Latin America

: Absolutely. President Morales believes that there are markets for the traditional uses of coca. When I stayed in La Paz, our ambassador gave me up a cup of coca tea. Apparently, it is very useful for adjusting to the altitude. Coca has medicinal purposes, and it has traditionally been chewed. At the inauguration of President Morales, I saw many of his deputies sitting in rows, and in front of them were piles of coca leaves, which they were chewing. It is a traditional part of the culture, and the President has initiated a study to find out where those new markets could be. The fear is that those markets do not have enough capacity to consume all the coca grown, and though not intended for the illegal markets, it may end up there. We will need to be vigilant to ensure that it does not. Above all, now is the time for more work by drug liaison officers. SOCA told me that it redeployed the two officers from Peru to Colombia because Peruvian cocaine does not come to this country, and most of the cocaine that does comes from Colombia. That is different from what we were told in Peru, but I do not have the factual evidence to challenge SOCA. However, it strikes me that rather than deploying from one country to another, we need increased presence in all those countries. There is so much coca going from Bolivia, Peru and Colombia through Brazil and other countries and into Europe. What happens to it then, I do not know. The drug issue is important not only for us, but for the well-being of the countries that we are trying to help. I hope that DFID will have some conversations with SOCA to find out how its drugs work can complement the Department's strategy. Section D18 of the regional assistance programme states that DFID"““will co-operate with the British Council in its work on governance issues in Latin America””." The British Council does tremendous work throughout the world, and particularly in Latin America. In the past five years, it has sent 1,300 Chevening scholars to the UK. That has had all kinds of advantages for those scholars, their countries and our country, as experts and teachers are sent on exchanges in both directions. I hear that the British Council is reviewing all aspects of its work in Latin America, and one of the likely outcomes is the closure of our presence in Peru. That would send the wrong message; if we were seen to be withdrawing, that would make the challenges that I have outlined even more difficult. I support the new strategy, but its total effect on Peru is that we have closed the DFID office, withdrawn drugs liaison officers and may withdraw the British Council. Peru is the third largest country in south America. DFID's document on regional assistance plans contains a good appraisal of the risks of the new strategy, one of which is"““a risk that we may lose credibility due to our more limited country presence.””" We risk losing credibility in Peru, a country that receives more tourists and travellers from this country than from any other in the world other than the United States. There is great potential in Peru, and I hope that we shall consider how the issues add up there. I conclude with an even more important point. The regional assistance plans are reviewed this year, and we must make sure that what has happened in Peru does not become the shape of things to come across Latin America. I hope that the Minister can reassure me on that. I have demonstrated that I want the new strategy to succeed. Some have said that it is a kind of fig leaf for withdrawal from the region. I do not believe that; I believe that the strategy is good and right, and I want it to succeed. However, if it is to do so, there must be no more decline or withdrawal. We know that extra resources had to be diverted to Iraq for reconstruction. Many of us did not support going into Iraq, but we are there and have to reconstruct, so we understand why those resources were necessary. Hopefully, things will get a bit better in Iraq and we may be able to withdraw; will there then be scope for improving resources in Latin America or putting back in place some of those that we used to have there? We need to assure everybody that our involvement in Latin America is substantial, long-term and succeeding. If we can do that, we will be on the right track. During his state visit to this country just the other week, President Lula said:"““This state visit opens a new chapter in relations between our Governments and societies. We now have the chance to join forces in order to face the various challenges presented by the contemporary world.””" We should make that true for Brazil, and for Latin America as a whole.