La Paz, Bolivia – President Evo Morales on Saturday promised to go after drug traffickers, not coca growers, in a speech in the tropical Chapare region where he rose to political prominence as a union leader.
Morales’ visit to the coca-growing region came the day after his leftist government swore in coca grower Felipe Caceres as deputy minister of social defense, a post that oversees the fight against drug trafficking in this impoverished Andean nation.
“It is the drug trafficker who has to be persecuted, not the coca grower,” Morales told coca farmers in Shinaota, about 375 miles southeast of the Bolivian capital of La Paz.
A coca grower himself, Morales campaigned for president in opposition of U.S.-backed efforts to eradicate the crops in Bolivia. He began elaborating Saturday on his leftist government’s policies toward coca and drug trafficking. Coca is used to make cocaine but also has widespread ceremonial and medical uses among Bolivia’s Indians.
Morales urged coca growers to abide by a 2004 agreement between the government and coca growers that allows peasants to plant 8,000 acres of coca in Chapare, but authorities said the amount actually planted there is substantially higher.
Addressing the coca farmers that helped usher him to power, Morales vowed that “there will never be zero coca,” or total eradication of the leaf, as promoted in a program backed by the United States.
As a union leader, Morales led demonstrations against soldiers and police sent to enforce coca eradication programs. Scores of protesters were killed. Morales repeatedly accused the forces of abuses and was beaten and jailed.
“We’ve lost a lot of lives in this tough fight in defense of coca,” Morales said. He promised that under his administration police and military forces will no longer be “on the other side,” but will instead protect the peasants.
Morales said he will continue to push the World Health Organization to retract health warnings against coca leaf, but warned that “does not mean free cultivation.” U.S. officials have expressed hope that cooperation with Bolivia on anti-drug efforts will continue despite Morales’ election.
Bolivia receives about $150 million a year in U.S. aid, of which about $91 million is for coca eradication.
