Argentina

We are aware of at least eight cases involving ayahuasca since 2011, but there may be many more that remain unreported. Four prosecutions have taken place in the province of Córdoba, two in the province of Jujuy, and one in the province of Corrientes. Additional prosecutions have likely taken place as a result of the 2016 “Operation Kambo” raids in Buenos Aires. In 2012, the publication of an academic chapter on the legal status of ayahuasca in Argentina contributed to the legal defense of at least two of these cases.

El Emilio Natural Therapy Center

The first case we are aware of began in August 2011, with a raid at the El Emilio Natural Therapy Center in Cerro Pan de Azúcar, Córdoba, which occurred during an ayahuasca ritual conducted for the treatment of persons with drug addictions. Seventeen persons were present when the raid took place and all were under the effects of ayahuasca. According to one witness, the police task force consisted of fifty officers from various departments who remained at the scene for five hours and seized one bottle ayahuasca. They did not make any arrests. One month later, charges were pressed against a native Argentinian facilitator and one other for the distribution of narcotics in exchange for money. The case remained stalled for three years awaiting a technical examination of the substance seized by the police, and today continues in limbo on account of arguments by the defense pertaining to police conduct during the raid.

Templo Solar Andino Pañihué

In September 2011, a follow-up raid took place at the Templo Solar Andino Pañihué in Dolores, Córdoba, involving the same police force that conducted the raid at El Emilio. In this instance, a practitioner identified as “Iván Quesada” was detained and charged with distributing ayahuasca.

Taita Crispín Chindoy

In October 2014, police raided an ayahuasca ritual taking place in a private home in Paso de la Patria, Corrientes. Thirty armed police officers interrupted a ritual involving twenty-seven participants. Colombian indigenous shaman and anthropologist Taita Crispín Chindoy and three others were charged with fraud and the illegal exercise of medicine (Article 208 of the Argentine Penal Code).

This followed what news sources describe as a lengthy investigation sparked by accusations that the rituals had caused physical and mental disorders in at least one participant. Notably, no one was charged with the sale or distribution of a narcotic. After 13 days of detention, the Colombian consulate in Argentina was able to secure shaman Crispín Chindoy’s provisional release following a favorable report from Interpol, following which he was obligated to remain in Corrientes until the conclusion of the case. In January 2015, Chindoy appears to have been absolved of the charges against him and had his passport returned.

Operation Kambo

In May 2016, a coordinated series of raids took place throughout the capital city Buenos Aires designated by the official code-name “Operation Kambo.” These raids targeted the organizers and affiliates of a specific series of indigenous medicine themed “rave/trance” events that attracted up to 200 paying participants per weekend. Nine people were detained and a large quantity of plant medicines was seized including five litres of ayahuasca. Also seized were quantities of LSD and ecstasy.

We have no information regarding any charges laid or any case outcomes associated with this event. Significant is the name of the operation itself – “Operation Kambo” – because while a small quantity of kambo was indeed seized in the raids, statements by authorities appearing in local newspapers characterized kambo as a substance containing DMT. The police investigation – which reports claim lasted seven months – appears not to have researched its namesake kambo, which is widely known not to contain DMT or any other controlled substance.

Villa Yacanto, Córdoba

In September 2016, police raided an ayahuasca ritual consisting of nine participants at a holistic medicine center in Villa Yacanto, Córdoba. Two individuals were detained and charged with the sale and attempted distribution of narcotic substances and two liters of ayahuasca were seized. No further details are known at this time.

Further Prosecutions

The fourth case out of Córdoba appears to have begun in April 2017, at the Taravella International Airport, again in Córdoba. Our sources are still unreliable in this case, but it appears to involve the seizure of four bottles of ayahuasca at customs. The two remaining cases we know about are took place in Jujuy, and sources indicate that they involve a Colombian taita and the Peruvian shaman Fernando Sánchez Muñoz, respectively. The Muñoz case is still ongoing, but was been released from federal prison following one month of detention. According to his lawyer, he will be permitted to remain free during the legal proceedings.

The Santo Daime Church

In 2005, the Centro Eclético da Fluente Luz Universal Raimundo Irineu Serra (CEFLURIS) attempted to register as a “church or religious community” with the Argentine Secretariat of Worship, an organ of the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship. In 2006, its request was rejected on the grounds that ayahuasca is a “threat to public health.” In 2007, the organization appealed this decision on the basis that Section 14 of Argentina’s constitution protects freedom of religion.

For ten years this appeal remained in limbo awaiting a resolution, in spite of CEFLURIS having met a series of formal requirements set forth by both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship and the Ministry of Public Health. These included presenting proof that ayahuasca is not a health risk, as well as drafting proposals for rigorous control systems for handling of the brew both in production and in administration to members during services. In 2016, a resolution was passed that refused the registration of CEFLURIS as a church or religion, with the only explanation for the delay being an informal verbal apology for the appeal getting lost in the system. The organization immediately took to the courts on the grounds that this decision violates its constitutional right to freedom of religion, a legal move that it was unable to exercise while the process was held up in administrative law channels. The outcome of this effort is still pending.

Raw Plant Materials Case

In the case of “Perez, Javier Oscar,” raw plant materials were deemed to be beyond the reach of Law No. 23.737. The defendant’s home was raided by the police and he was found to be in possession of an ephedra plant, peyote cacti, san pedro cacti, Banisteriopsis caapi, and cebil seeds. These were found to contain efedrine, mescaline, harmine, and tryptamines respectively. He was charged with possession of narcotics, but the judge ruled that the mere possession of these plant materials is not prohibited.

The judge’s reasoning was as follows. Firstly, these plant materials do not appear on the lists of prohibited substances promulgated by agencies of the executive power. Secondly, while he recognized that prohibited substances can be produced using the seized plant materials, such production requires a refinement process involving specialized knowledge and technology that the ordinary person should not be presumed to possess. Furthermore, the fact that a third-party can use the plants for these purposes should not cause the defendant to be found guilty of a crime. Finally, the judge was not convinced that the plants themselves contained a level of toxicity high enough to consider them “narcotics” as per the definition of Law No. 23.737. The decision was upheld by an appellate division court on technical grounds.

Updated: January 2018