Written by
Serena Corsi 

 

It was clear that the knotty problem of Coca cultivation in Bolivia would be one of the more complex and debated issues in the Morales rule given that the MaS (movement for Socialism) from which the president comes, was born within the organisation of Coca cultivators.

The protection.  The intention, from the beginning, has been to protect the leaf (a precious cultural element for the Bolivian population, prevalently indigenous) from a plan of indiscriminate and comprehensive uprooting like that of Columbia, which was co-managed by Washington and Bogota’.  But to protect the Coca culture and at the same time, prevent damage to diplomatic relations with the west, it was necessary to simultaneously guarantee the fight against drug-trafficking, opposing the intensive cultivation destined for the production of Cocaine and its sale.  It was decided therefore, to send special brigades which would have the task of uprooting the identified illegal cultivations in situ, a total of 5000 hectares, mainly in the regions of Yungas (South East of La Paz) e Chapare’ (in the region of Cochabamba), while also safeguarding the right of every family to continue cultivating a reasonable quantity for their own needs.  In this sense, law 1008 subdivides the cultivation of Coca into three categories: that of family and legal, that distinguished by excess (and so linked to drug-trafficking and illegal) and a third category between the two, a sort of grey zone related to those situations which are a priori, difficult to judge : for example the collective cultivations of the indigenous community.

In the Parks.  All the cultivations within the National Parks have been included in the second category and so it has been decided to proceed with the uprooting.  It’s a pity that already at the first expedition things haven’t gone according to plan: at the end of September two rural workers died in an attempt to impede the brigade from carrying out their task.  The brigade, being insufficient in numbers and resources, asked for help from the government.  The result is that a few days ago, it was announced that 500 soldiers would be sent to the Carrasco (Chapare’) National Park in order to uproot 450 hectares of illegal Coca. The Special Police of La Paz and Cochabamba have been mobilised to this end.  Moreover, it is possible that the drug-barons have recruited the local rural population to resist the arrival of the military or to provoke other clashes which will rebound negatively on the government.  However, the government has received within the last few hours, the support of the cultivators of Vandiola, in the zone of Yungas, who have accepted the conditions imposed by the new law and have declared that they will not oppose the two pillars of the ‘Coca zero’ programme -  the operations to identify category 2 cultivations in their territory and their uprooting.