Peru has announced it will build an anti-drug trafficking air base in Cusco, with help from the United States, Peru21 reported.

"The airport and air base, which would provide logistics operations, is part of the Pentagon's plans to consolidate the militarization of the war on drugs in Peru," said Ricardo Soberon, head of the Centre for Research on Drugs and Human Rights (CIDDH),

Soberon added that over 50 elite U.S. troops traveled to Peru between November and February, to take part in “exercises, operations, and coordination.”

The air base, which will be located in the district of Pichari, would cover about 470 hectares of land, according to the daily.

The move to build an airbase has been met with opposition from local residents, some of whom argue that they would be removed from their land.

Ruth Rodriguez, deputy governor of Otari Colonos, the town in Pichari, said local communities would meet on February 17 in order to sign a memorandum opposition the construction of the base.

"The population would be displaced from lands that out families have occupied for over 40 years. We have titles,” Rodriguez said.

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