A study on five road projects promoted by the Peruvian state – national and regional – in the Amazon revealed that these roads represent A country security risk because they could strengthen the logistics chains of drug trafficking and illegal mining. In addition, the report points out, these ways would allow armed groups from Colombia and Brazil Expand its control in specific areas of both regions of the Peruvian jungle.
“While the relationship between road infrastructure and its use by illegal actors is a problem that has decades, we consider that it is becoming increasingly complex and that the State does not recognize or do not identify that there is a public problem there,” explains Ciro Salazar, specialist in infrastructure and socio -environmental conflicts at the Foundation for Sustainable Conservation and Development (FCDS), co -author of the report Towards the resilience of the logistics chains of drug trafficking and illegal mining? The role of five road projects in the Peruvian Amazon.
“There is a presence of several Brazilian, Colombian and Ecuadorian organizations that are involved in these eillegal knowsexercising presence and, in some cases, control of the territory, therefore, we believe that there is a risk that these infrastructure benefit mainly illegal actors, ”adds Salazar, who prepared this report together with Fernando Regal.
The five roads that have been analyzed for this report are located in the regions of Loreto and Ucayalion the border with Brazil and Colombia. In Loreto it is the Puerto Arica-Flor roads of August, Bellavista- El Strape and Jenaro Herrera-Colonia Angamos; While in Ucayali, the roads are Pucallpa-Cruzeiro do Sul and Pucallpa-Puerto Breu.
The five prioritized roads for this study respond to certain criteria, such as being located in border areas, in places with evidence or reports of presence of International criminal organizations and may they Infrastructure promoted by the Peruvian State.
The risks of the roads
The study indicates that although illegal actors do not need the previous road construction to settle and expand, it cannot be ignored that once built they are exploited in the same way as any other economic actor. The cases of Roads Federico Basadre, marginal of the jungle, iquitos-nauta and the southern interoceanic They account for how these pathways are also used by illegal economies. “There are multiple references on how roads have enabled the expansion of illegal activities,” says Salazar.
When these projects are formulated, says Salazar, the intention is basically to boost local markets, but in planning You never take into account how they could facilitate the logistics of illegal economies And they are not considered measures to prevent that use. Salazar also mentions that in the case of some of these projects, they can not only facilitate the provision of supplies to Cocaleras areas or of illegal mining and the output of these products, but, in some cases, the projects can be linked to several cocaleras areas.
An example is the Pucallpa-Cruzeiro do Sul project, which is not yet built, but that runs parallel to the Abujao River. “It is known that in the Abujao river there is illegal mining and that it is also a drug export route to Brazil,” says Salazar. “This route can be linked and giving a logistics advantage to nine cocaleras areas in San Martín, Huánuco, Loreto, Ucayali and even Cusco. Thus we realized how a single initiative has a huge potential to offer logistics advantage, ”he adds.
A report from Your Day Published in 2021 reveals how this road would affect at least ten indigenous communities located in the territories where the road would cross.
Another case that Salazar mentions is the road that goes from Bellavista to El Strait and links Iquitos with the Putumayo basin, on the border with Colombia. It is a route that generates the risk of strengthening logistics towards Putumayo, not only because Iquitos can provide supplies to illegal mining and drug trafficking but also It can also be an export route.
Iveth Peña, representative of the AIDESEP UCAYALI Regional Organization (ORAU), points out that any initiative that affects or benefits Indigenous peoples You have to undergo a prior consultation process.
In the case of the Pucallpa-Puerto Breu road, Peña indicates that there are two positions found, since although it will generate a benefit for indigenous peoples because it will reduce the cost of transport and transfer time, the impacts must also be evaluated negatives that will be in the area. “The entire Tamaya river basin, where the road passes, has been declared Red zone due to drug trafficking”.
As for the Pucallpa-Cruzeiro do Sul road, it is a project that in 2021 was observed by the Executive Power due to the environmental and social risks that could generate in the indigenous territories that it is going through. However, in April 2024, the Transport and Communications Commission of the Congress of the Republic issued an opinion that declares it of national interest.
“As an indigenous movement we see these two initiatives with a lot of distrust because they do not have the approval, much less with the Prior consultation that should be done in this type of infrastructure, ”says Peña.
When preparing the execution plan, safeguards must be included for the original peoples, Peña adds, but what is being done is only to facilitate illicit economies such as drug trafficking. “Indigenous organizations do not oppose development, but we want an inclusive, sustainable development, that one, that integrates us, that really improves our quality and living conditions,” he adds. “The only thing we ask as indigenous organizations is that our rights are respected when implementing or executing a project and that, above all, involve us during the process.”
Prevention from the State
The FCDS report states that the State must incorporate a territorial approach in road infrastructure planning. In that sense, it is indicated that it must be incorporated into the Cost-Benefice Analysis of Design and Cost of measures that avoid or reduce environmental impacts in the area of indirect influence of roads, but also avoid any synergy with illicit economies.
In this regard, public management specialist Karla Gaviño points out that the Government must take precautions so that the construction of these roads really offers the benefits proposed. “Investment projects are made with methodologies approved by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and public entities have to apply them, but these methodologies have quite general guidelines,” he says.
In that sense, Gaviño mentions that each scenario of the route in which the project will illegal economies ”. In addition, “the Diagnosis of beneficiaries At the time these investment projects are made to clearly have the project line, for which areas it is happening and who are the beneficiaries of the project, not only direct, but indirect ”.
Gaviño believes that it is important to promote multimodal transport because many times people who are in the Amazon use more rainfall as communication and transportation, “but it is not invested enough in them, so it is important to develop other alternative mechanisms of Transport that go hand in hand with the needs of the population, rather than continue thinking only of a development through roads, ”he says.
An additional theme that includes Gaviño is to make a Impact analysis of the projects already built. “If we had impact analysis of the marginal of the jungle, interoceanic and other roads, for example, we could have greater clarity on how to better design road projects taking into account the impacts they produce on citizenship. And the same happens in these projects that we are talking about in border areas or in the Amazon. ”
Gaviño argues that currently the country does not have instruments to perform the impact analysis of the infrastructure that has been installed in a certain area. “It is not known if a project really closed the gaps or not, or how it transformed the life of the inhabitants, who impacted. If you can’t measure what you have done, how will you do better future projects better? ”
“I think there is no road infrastructure in Peru that does not favor organized crime”says Omar Tejada, Professor of Political Science at the University of Winnipeg, in Canada. Tejada argues that it must be aware of this reality, but the projects that do benefit the communities should not be rejected. “We see the infrastructure as if it were good or bad, but in reality it depends on the use that is given and who uses it and who controls it.”
In that sense, Tejada comments that it is very difficult to control all the roads of the country for geographical and budget issues. He also points out that it is very difficult to control the borders and more if they are remote places. However, says Tejada, taking into account that “politics has been permeated by organized crime,” There is no will to perform adequate controls.
“On the ideal stage there should be a program not only by the NGOs but by the state of, for example, in the case of alternative crops, Have geographical control and logistics to mobilize all products”, Concludes Tejada.
Your Day He asked the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MTC), responsible for road projects at the national level, their opinion on the risks and measures that have been taken to prevent these five projects from favoring the illegality. Through written communication, the MTC said that only two of the five projects are national roads and correspond to the Ministry of Transport and Communications. One of them, points out the MTC, is the Bellavista-the Strait project, which consists of several sections, one of these tros-Santo Tomás-Mazán-is in the stage of elaboration of the final study, which is estimated will culminate in the first quarter of 2026. The other project is the Pucallpa Frontera via with Brazil, says the MTC, a route that was Disabled by environmental issues.
“For the development of any project, it is necessary Your Day.