Mochileros: Backpacking Cocaine Drug Traffickers of Peru

Vraem Region of Peru – the underworld of Mochileros – backpacking drug traffickers
bbc.com/Linda Pressly reported a remote valley east of the Peruvian highlands is the perfect place for growing coca. Peru now produces more cocaine than any other country, and this is where more than half of it originates. But there is no easy way to smuggle it out, so traffickers hire young men to carry it on foot.They are the mochileros – the backpackers. Peruvians who hike an illicit cargo of cocaine from the valley of three rivers – the Apurimac, Ene and Mantaro – to secret stash points or clandestine airstrips from where it will be moved on by other means. Known locally as the Vraem – a contraction of the Spanish Valle de los Rios Apurimac, Ene y Mantaro – the huge valley is one of the poorest regions in Peru. Read Article