document: In the late 1970s , poor farmers living in communities surrounding this small town began replacing their fields of cacao and coffee with coca to meet the growing U.S. demand for cocaine . Like thousands of other farmers in Peru 's Upper Huallaga Valley , they discovered that while cacao and coffee could give their families enough to eat , coca could make them rich . Lately , someone else has been attracted by its big profits : the country 's murderous guerrillas , the Shining Path . Development workers , farmers and priests in the area say that the rebels have steadily streamed into the Upper Huallaga , a vast stretch of jungle northeast of Lima , and the biggest coca-growing zone in the world . Until recently , the Shining Path had largely neglected the jungle . In pursuing its strategy of trying to topple Peru 's democratically elected government , it had concentrated its bombings and shootings in the mountains and in Lima . But the guerrillas have discovered they can easily win support among farmers in the jungles of Upper Huallaga because of widespread anger generated by the U.S.-financed Peruvian anti-drug campaign . This effort focuses on interdicting drug trafficking and eradicating coca plants . While Washington has been quick to trumpet links between guerrillas and drug trafficking in other countries , U.S. officials downplay the connection between drugs and the Shining Path . One reason is embarrassment that the U.S.-financed anti-drug effort may have pushed coca growers closer to the guerrillas . But more important , if it were admitted that guerrillas are in large numbers in the Upper Huallaga , the army might again be given emergency control over the zone . And this is something Peruvian and U.S. officials apparently would rather avoid . The army was in force in the Upper Huallaga during the declared period of a state of emergency , from July 1984 to December 1985 . During this period , the army had virtual dictatorial control over all military and nonmilitary operations in the region . Government officials from the anti-drug police -LRB- UMOPAR -RRB- and the coca-eradication unit -LRB- CORAH -RRB- sent into the region to wipe out drug production were often confined to their barracks by the army ; they simply were not allowed to carry on with their work . The army continued its raids against the Shining Path in one part of the valley , but the drug growers were increasing production in several other parts while anti-drug officials were virtually kept under lock and key . Anti-drug police , Upper Huallaga residents and Interior Ministry officials report that army officers received hundreds of thousands of dollars in payoffs from drug lords for their help in keeping anti-drug officials at bay . `` It 's better for the ` narcos ' when the army is here , '' says one UMOPAR officer . When new President Alan Garcia lifted the state of emergency , the army lost any ability it may have had to protect coca growers . Not only did it lose the power of authority in the region , but the number of troops in the Upper Huallaga Valley was dramatically reduced . The troops were dispatched to other areas of the country , particularly in the mountainous Ayacucho region where guerrillas have been active . With the army impediment gone , the anti-drug campaign set about pushing traffickers out of Tingo Maria , their former headquarters , eliminating coca growing in the immediate vicinity of the town . But the narcos have now entrenched themselves in the towns of Tocache and Uchiza , where the police have repeatedly been blocked from entering by armed residents . At the same time , farmers are now planting coca in rugged parts of the jungle , far from CORAH 's sweep . Nevertheless , the loss of army protection provided the Shining Path with a golden opportunity . `` The guerrillas now present themselves as the defenders of the coca farmers , '' says Segundo Ramirez , owner of Aucayacu 's radio station . In return for their protection , the guerrillas demand that farmers turn over one-fifth of their coca crop , according to UMOPAR officers , farmers and priests . The rebels then process the leaves into coca paste and sell the paste to international traffickers -- usually Colombians -- for weapons and money , local sources say . The commander of the anti-drug police , Gen. Juan Zarate , says there are few guerrillas in the Upper Huallaga and denies that an alliance exists between the drug traffickers and the Shining Path . But residents insist that the rebels operate as a de facto government in the zone , even in Aucayacu and Tulumayo , where the police and army have outposts . An important guerrilla activity is organizing community self-defense groups against the hated police . Twenty-nine CORAH workers have been murdered in the valley since 1984 , and it 's likely that the Shining Path will encourage this kind of violence . In early January , the rebels were apparently behind a strike protesting the anti-drug program . For three days they shut down the 50-mile road from Tingo Maria to Rio Uchiza -- the only continuous , paved road in the valley . The relationship between the Shining Path and the people of the valley is not entirely cordial . As part of its efforts to impart revolutionary `` justice '' among the people , the Shining Path has administered brutal reprisals against those peasants who do not fit its `` new-man '' profile . During the January strike , the guerrillas killed an alleged thief and a seller of coca-paste cigarettes , according to a crop substitution program worker who works directly with the farmers in the area . The rebels are also believed responsible for the murders of four homosexual men last November in Aucayacu . On March 13 in El Triumfo , a small community near Aucayacu , they executed a 23-year-old man who spoke out against a guerrilla-organized activity . `` That really shook up the 80 families in the community , '' says Enrique Pena , a parish priest who can no longer enter the guerrilla-controlled area . The guerrillas are held responsible for assassinating six mayors in the area since 1985 , including two mayors from Aucayacu , which has 3,500 residents . Says Aucayacu Deputy Mayor Luis Salazar : `` The captain of the army has told me I 'm on the guerrillas ' black list . '' The government 's problem in combatting the current violence and influence of the Shining Path is how to ensure that army troops sent into this coca-rich region wo n't become corrupted by the lure of drug money , as they reportedly did in the past . This is the Catch-22 that now confounds Peruvian and U.S. officials trying to eradicate both drugs and guerrillas from Peru . -- Mr. Bridges is a free-lance writer .
extractive_keyphrases: shining path coca farmers upper huallaga valley guerrillas emergency control coca growers drug trafficking
abstractive_keyphrases: peruvian anti-drug campaign anti-drug police