Living in a cocaine shadow

Growing numbers of South African drug couriers are arrested leaving Peru’s international airport in Lima each month with large quantities of cocaine. While the prison conditions are brutal, the punishments dealt to these prisoners upon their release are often far more severe.

Those without wealthy families are forced to remain in Peru until they can afford to pay both their passage back home, and a substantial fine to the government – a task made impossible for these ex-convicts as they are unable to work in the country.

See a photo gallery

Currently the number of prisoners and parolees in the country stands at 70, a figure beaten only by neighbouring Brazil and the UK in terms of the number of South Africans detained in a foreign country. However, with upwards of three to four new arrests made by the Peruvian authorities each month, this number is rising.

Generally the sentences dealt to a courier ranges from six to ten years during which time they are sent to one of Peru’s very overcrowded prisons. One such prison called San Juan de Lurigancho was built to house 1,500 inmates but currently has a population of close to 8,000 - and as a result prisoners are released into parole after serving only a quarter of their sentence behind bars to save space. Recent changes in Peruvian policy have ensured that those South Africans wealthy enough to pay their fine (roughly R 8,000) as well as their airline passage (another R 15,000) may return home. The majority however, are forced onto the streets to serve a parole where they either beg for food, sell sweets on the streets, or return to crime as a means with which to support themselves.

While on parole South African’s are given documents by the Peruvian government which allow them to work, but also underline the fact that each one is an ex-convict. With only basic levels of Spanish, and a huge prejudice set against them, the chances of finding employment are often close to nil.

According to sources in the South African Embassy in Lima, one ex-convict recently had to be rescued from the centre of the city and taken immediately to hospital. Had he arrived two hours later, he would have died of starvation.

South African Ambassador to Lima, H.E Mr. A. Lesley Manley observes that Peruvian prisoners in South Africa do not serve time on parole but are deported unless they meet very stringent measures for their economic wellbeing in the country. This is in complete contrast to the system in Peru whereby, until recently, South Africans released prior to the completion of their jail sentences were forced to remain in the country on parole.

Until 2009, the South African parolees were blighted with even further suffering when their own embassy – under the administration of Mr. Manley’s predecessor, Dr. Streeter – refused them passports; which both denied them a basic human right and made any work permit issued by the Peruvian government worthless.

One South African parolee from Pilanesburg called John Fleischer was refused a passport by the Embassy for over two years. An accomplished driller, he was offered jobs from mining companies but without any form of identity he was continually turned away. Struggling with hospital bills to pay for his Peruvian daughter’s asthma, and in his own words, “being forced to the brink of madness by an unjust system”, Mr. Fleischer undertook a three-month walk to Buenos Aires in Argentina where he was promptly issued a passport and told to return to Peru to complete his parole. Covering a distance of close to 4,000 km, and walking through sub-zero temperatures while crossing the Andes, the trip almost cost him his life. When asked if he feels the South African government owes him anything for putting him through this ordeal, he says, “an apology would be nice.”

On a more positive note, another parolee named Robert Pringle recently decided to start a bold endeavor aimed at improving his and his fellow countrymen’s situation. Pringle, from Cape Town, started a small group called New Creations which manufactures soap, candles, and textiles, with the aim of sheltering and feeding all parolees and paying for their fines and tickets back home. However, start up capital has been hard to find and the founder of New Creations is desperate for donations he can put aside for basic materials to get the organization moving.

While Ambassador Manley is in continual talks with the Peruvian government to improve the situation of his citizens, it seems his hands are tied until the Department of Foreign Affairs reviews both its extradition laws and the treatment of its citizens abroad. Parolees of other nationalities often receive financial assistance, while South African parolees are denied entry into their own Embassy and are in rooms downstairs. A female parolee from Cape Town claims, “Their job is to represent our interests and to make us feel at home. We may be ex-prisoners, but that doesn’t make us less human.”