Bolivia Seeks Decriminalization of Coca Leaf Chewing

lunarverse · Jan 24, 2011

People in the Andes have been using the coca leaf for medicinal and sacred purposes for thousands of years. However most of the world only sees the plant as the source for the illegal drug cocaine. A little over a year ago Bolivia petitioned the United Nations Economic and Social Council to modify a provision of the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, which considers the coca leaf a narcotic and calls on countries to eradicate coca leaf chewing.

The request was filed nearly 18 months ago and will be approved unless another countries lodge an objection to the request before January 30, 2011.

Bolivia's defense of the coca leaf is so serious that Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca is currently visiting five European countries in an attempt to convince them to refrain from presenting any objections.

Washington has said it will object, but Bolivia on Tuesday got help from Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez, who offered to act as a mediator at the United Nations "to try to help to find an agreement," a Spanish foreign ministry spokesman said.

President Evo Morales, who also heads a regional coca growers union, is a fervent advocate of the multiple uses of the coca plant.

To emphasize his point, Morales even chewed coca leaves in 2009 at a United Nations meeting. "If it's a drug, stop me," he challenged them.

http://cannabisculture.com/v2/content/2011/01/24/Bolivia-Seeks-Decriminalization-Coca-Leaf-Chewing
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The leaves are also being made into an energy type soft drink called "Coca Brynco".

diggy · Jan 25, 2011

such issues ought to be dealt with in the nation where they exsist. it is not up to the u.n. or any union of nations. the only country who has a right to issue legislation on the matter is the one in which it is occuring. so, for any nation or group of nations to dictate internal affairs to another is morally and ethically abhorant. so let's stay out of bolivia's business and let them make their own decisions in regard to their own affairs. diggy

skip · Jan 25, 2011

diggy said:

such issues ought to be dealt with in the nation where they exsist. it is not up to the u.n. or any union of nations. the only country who has a right to issue legislation on the matter is the one in which it is occuring. so, for any nation or group of nations to dictate internal affairs to another is morally and ethically abhorant. so let's stay out of bolivia's business and let them make their own decisions in regard to their own affairs. diggy
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Tell that to the DEA who meddles in EVERY COUNTRY's sovereign affairs. The whole War on Drugs Int'l Inc. needs to END. It only ends up corrupting governments and causing them to oppress their own people. In Mexico tens of thousands have died for one reason. Drugs are illegal. Make them legal, and you will destroy these criminal gangs overnight.

ChronicTom · Jan 25, 2011

Skip said:

Tell that to the DEA who meddles in EVERY COUNTRY's sovereign affairs. The whole War on Drugs Int'l Inc. needs to END. It only ends up corrupting governments and causing them to oppress their own people. In Mexico tens of thousands have died for one reason. Drugs are illegal. Make them legal, and you will destroy these criminal gangs overnight.
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It's way too simple and intelligent of a solution to be implemented...

lunarverse · Jan 25, 2011

Bolivia's President Evo Morales holding a bottle of "Coca Brynco" coca leaf soda.

6-eyed shaman · Jan 25, 2011

I didn't even realize chewing Coca leafs WAS illegal in that part of the world. Andean inhabitants do it all the time at such high altitudes.

skip · Jan 27, 2011

Bolivians came out in force, chewing coca leaves, to protest the UN and US bans on coca leaves. Coca chewing has been always been a part of Bolivian culture and something essential to their survival at high altitudes.

All the countries in the world, except the US support the removal of coca leaves from the UN's list of illegal narcotics.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110126/lf_afp/boliviaunhealthlifestyledrugscoca_20110126200323

Here's a post from youtube about the history of US intervention and coca repression in Bolivia.

Military Intervention Through the So-called "War On Drugs"

In 1982, an elected government replaced General Meza, and in 1983, the U.S. restored aid after Bolivia's government signed an "anti-drug" agreement--all while the drug economy boomed.

A major new leap in U.S. military intervention took place--using the justification of "a war on drugs." In 1983 the U.S. funded and created a new military force known as the Rural Area Police (Umopar), which gained a reputation for brutality and corruption. As part of these new arrangements, U.S. combat troops were introduced into Bolivia for the first time--in the 1986 operation called "Blast Furnace." About two hundred U.S. combat-ready troops conducted several months of "anti-drug" operations--prompting a protest demonstration of 20,000 in La Paz.

In 1987, the U.S. began "Operation Snowcap" which supposedly aimed to cut cocaine production in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia in half. US Special Forces were sent to Bolivia to train police, help the DEA, and for intelligence gathering and mission planning. The U.S. also sent a Border Patrol special operations unit, US Coast Guard and Navy Seals for land and river searches. Across the border, in Peru, similar operations were set up.

A major target of these military moves was the peoples war led by the Communist Party of Peru. Conditions in Bolivia are quite similar to the areas of Peru where the guerrillas of the PCP were developing new forms of revolutionary power. The ruling class of the U.S. and Bolivia were afraid that revolutionary advances in Peru might "cross the border" and stimulate a Maoist revolution in Bolivia.

It has now been widely exposed that during the mid-1980s, the flow of cocaine into the U.S. was expanding--including often through channels associated with the CIA, its agents and allies. In 1992 a study commissioned by Bolivia's parliament documented that during the 1980s the CIA was deeply involved in cocaine production in Huanchaca, Bolivia. "The real king of cocaine is the U.S.," said Roberto Suarez, a top Bolivian drug dealer. "Here the trafficker is the government, there it's the system. Everybody's in it, from the State Department to the CIA."

In 1991, 56 US military advisors were sent to train two battalions of the Bolivian Army at the base 60 miles north of Santa Cruz--again in the name of "the war on drugs." Recently President Clinton has proposed $112 million worth of military equipment and training for Latin America. The result has been intensified police and military attacks on the people. One study showed that 60 percent of those detained during the massive "drug sweeps" carried out in Bolivia were threatened, 44 percent were tortured or beaten. One recent raid left 7 dead, including a 13-year-old girl and 6-month-old baby.

After a Century Under the U.S. Boot

Coca production, like all previous imperialist operations, has left the masses of people deep in poverty. The peasants who grow the coca live in adobe shacks along narrow dirt roads. Only one family in six has running water or indoor plumbing. People live, on average, only into their 50s.

In Bolivia, the vast majority of the people are farmers--and yet the country depends on imported food--which means that many can't afford it. Eighty-five percent of the population live below the poverty line. According to UN studies, half of Bolivia's children between the ages of 2 and 5 have stunted growth because they don't get enough to eat. And most have little chance to go to school or get medical care.

Over and over again, the intense struggles of the people against these conditions have been shot down by guns that are stamped "made in the USA," carried by soldiers. In December 1996, police and army units attacked striking miners at the gold mines of Amayapampa and Capacirca in northern Potosi. They were trying to force out striking miners who had seized the mines. Twelve miners were killed and scores injured in a military siege that lasted several days. The miners' action was triggered by their struggle with the new mine owners, the Denver-based Vistagold Corporation.

Today, after a century under the U.S. boot, the masses of people live worse than they did 500 years ago when European colonialists first arrived.
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Piney · Jan 30, 2011

diggy said:

such issues ought to be dealt with in the nation where they exsist. it is not up to the u.n. or any union of nations. the only country who has a right to issue legislation on the matter is the one in which it is occuring. so, for any nation or group of nations to dictate internal affairs to another is morally and ethically abhorant. so let's stay out of bolivia's business and let them make their own decisions in regard to their own affairs. diggy
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Ya Know, I kinda thought that it was OK when the civilized world acted together to isolate and shun the aparthied goverment of F.W. DeClerk way back when. Regime change there brought more equality & democracy.

:elf: :tree: :hide:

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