[Statement issued by the Peasants Confederation of Peru, the Agrarian Support Institute, and the Andean Foundation. Lima LA REPUBLICA in Spanish 15 Feb 92 p 17]

[Text] The second presidential antinarcotics summit will be held on 26-27 February in San Antonio, Texas, with the Andean countries--minus Chile--Mexico, and the United States participating. A document drafted by the United States was delivered to the respective foreign ministries but not to civilian institutions like the peasant organizations.

Even so, our organizations have discussed and criticized the policies that have been implemented. Our demands can be summarized in the following main points:

1) Coca growers are producers, not drug traffickers. Consequently, it is assumed that coca growing should he legalized and that the WHO's [World Health Organization] ruling against coca leaf in 1992 should be revoked and withdrawn from the black list of drugs drafted by the Vienna Convention in 1988. Conditions should be generated to promote its alternative beneficial use, and its commercialization should be entrusted to decentralized institutions.

2) The coca plantations' extent depends mainly on the strong international demand, and reducing production is subject to the decision of the international community, especially of the United States, to accept the consequences of coresponsibility and to admit that the problem of drug abuse is caused by the use and not by the production of coca leaf from which the producers seek to obtain some benefit. We admit the existence of excessive coca plantations. This problem can be solved through a coca replacement program if we receive the necessary resources to do so.

3) We strongly reject any attempt to repress illegal drug trafficking through the militarization of the civilian society, especially in Andean tropical regions. We demand the dismantling of the Santa Lucia Base in Peru; the end of military operations in Chapare, Bolivia; and the withdrawal of DEA personnel from our countries.

4) We reaffirm that coca plantations represent a cultural focal point and an economic source for peasants. We regard it as a natural resource of our people, as a part of the life of our ancestors. We believe that the struggle against drug trafficking and drug abuse should be aimed at final producers, within the framework of the respect for coca growers and that there could be rigorous environmental control in the affected areas.

5) We believe that any strategy should first consider the coca producers and their organizations. This situation requires the U.S. Government to distinguish the realities and its responsibilities in a just and consistent manner, that the governments accept our organizations as legitimate interlocutors and that the international community must modify the agreement and laws that seek to infringe our people's rights.

Signed: Peasants Confederation of Peru (CCP), Agrarian Support Institute (IAA), Andean Foundation (FA).