New York Times Article and Video Report on Coca

As I have written here over the past few weeks – it is clear that the first concrete negotiation that will land in the middle of the complex Bolivia/US relationship is over coca. For twenty years the US had been actively engaged in a forced eradication program to block coca leaf production. With the election of Evo Morales, who rose to political power as a leader of the coca growers, Bolivia’s long policy backing the US “war on drugs” is tossed clearly in the air. It will be the major issue to define the relationship between the Bush administration and the government of Evo Morales over the next few months.

Today’s Sunday New York Times has a worth-reading article on the issue and a more interesting nine minute video that goes with it: Bolivia Shifts the Drug War Debate. Both can be found here.

What I liked about the film in particular is that it gets down to the next level of complexity, where too few reports do. It shows the important role that the coca leaf plays in Bolivian culture and treats seriously the idea of industrializing coca for broad, totally positive products and markets, such as coca herbal tea. For that reason alone, I hope readers will encourage people to invest nine minutes and have a look.

While on the subject of coca, here are two other on-line resources that people should know about:

The Coca Museum in La Paz: The on-line partner of the popular museum in La Paz, filled with scientifically based information on coca, its properties, history, and uses.

The Andean Information Network: AIN produces a lot of thoughtful, research based reports on coca in Bolivia and US policy toward it.