U.S. says Peru anti-drug image unharmed by arrest

CNN February 16, 1999 U.S. says Peru anti-drug image unharmed by arrest

                  LIMA (Reuters) -- The U.S. ambassador in Lima said on Tuesday the arrest
                  of the Peruvian army's second-in-command in connection with a cocaine
                  investigation would not harm Peru's image as a model anti-drug nation.

                  Gen. Tomas Marky, the highest-ranking soldier ever held during a narcotics
                  probe in this major drug-smuggling country, was detained earlier this month
                  following allegations he may have stolen $1 million in a 1995 cocaine bust.

                  U.S. Ambassador Dennis Jett told reporters: "A single incident cannot damage
                  Peru's image, which ... is very good due to the success Peru has had in the
                  fight against drug- trafficking."

                  The United States has called Peru -- the world's largest supplier of coca leaf,
                  the raw material for cocaine -- a model drug-fighting nation that deploys the
                  military as one of its main weapons against smugglers.

                  While coca leaf production in Peru has dropped in recent years, local drug
                  trade experts criticise Lima and Washington for exaggerating this success,
                  arguing there is ample evidence cocaine smuggling still flourishes.

                  Previous drugs-related arrests involving the military, including a 1996 case
                  when cocaine was found aboard a presidential plane, have been of
                  middle-ranking or junior officers.

                  In the latest incident, Marky has denied the allegations, first made three years
                  ago by Lt. Omar Zegarra while he was under the general's command in a
                  dangerous Andean region rife with guerrillas and traffickers.

President Alberto Fujimori has said he believes the general is innocent.

                  Since 1995 Marky has climbed swiftly through the army ranks, becoming head
                  of the key region around the second city of Arequipa before his January
                  appointment as the army's second-in-command.

Why Marky has been detained now, three years after the initial accusations, is
unclear.

                  Zegarra claims Marky supervised an army drugs bust and captured a small
                  plane piloted by Colombians, who handed over suitcases that one trafficker
                  said contained $1 million.