MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Peruvian President Ollanta Humala has scrapped the state of emergency that was in place for 30 years in the Alto Huallaga, a major coca growing region in the country’s north, local media reported early Sunday.
"We have decided to make a surprise for the Alto Huallaga. We are lifting the state of emergency after more than 30 years," Humala told reporters, as quoted by America TV channel.
This decision was taken after tens of thousands died during decades of bloody clashes between government forces and militants of the Shining Path, a Maoist group that was most active during the 1980s and early 1990s but has since dwindled to become a small drug-trafficking cartel.
