Decriminalization and How It Could Change Life for Bolivia’s Cocaleros

LA PAZ: The mini-bus pulls up to the military checkpoint in the heart of the Chapare and the UMOPAR (Narcotics Mobile Rural Patrol Unit) officer slides open the door. Realizing the passengers are a dozen cocalero (coca grower) leaders headed to their regional Federation of Coca Producers meeting in the neighboring town of Villa Tunari, the soldier forgoes the required vehicle and bag search. Just before the bus pulls away, one of the leaders asks the soldier: “So, you going to vote for Evo?,” and the cocaleros laugh. Shrugging and looking over his shoulder, “it depends on what he is offering,” he answers with a smile.

It’s October 2005 in the Chapare region of Bolivia and as Villa Tunari Mayor Feliciano Mamani notes, “a lot has changed.” As Narco News has reported extensively since 2001, Chapareños had, for years, lived in a fully militarized zone created by U.S.-backed Bolivian drug-war policy that demanded the forced eradication of the coca plant in this tropical region of the country. Under threat of search, detention and torture for their resistance, cocaleros lived in constant conflict with (and fear of) soldiers like those at the military checkpoint.

The wounds from this era are deep. “We see widows, orphans, people with missing legs, arms and eyes everyday around here — reminders of our history and struggle,” explains Chapare cocalera leader Apolonia Sanchez. Poverty, prevalent sickness and an unstable economy make for an uncertain future.

But now, after years of resistance, the Chapare has entered a new epoch, and there is hope on the horizon.

An October 2004 agreement with then-President Carlos Mesa, which allows each Chapareño to legally grow a small amount of coca, has lowered daily tensions in the Chapare and greatly improved life for the cocaleros.

Read More (with photos):
http://narconews.com/Issue39/article1498.html