The government knows what’s going on, but is limited in what it can or is willing to do. Until a few months ago, the National Police were in charge of fighting the drug traffic. But after attacks by Senderistas grew more bold and destructive, they were replaced by the army. In the boldest attack yet, in April a Sendero band attacked a military garrison and killed 15 soldiers near here. Sendero uses homemade land mines, grenades, and modern automatic weapons bought with the revenue from their drug sales.
Carlos Bassombio, an analyst in Lima, said the biggest problem facing Peru is not the armed insurrection represented by the remnants of Sendero Luminoso, but the increasingly ubiquitous narcotics trafficking in the country and the endemic corruption it engenders. Low-paid policemen are easily corrupted, and farmer and their families are easily attracted to the kind of wages paid by traffickers.
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