The president of one of Peru’s coca-growing regions said on Wednesday he would back protests by farmers after the country’s highest court declared that local ordinances allowing the unlimited cultivation of coca, the raw material for cocaine, were unconstitutional.

Carlos Cuaresma, president of the department of Cusco, said he would accept the court’s decision, although he endorsed protests against the ruling. Regional authorities in the department of Huánuco suggested they would “appeal to international law” in an attempt to overturn the decision.