On August 9-10, Ambassador Krishna Urs led an Embassy delegation of cyclists on a two-day bike diplomacy trip to the Amazonian region of San Martin.  The trip highlighted the success of alternative development projects in the region and promoted the use of bicycles as an ecofriendly means of transportation. The two-day bicycle tour, which covered almost 90 kilometers, focused on site visits to successful examples of alternative development in San Martín, a former coca-growing region.  Ambassador Urs and his delegation started the first day of cycling at the non-governmental research organization Instituto de Cultivos Tropicales (ICT).  The ICT is currently carrying out a three-year, $2 million program to mitigate the presence of cadmium in Peruvian cacao exports to meet the European Union limits.  The delegation also visited a USAID-supported chocolate factory producing under the brand name Chocolates Orquídea.  In addition to providing direct assistance, USAID connected the chocolate factory with farmers' associations who replaced coca for cacao farming and quickly became the factory's top suppliers.

The bike diplomacy trip also showed the whole-of-mission approach to U.S. government assistance contributing to the positive transformation of the San Martín region.  The U.S. Southern Command's Humanitarian Assistance Program built a Regional Emergency Operations Center in the city of Tarapoto in 2014.  This is one of 16 centers whose construction the Military Assistance and Advisory Group has coordinated through partnerships with Peru's regional authorities.

To see the impact of the coordinated and long-term assistance in the most rural areas of San Martín, the delegation spent the afternoon of the second day of cycling with the Chunchiwi indigenous community.  In 2009, USAID supported an electrification project to Chunchiwi and two other neighboring communities. The local leader or "Apu" thanked the U.S. government for its development assistance and expressed pride in the progress his community has experienced since turning to licit crops. 

Coinciding with the International Day of Indigenous People, Ambassador Urs recognized the value of Peru's ethnic diversity.  The delegation donated books and soccer balls to the children, played a friendly soccer match, participated in traditional dances, and ate a typical meal with the community.

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