity exchange
in the
jungle
are wheat,
broad beans, common vetch
(arveja) meals,
and dried
pork
and lamb.
The
peasant
takes his
grains
to be milled at the water mills about
1
hour
from the
community, paying
a rate of 50 soles
(10?)
for each arroba of
grain
milled. Once back from the water mills, meals are sifted and
put
in sacks of 4 arrobas for each
donkey
and 6 arrobas for each mule. The
housewife
prepares
the traditional food
provisions (fiambre),
which
consist of
parched corn, toasted broad beans, fried
spicy guinea pigs,
and cooked dried lamb and
pork
to last for as
long
as 2 weeks. The
voyagers provide
themselves with one box of matches, one tin
pot,
and
herbs
against colic, diarrhea, and colds.
On the
day
of
departure, they
load their
cargo and, commending
themselves to their favorite saints,
take the route that is familiar to at
least one of them. The southeast route, which takes 5-6
days
one
way
and 4-5
days
on the return home, leads to Monson. The eastern trek,
requiring
a walk of 8
days
at the
pace
of their
heavily
loaded animals,
goes
to Uchiza.
Day
is counted from dawn to dark (about
14 hours
per
day).
The actual hours of
walking depend
on the distance of
pasture
available for their animals for 1
day's trip
to the next. However, on the
average,
it
implies traveling
12-16 hours.
They usually spend
the
nights sleeping
in caves, under
leafy trees, or in abandoned houses;
sometimes
they
are sheltered
by
their
acquaintances along
their route
of travel.
Once
they
reach Monson or Uchiza, they exchange
their food-
stuffs either
directly
with the
planters
of coca or with store owners in
the towns.
Exchange
is established at the rate of 2 arrobas of
peasants'
produce
for
1
arroba of coca, with the
exception
of broad bean flour
and dried meat
(lamb
or
pork),
which are traded on an
equal
basis.
They always
make the return
trip immediately following
the transac-
tion, for
they
cannot afford the
high
cost of
living
in the
jungle.
Assuming
that a montanero
peasant
has received 10 arrobas (250
pounds)
of coca leaves in the course of
exchange,
the
logical supposi-
tion would be that he would take his load of coca back home, where he
could sell it at the
legal
market
price
of 200 soles
(40?)
an ounce for a
total of 600,000 soles
($1,200.00).
The fact is that the montanero
peas-
ants come home with
only
1
or 2 arrobas of coca to
pay
the rent for the
transportation
animals
they
used. The
pack
animal's huaktan
(payment
for the mule or
donkey)
is 12.5
pounds
for mules and 6
pounds
for
burros. The rest of the load is sold in
macerating places
set
up
in the
forest and in small settlements located at
high
altitudes miles
away
from the
plantations.
In cocaine
plants,
the
price
of coca fluctuates between 15,000 soles
and 25,000 soles
($30.00-$50.00,
in 1981
exchange rate) per arroba,
depending
on
police
control and international cocaine traffic condi-
tions. Thus, during
the conflict between Peru and Ecuador, because of
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Edmundo Morales 151
tight
control on the border, coca
prices dropped
to 15,000 soles
per
arroba. But in the summer of 1981, after the conflict was settled, prices
went
up
as
high
as 25,000 soles
per
arroba. In some cocaine centers
where
police
raids are
organized
more
frequently, prices
are
lower; for
example,
in a
community
near Bolivia, the
highest price paid
for 1
arroba of coca is 4,250 soles
($8.50).22
The reason
why
the
peasants
of Rurin sell their bales of coca
leaves to the cocaine
entrepreneurs
for less
money
than the
prorated
total retail value back in their
villages
is that the
legal
transit of coca
from the
jungle up
to the mountains is
regulated by
law. If a
peasant
is
caught smuggling
more than the maximum allowed
(2 arrobas), the
total load of coca is confiscated
by
the
police.
The
legal system,
in a
way, helps
the cocaine
entrepreneur
to have control over the coca
supply.23
Labor and
Wages
Migration
to the coast for
wages
still remains the
major
attraction for
rural and urban residents. The
peasants
of Rurin have realized that
working
for
wages
on the coast is no
longer lucrative, and now some of
them
go seasonally
to the forest to work for cash.
Although people
from towns and urban areas in the Andes flock to
metropolitan Lima, the rate of seasonal
population
movement and mi-
gration
from Rurin to the coast has
dropped dramatically. Only
21% of
those who leave their
villages
for cash
go
to the coast.
In 1981, of the 60% (61) of the Rurinos who went to the
jungle
for
cash, 28% (18)
were
wage
seekers and 72% (43) traveled to trade their
commodities. The seasonal laborers work for a minimum
daily wage
of
1,000 soles
($2.00)
in Monson, and 1,500 soles ($3.00)
in Uchiza. In
addition to the
wages, they
are
provided
with free
housing
and meals.
The
wages paid
to the
peasants
in Monson and Uchiza are corre-
spondingly
25% and 87.5%
higher
than the 800 soles
daily
minimum
wage paid
to the unskilled industrial laborers in Lima.
The
wage
laborers work
mostly
in coca
plantations picking, dry-
ing,
and
packing
coca
crops. They
are
paid daily
without
any
deduc-
tions. Those who have the determination to save
money
do other extra
work. The
younger
and the
physically strong
are reluctant to work in
coca
plantation fields, for
they
can
employ
their
greater physical capac-
ity
to
perform
harder work for
higher pay. They
are the "two-feet
jackasses"
of the cocaine industry,
who
transport
on their backs as
many
as 5 bales (5 arrobas) of dried
pressed
coca leaves from the
plantations
to the
cocaine-processing hideouts, always
located several
hours'
walking
distance from the coca fields. Or
they
make "de-
liveries" of coca
paste, hiking along
established secret treks. The
peas-
ants'
ability
and
physical strength
are critical in the movement of coca
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152 Economic
Development
and Cultural
Change
paste. Payment
for
transportation
is done at the destination of the
trip
at a fixed rate of
1,000 soles
($2.00) per
arroba.
The
heavy
and
painful
walk results in a minimum
daily wage
of
4,000 soles
($8.00)
if the
peasant
is not able to make an additional
trip.
Thus, the
migrant wage laborer, depending
on his
strength
and
ability,
can earn as much as
120,000 soles
($240.00) per
month or 500% more
than his unskilled
counterpart
who
migrates
to Lima. Even after ex-
penditures
to meet the
high
cost of
living, they
can still come with more
cash than
they
ever dreamed of. The
highest
amount saved in 3 months
reported
in Rurin was 500,000 soles ($1,000).
They
come back exhausted because of the
heavy
work
performed;
some of them even have their hands burned and
chapped
due to
expo-
sure to acids in
macerating pits. Money
earned in the cocaine land is
always spent
on
clothing, appliances, pack animals, or
building
a new
house.
Food
Supplies
The seasonal
wage
laborers take with
them, on their backs, at least
1
arroba
(11.5 kilos)
of dried lamb or smoked
pork legs (jamon); they
do
not take
any pack animals, for their
stay
in the
jungle
is
longer
than that
of the traders. When the traders take
only
one mule, they
also include
in their loads 1-3 arrobas of
pork
and dried lamb
plus
at least 4 arrobas
of wheat flour.
However, they usually
take three to five animals. Each
traveler
transports
a minimum of 6 arrobas of wheat flour and 2 ar-
robas of dried lamb and smoked
pork legs.
As described above, for
wages
the
migrants carry
with them no more than
1
arroba of lamb
and/
or smoked
pork legs.
Table 1
presents
a calculation of the
average
food
energy
flow from Rurin to the underworld. It shows
figures
for the
three most-wanted commodities in the
jungle.
Although
these
figures
of food
energy supply
from Rurin to the
cocaine underworld
speak
for themselves, a brief observation is neces-
sary
on the
consequences
of
depriving
the
peasant
of
consuming
his
own
production.
The need for cash and coca
among
the
peasants push
them to
supply
the cocaine land with calories and
proteins
even before
satisfying
their own minimum intake
requirements.
In this
process,
the
peasants
take down to the
jungle
362 arrobas (4,163 kilos) of food
containing
almost 15 million calories and over 700,000 grams
of
pro-
teins, 53% of which are
high-quality (animal) proteins.
The
peasants bring
to the forest 6,204 days
of caloric intake for
one adult at a
daily average
of 2,400 calories
per day,
or one
day's
provision
for 6,204 adults. Because of the
high yield
of
protein
from
dried lamb (48.5 grams per
each 100
grams
of meat)
and smoked
pork
legs (16.9 grams per
each 100
grams
of
meat), they deprive
themselves
of 23,909 days
of
high-quality protein
for one adult or a
supply
for 12
days
for the entire
community.24
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Edmundo Morales 153
TABLE 1
FOOD ENERGY SUPPLY FROM RURIN OVER 1 YEAR
Food Quantity (Arrobas) Calories Protein (Grams)
Wheat flour 258 10,829,550 350,106
Smoked
pork
52 2,326,220 101,062
Dried lamb 52 1,734,200 290,030
Total 362 14,889,970 741,198
The demand for food in the rain forests has created a local market.
There is in the
community
an
exchange economy
concentrated on
collecting
food to
satisfy
both cash
supply
and food demand in the
jungle.
The six small
bodegueros
in Rurin trade brown
sugar,
deter-
gents, alcohol, and basic medicines for smoked
pork legs
and wheat.
Half an arroba of brown
sugar
worth 650 soles ($1.30)
is
exchanged
for
1 arroba of wheat or one
pork leg.
Wheat is
usually
sold to townsmen
traders, whereas
pork legs
are
transported
to the rain forests.
Cocaine
Entrepreneurship
The traditional subsistence
agricultural economy
does not
satisfy
the
exigencies
created
by
the fashionable
way
of life
coming
with the mod-
ernization
programs
in the area.25 As a result, many peasants
and
mes-
tizos get
involved in local or national cocaine traffic, or
they
take the
"eastway"
to the new "frontier land," where
they open
their macerat-
ing pits
to
try
to accumulate wealth that
they
could not do
legally.
To become an
underground entrepreneur, they say,
is "much better
than
breaking
one's back in
agriculture
or
working
for
wages
in the
metropolis."
Because of the abundance of the coca
plant,
one would assume
that it would be
fairly easy
to
get
started in the
macerating
business.
But it is not that
simple
to be a successful
entrepreneur;
some
difficulties and
complexities
come with the
organization
of the busi-
ness. There are two kinds of
entrepreneurs
in the
preparation
of
cocaine. There is the
planter
who is self-sufficient in labor
(family
enterprise)
and
capital
and who, sometimes, has his own connections
in the national market. But not
every planter
is able to take over the
whole
process by
himself. Thus, the second kind of
entrepreneur,
the
capitalista,
comes onto the scene.
The
capitalista,
the "man with cash," either works in the business
in association with the
planter
or establishes his own
"laboratory"
in a
nearby settlement, where he can
operate safely
and
get
his
supply
of
coca leaves
directly
from the
planter
or
through
the
peasant
traders.
The coca farmer is licensed to
plant tea, coffee, fruits, etc. on land
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154 Economic
Development
and Cultural
Change
that he
legally owns, but not coca. Because the woodlands are so vast
and
virgin,
the
planter
can
open
new
plots
in secret locations so that
they always appear
to be
living
on the
crops
that
they
are allowed to
plant.
The
capitalista always
establishes his "lab" in a hamlet or a vil-
lage
settled
by migrants
from the Cordilleras. These settlers live
mostly
on their small
bodegas.
To the settlers, the
capitalista entrepreneur
is
something
like a benefactor who
supports
the
group by creating jobs
and
by paying inflationary prices
to the small
bodegueros.
Once he
buys
off some
key
individuals from the
group,
such as
municipal
or
political representatives
at the
village level, and
gains
control of the
population,
he hires
mercenary guards
to watch the
setting.
These
guardians (matones)
are "authorized" to ambush
anyone suspected
of
trying
to discover the "bread and butter" of the
group.
Whoever
comes to the woodland does it either to
buy
the
"stuff"
or to work
or sell his food commodities; no other reasons or
explanations
are
accepted.
The coca
paste
elaborators are
always
tied further to some en-
trep6t
store owners at distant towns for
supply
of materials and
ingre-
dients
coming
via the roads. In addition to the
pits
that
operate
in the
forests, preparation
of coca
paste
also takes
place
in some
villages
or in
the outskirts of some towns
along
the eastern
slopes
of the Andes at
large.
This
backyard-cottage-type industry
is
attracting
the semi-urban
and rural mestizos more and more. In most cases, the
highland pro-
cessor sets
up
his
pit
in an isolated area where he has a
peasant com-
padre
or debtor. This is so because the characteristic smell from the
mixture of dried coca leaves with kerosene and
sulphuric
acid is
difficult to hide in
populated places.
If the
pit
is discovered
by police,
the
peasant
who is in
charge
of the maceration
process
is almost
always
the
''only suspect," and, often, he
goes
to the
county jail
for a few
weeks until the mestizo "clears" his status with the local
police.
Coca for the
preparation
of coca
paste
in the
highlands
comes from
the leaves
transported
for
legal
use
(chewing) or, at times, smuggled
in
large
amounts
by bribing
the
police.
Once the
paste
has been
produced
either to fill an order or to sell to the wholesalers, regardless
of where it
is macerated, it starts its
regional
and national movement.
For
security reasons, transportation
of the valuable "rocks" is
done in
clearly
defined
stages.
From the
jungle,
it comes first to three
small towns located 4-12 hours'
walking
distance from the motorized
shipping point. Here, the
paste coming
from the forests is consolidated
with that
"produced"
in the
highland.
The second, decisive
stage
usu-
ally
takes
place during
the
night
and involves
crossing
the Culebra
River, tributary
of the Amazon.
In the Andean
shipping point,
there are at least 10
major
wholesale
dealers who
buy
the "stuff"
coming
from the first
stage.
The
price
for
1
kilo of coca
paste ranges
from 250,000 soles ($500.00) to 300,000 soles
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Edmundo Morales 155
($600.00), depending
on
police
control conditions and
competition.
The
refined cocaine in
fluffy powder
form sells for 600,000 soles
($1,200.00) and
up per
kilo. It is
always
assumed that the
quality
of the
goods
is
optimum; they
do not test for
purity.
There are two kinds of
people
involved in the local
trafficking
in
cocaine. There is the
petty trader, who either
buys
coca
paste
from the
first
stage
or
goes
to the
jungle
and
brings
the
paste
to the towns for
resale to wholesale dealers. The
capital
with which the
petty
trader
operates
is
always
less than 1 million soles ($2,000). The resale
gives
him a
profit
of about 30%; less if
brought
from the first
stage only.
The
second
type
of
drug
dealer
(pichicatero)
is what is called the
"big
fish"
in the business. This dealer
usually
takes the whole
process
of
produc-
tion from
planting
of coca to maceration and
marketing.
This dealer
brings directly
from the
jungle
no less than 10 kilos of
paste
and sells it
to the wholesale distributors, or, sometimes, he takes it to Lima
by
himself. The town wholesalers
always
have the
petty
traders
"hooked," in that
they
lend
money
or
pay
lower
prices by arguing
an
artificial overstock. The
petty
traders are
always
"broke" because
they splurge
in the towns.
They
are the best consumers of the services
available in the coca
paste
terminal
settings.
Coca
paste
from the second
stage goes
to the national market
via surface
transportation by buses, trucks, and
private cars, or it is
shipped
as comestibles
leaving
for Lima and other cities on the coast.
After a
trip
of about 4 hours from the second
stage,
in the town of
Tunan there is a
police
station that controls traffic
coming
to Lima. The
dirt road is closed for 12 hours, from 6:00 P.M. to 6:00 A.M. Of the next
day.
This station is
responsible
for
searching
for cocaine in the vehicles
transiting
the route, but it is an
impossible
task for the three
policemen
to do more than
simply
check
personal identifications, detain
suspects,
or
accidentially
discover
smuggled
coca
paste.
Smugglers
and dealers have their own
ways
of
finding
out their
status with the
police.
When
they suspect
or
they
know that
police
are
"awaiting them," they
use
specialized
"hikers"
(pasadores)
or
muleteers, who take the load on
pack
animals or on their backs
along
unpatrolled passages
to
specific points
of
pickup. Subsequent
to the
Tunan control station,
there are four more
police
checks at about 3,800
meters above sea level with no
major
risk because of the cold weather
and lack of
equipment
to detect cocaine.
The commercial movement of coca
paste
in the second
stage
is
almost
completely open. Everyone
in the towns knows who is who in
the business. For
example,
in December 1982
I
was
sitting
and
chatting
with a small
bodeguera,
when
suddenly
an unknown
young
woman
interrupted
the conversation to offer 2 kilos (she did not
say
of what).
The
bodeguera
answered
by saying
that she did not
buy
"those
things"; instead, she recommended her to the local
postmaster.
The
long processing
of coca
paste,
food
energy,
and human
capital
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156 Economic Development and Cultural
Change
required
for the
production
and
transportation
are
supplied by
the
peasants
and some
poor
rural
people,
whereas the
underground
com-
mercial movement is controlled
by
local middle-class mestizos se-
cure in
government jobs,
small business, and commercial
agriculture
(e.g.,
the former head of the National Bank, who had been fired fol-
lowing
a local
development budget scandal, had assembled a secret
refining laboratory
in a suburban section of Lima in association with
two relatives. The
police
found in his
possession
30 kilos of cocaine
hydrochloride).26
Coca Paste Use
In addition to
being
involved with the underworld, the
peasants
of
Rurin, themselves, are also
becoming
victims of coca
paste.
Coca
chewing, especially among young
male
peasants,
is now
being replaced
by
the use of coca
paste-a
more addictive and
dangerous
habit.
Those who work for
wages
in the
underground
laboratories have
relatively easy
access to coca
paste
and cocaine
hydrochloride,
for
their labor is
directly
related to the
processing
of the substance.
During
their
stay,
these
peasant
laborers consume the
drug regularly
in either
basic or
purified form, without
having
to
pay
for it. As one informant
asserted, "To them it is
just
like
they
were
working
in a bake
shop
and
taking
home some bread."
When
they
return to Rurin, some montaneros or
wage
laborers
bring
home
only
coca leaves; others come back with both coca leaves
and cocaine. Of the 61
peasants
who went to the
jungle (60% of the
sample),
80%
(48)
had used cocaine
regularly.
Of these cocaine users,
75%
(36)
were in favor of cocaine in its rock form
(coca paste)
because
"it is more convenient to
carry along."
Veteran chewers (40%) who
tended to be the older
group
of the
sample were, however,
in favor of
continuing
their traditional habit.
They argued
that "cocaine was too
strong
and it made them feel
strange."
An
overwhelming majority
of
the
young (60%) bring
coca
only
to
give
to their relatives or to sell; for
themselves
they
take cocaine.
Although
it was difficult to
weigh always
the full amount of
cocaine, random measurements
ranged
between 200 and 400
grams.
It
must be underscored that these calculations show
only
the amounts
that the
respondents
had with them for their
daily use; they
did not
reveal their actual
personal
"stock" at home. Existence of more sub-
stance in stock is obvious, as some
peasants
who come back from the
jungle exchange part
of their coca
paste possessions
for other con-
sumer
goods coming
from the
metropolitan
areas
(e.g.,
a local commu-
nity
teacher secures his
supply
of coca
paste by trading
two
contracep-
tive inserts or three rubber condoms for about 1
gram
of coca
paste).
In
Peru, such items are difficult to
buy
in small towns and
villages.
In cocaine-elaboration
settings,
coca
paste
is smoked mixed with
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Edmundo Morales 157
tobacco or
marijuana.
In the
highlands,
where
cigarettes
and
marijuana
are
expensive,
the little brownish rocks are licked. Other forms of coca
paste
use were not noticed
during
fieldwork.
Besides the obvious
availability
of coca
paste,
there are two main
reasons for the
consumption
of the substance in the
jungle:
economic
and social. Since the cocaine
entrepreneur
has to
provide
the
peasant
with food
during
his
employment period,
it is to the
entrepreneur's
advantage
to
keep production expenses
low
by letting
his laborers
consume coca
paste,
for food is
very expensive
in the area.
Socially,
the Andean
peasant
is used to
working
under the stimulation of coca,
but the low status
assigned
to the coca chewer makes some of the
young
aware of the social
stigma
that has been attached to coca chew-
ing.27 Furthermore, since cocaine use is a vice of the Western
culture,
they
believe that
being modern
in this
regard implies
imitation in the
use of the
drug.
VI. Conclusion
In
conclusion, rather than summarize the
findings,
I will
present briefly
the
general scope
of the
problem
of coca and cocaine in both Peru and
the international market.
So far, the
sociological
and mental health
aspects
of cocaine have
been the concern of social researchers and scholars. It is
timely
and
long
overdue to
integrate
the mechanics of
production
and the
dynam-
ics of distribution of cocaine in source countries and to look at the
problem
of
drug
abuse from a broader
point
of view. The
political
connotation of the international underworld should not be an excuse to
exclude this
important
issue from
scholarly practice.
It is
hoped
that this work will contribute to the
beginning
of a
systematic
and scientific
approach
to
explain
and understand the cul-
tural and economic
meaning
of the cocaine
industry,
that is, the mean-
ing
of cocaine in its natural environment before it turns into one of the
major
causes of mental health
problems.
The discussion has demonstrated that the Andean
peasant
has
intensified his traditional
ecological interchange
and that this in-
tensification has become an
important
factor in the
development
and
sustenance of the international cocaine
supply. However, the
peas-
ant's
support
cannot be censurable, for his
participation
in the illicit
economy
is inevitable. In this
region,
the traditional
way
of life is more
and more intertwined with coca trade, and the cash economic activities
are
directly
related to
occupations
derived from the new coca trade.
The demand for labor and food
energy
in the
jungle
and the need for
cash in the Andes
plow
the
ground
for the coexistence of two different
groups creating
a new and
complex body
of social relations of
produc-
tion and
consumption.
The increase of local
peasant economy
around cocaine
brings
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158 Economic
Development and Cultural
Change
about
changes
in the behavior of the
indigenous people.
While the base
of their
economy, agriculture,
remains
totally dependent
on nature and
on old
methods, their traditional and modern needs
(coca and
cash)
drive them to
supply
calories before
satisfying
even their own
minimum intake
requirements.
In the
production, distribution, and
marketing
of coca
paste
and
cocaine there is a clear division of labor at local and national levels. As
in
any
social relations of
production, those who contribute most in the
creation of the
commodity (cocaine)
are less
economically
rewarded
than those who market the end
product
in the
underground industry.
Local middle-class
merchants, professionals,
and some
government
officials are the ones who
profit
the most from cocaine
dealings. Money
received from cocaine traffic is invested in real estate or in the
expan-
sion of small businesses in small towns. The
peasants spend
their earn-
ings
on the
purchase of commodities that do not
help
raise their stan-
dard of
living.
This
unequal distribution of wealth, however
illegal,
furthers the
already existing
social
cleavages
in the
society
as a whole.
At the international level, Peru as a
cocaine-producing country
faces a serious dilemma. The national
government intends to
protect
the social habit of the
majority
in the Andes and blames consumer
societies for the existence of cocaine in Peru, but it
accepts
the
imposi-
tion of new
policies
of coca
production
from the United States. This
quasi-bilateral agreement
between a
country
with limited economic
resources and an international
power
makes Peru
dependent
on
foreign
investment for the solution of its traditional and modern social
prob-
lems, namely, eradication of cocaine and
preservation of coca chew-
ing.
The new
policies
of coca
production
and the
ambiguous political
position of the Peruvian
government obscures the
complexity
of the
social
processes developing
in a
society
whose total worldview is in-
separable from the coca
plant.
Overproduction
of cocaine in the Andes is visible in the
high qual-
ity
of cocaine
hydrochloride available to the consumer at
relatively
low
prices.
It is common to find one
gram
of
high-quality
cocaine (alkaloid
content of 20% or
higher)
at about $50 per gram.28
The existence of the
new version of
cocaine, bazooka, may
well be the same coca
paste
smoked
by
the
indigenous
in the Andes. It comes to America unrefined
because of the
tight drug-enforcement control
put
on the international
refining
centers and the overabundance of coca
paste
in the Andes. The
pharmacological effects from
smoking
coca
paste (bazooka) may
be
much more
dangerous
than the
consumption
of cocaine
hydrochloride.
The
regulation of coca and cocaine in the Andes seems to be the
exclusive domain of
drug-enforcement agencies. Effectiveness in the
reduction of the
production of coca and the elaboration of cocaine for
the black market is
doubtful, for
knowledge
of the
scope
of the
problem
is
very
limited and
legalistic.
As
long
as
(1) there is demand for
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Edmundo Morales 159
cocaine, (2)
the
farming
of coca for traditional use is allowed, and (3)
the
peasants' economy
is tied to coca leaves, cocaine
supply
will
stay
more or less
unchanged.
If there is some
degree
of seriousness about
the
problem-unless drug
control
programs
and
policies
are mere
political
shows or the ultimate
goal
is to make cocaine an exclusive
dessert for the
upper
social echelons
by way
of
scarcity
and
high
prices-rethinking
the
problem
of the
significance
of coca for the
great
proportion
of Andean
people
is the answer.
Setting up
fires on small
coca farms and
crowding jails
and
prisons
with
petty planters, dealers,
and
unemployed people
who resort to cocaine traffic are
unlikely
to be
the best
preventive
measures.
The United States' direct
participation against
the
production
of
cocaine in the Andes is a
legitimate
action. This concern reflects the
impact
of
drug
abuse on American
society.
One of the solutions to
reducing
this
problem
is
cutting
the
supply by crop
substitution in the
jungles
of the two
largest coca-producing countries, Bolivia and Peru.
In the Andes, however, behind the
production
of cocaine lies the liveli-
hood of the
majority
of the Indians, whose best cash source is in the
underground industry.
Neither
coca-producing governments
nor inter-
national
policymakers
offer the Andean Indian other economic alterna-
tives to substitute
progressively
for the
significant
role of cocaine in the
Andean
economy.
Finally, parallel
to the substitution of coca for other
crops,
invest-
ment in
agriculture
in the
highlands
must be considered. In order to
minimize the
ecological interdependence among
the
peasants
from the
Cordilleras, the
jungle
coca
planters,
and cocaine
entrepreneurs,
eco-
nomic activities based on
agriculture
must be
promoted.
These eco-
nomic
development programs
and
projects
must be oriented to
change
the Andean culture
by introducing technologies appropriate
to the soil
as well as to the social values of the
groups
that live
along
the Andes
ranges. Reality
in the
highlands
is
totally
different from that in met-
ropolitan
areas. The cultural, economic, and social
stages
of the An-
dean
indigenous groups
must also be included in the
agenda
of alterna-
tives in the solution of the almost
omnipresent
and
pandemic drug
dilemma.
Notes
*
There are neither enough nor appropriate words to express my gratitude
to Frances F. Harris for her editorial
help.
I am also
grateful to Sol Miller for
his valuable comments to
improve
the
paper.
1. Coca
paste,
also called cocaine basic
paste
or cocaine
sulphate,
is a
white semisolid or solid substance that contains cocaine
sulphate acid, metha-
nol, kerosene, alkaline
compounds, sulphuric acid, and other
impurities.
2. In 1984, legal
coca
farming
in Peru alone was about 60,000 hectares
(information from Ministerio de
Agricultura
del Peru, Unidad de Estadistica
Agricola, Lima, 1985). Both legal and
illegal coca
production may
be estimated
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160 Economic
Development
and Cultural
Change
to be at least 100,000 ha (Edmundo Morales, "Amazon Rainstorm That Wets
Uncle Sam: An
Ethnographic Approach
of the Social and Political
Significance
of Coca and Cocaine in Peru," paper presented
at the American
Society
of
Criminology,
San
Diego,
November 1985), which
yield
about 170,400 MT of
coca leaves, or about 1,500,000
of coca
paste (400 MT of cocaine hydrochlo-
ride). For the same
year (1984), only 5,410 MT of coca leaves were consumed
by
traditional coca-chewing
Indians (Boletin Lima 6, no. 34
[July 1984]: 68).
Between 1982 and 1984, 23,774 k of coca
paste
and 595 k of cocaine
hydrochlo-
ride were seized in Peru (International Narcotics Matters, U.S.
Embassy,
Lima, August 1985).
3. The President's Commission on
Organized Crime, Organized
Crime
and Cocaine
Trafficking,
Record of Hearing IV, (Washington,
D.C.: Govern-
ment
Printing Office, November 27-29, 1984), p. 4, estimates that
"drug
trafficking
is a $80 billion a
year industry."
The commission calculates that
"over 40 metric tons [of cocaine] enter our borders
every year." Taking
as a
base
figure
the average price
of US$100 per gram of cocaine
hydrochloride,
the
40 MT of cocaine translates into at least US$40 billion, 50% of the estimated
amounts from illicit
drugs.
In the United States, in 1982, "21.6 million
people
tried cocaine at least once" (National Institute on Drug Abuse, "Cocaine Use
in America:
Epidemiological
and Clinical
Perspectives,"
Research Monograph
Series no. 61
[Washington,
D.C.:
Department
of Health and Human Services,
1985], p. 1).
4. Edward P.
Lanning,
Peru
before
the Incas
(Englewood Cliffs, N.J.:
Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1967), p.
77.
5. Roderick
E. Burchard, "Coca
y trueque
de alimentos," in
Recip-
rocadid e intercambio en los Andes
peruanos,
ed.
Giorgio
Alberti and
Enrique
Mayer (Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, 1974), pp.
209-51.
6. Pedro Cieza de Leon, The Incas (Norman: University
of Oklahoma
Press, 1959), chap. 87, pp.
259-60.
7. For more detailed information on the social and cultural use of coca in
the Andes or Peru, see the
following:
Joel Hanna, "Coca Leaf Use in Southern
Peru: Some Biosocial
Aspects,"
American
Anthropologist 76, no. 2 (June
1974): 281-96; Burchard; Andrew Fuchs, "Coca Chewing
and
High-Altitude
Stress: Possible Effects of Coca Alkaloids on
Erythropoiesis,"
Current An-
thropology 19, no. 2 (June 1978): 277-91; Joseph Gagliano,
"La medicina
popular y
la coca en el Peru: Un andlisis hist6rico de actitude,"
America
Indigena 38, no. 4
(October-December 1978): 789-805. On the
pharmacolog-
ical effects of coca
paste smoking,
see Raul Jeri, "Coca Paste
Smoking
in
Some Latin American Countries: A Severe and Unabated Form of Addiction,"
Bulletin
of
Narcotics 36, no. 2 (1984): 15-31.
8. David
Strug,
"The
Foreign Politics of Cocaine: Comments on a Plan to
Eradicate the Coca Leaf in Peru," Journal of Drug
Issues 13, no. 1 (Winter
1983): 135-45.
9. Raul Jeri, "Further
Experience
with the
Syndrome
Produced by
Coca
Paste
Smoking,"
Cocaine 1980 (Lima: Inter-American Seminar on Medical
and
Sociological Aspects
of Coca and Cocaine, 1980), pp.
1-6.
10. Bazooka or chicle is the unrefined coca
paste
sold in the streets of
major cities in the United States.
Although
it seems that bazooka and chicle are
interchangeable
terms for coca
paste,
chicle is the coca
paste
that is the result
of a miscalculation in the amounts of
sulphuric
acid added. The error may
take
place during
one of the two
preparations
of acid fluid.
11.
David
Caplovitz,
The
Working Addict (New York: City University
of
New York, 1976), p.
1.
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Edmundo Morales 161
12. In modern Peruvian
anthropology, peasant community (comunidad
campecina)
is a
group
of individuals
(peasants) organized around the common
use of land. The five
villages
of Rurin are
part
of one
legal community.
"Vil-
lage"
and
"community"
are not
equivalent
words.
Village
is the smallest
political division of the national
territory; community
as a
legal organization
has a broader
meaning,
in that it can
imply
the existence of social bonds rather
than a mere
geographical
or territorial continuum.
13. From the District Census Office, Llamellin, Antonio Raimondi, An-
cash, Peru, 1981. The national census took
place during my fieldwork, and I
was included as
part
of the
population.
14. The
political groups
in the
community
have not come to terms on their
position regarding
land distribution in Rurin. While one
group
wants the
cooperative system of
production,
the other
pursues private landownership.
15. I am a
professional photographer
and use audiovisual aids to
comple-
ment
participation
and observation. A collection of 28
photographs showing
life in the Andes, derived from the fieldwork, is
being displayed
at the aca-
demic level.
16. Interview with a retired recaudador (tax collector) in Lima.
17.
During work, there are about four breaks
(hames), which consist of
renewing
the coca
quids.
Besides coca leaves, chicha and/or alcohol is served
to the workers.
18. In some areas, such as the Central Andes, people
mix their coca
chewings
with the ashes of
quinua (Chenopodium quinoa)
stalks.
19. In
Quechua, Ilanqui
means "sandal." In this
case, it has the social
meaning
of
"putting
sandals on the
relationship
to make it walk
[function]
better."
20. Coca trade has
always
been controlled
by
town and
city mestizos. The
peasant from the
village
has not been able to break into the economics of coca
other than
consuming
the leaves.
21. Ministerio de Guerra del Peru,
Catdlogd
de nombres
geogrdficos del
Peru (Lima: Ministerio de Guerra del Peru, 1981), p.
45.
22. Caretas
(Lima), no. 620 (October 1980), p.
26.
23. Because of the
presence
of
drug-enforcement agents
in the forests,
more and more
dry
coca leaves are now
smuggled up
to the
highlands,
where
secret and safe cocaine
pits
are set
up.
This was discovered
during research in
1981.
24. Caloric and
protein
contents were calculated
following methods used
in "Food
Composition
Table for Use in Latin America"
(Washington,
D.C.:
Interdepartmental Committee for Nutrition and National Defense, 1961).
25. Edmundo Morales, "Land
Reform, Social
Change,
and Moderniza-
tion in the National
Periphery:
A
Study
of Five
Villages
in the Northeastern
Andes of Peru"
(Ph.D. diss., City University
of New York, 1983), p.
155.
26. I was
paying my
third visit to the town when the
ex-bank-employee's
drug operation
was raided in Lima.
27.
Gagliano (see n. 7
above).
28. Bruce Johnson and
Terry Williams, "Cocaine Distribution Net-
works," research
proposal submitted to the National Institute of Justice (New
York: Narcotic and
Drug Research, Inc., January 1985), p.
2.
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