The US are at war with Bolivia over its production of coca, blaming the billion dollar cocaine trade in the US; cocaine wars; drug addiction and the death of US citizens who abuse cocaine on the massive production of coca in the North and centre of Bolivia.
The US want Bolivia to cease coca production. They see no good in the substance, on the contrary they demonise it.
Evo Morales is not interested in complying with US demands for enforced eradication of coca crops, whereby crops are burned by soldiers against the wishes of the largely impoverished campesino growers. Neither will he agree to the fumigation of coca crops with pesticides that destroy the plant due, representatives of the present government suggest, to the risks to the local population and the environment. In 2008 Evo Morales kicked the US Drug Enforcement Agency out of Bolivia and relationships have been poor between the two nations ever since.
Nowadays the benefits of coca produced in Bolivia are reaped by the pharmaceutical companies who by means of bio chemistry manage to harvest in mass form the anaesthetic properties of the coca leaf, by foreigners who control the multi billion dollar illegal cocaine industry, and by Coca- Cola Inc, who transform the leaf in to one of the most sought after beverages in the world.
I have spent only two weeks in Bolivia and it is obvious to me in this short time that the US will never succeed in reducing the production of coca in Bolivia using their present methods. Evo Morales was after all the head of a union representing cocaleros, ( coca producers). He is not going to agree to oppression of the very people he grew up with, worked with, and acted as advocate for before he achieved political power. He presently negotiates annually with the cocaleros to set a maximum for production per annum of coca but he does this for the needs of Bolivia, not as an act of compliance to demands made by the US.
The other fundamental reason why the US will not get their way is because of the way coca is regarded in Bolivia. It is seen as life giving, good for health and moreover good for the soul. It is used for divination and restoration of health, as well as for medication, energy, as a sweet and as a toothpaste. It is the only substance known to alleviate symptoms of altitude sickness. Chewing the coca leaf is essential to existing at 4000 metres. It eliminates nausea, dizziness and the intense headaches associated with coping with the thin de-oxygenated air of the Andes.
It is also sacred. It is as much a part of Bolivian culture as is Pachamama. Ironically the attitude of the US to the eradication of coca production has increased the protectiveness of Bolivians to the coca harvest. Business is up for those in coca. 92% of the male population of Bolivia chew coca three times a day, at least, as do 82% of women. The chewed leaves release alkaloids in to the mouth that increase energy, sharpen awareness and induce a mild euphoria. Bolivians see coca as as harmless as Costa see coffee.
An indication of the attitude of Bolivian society to the coca leaf is seen by the impossibility of getting an appointment with the Yatiri, the medicine man of the Aymara. He is available for consultation in La Paz, down a narrow alley way at the side of the coca museum. His presence is known because of the pan of burning embers which represents his offering to the Aymara Gods. Unlike your average consultant in the NHS, his consulting rooms are blessed.
I wanted to go in. I wanted to meet the man who is vaguely evident in the background of the next photograph but he was fully booked. I had no chance of him taking three coca leaves from a pile in front of him and throwing them in four directions. ( I did not know how that was mathematically possible.) To read the happenings of the world above, the world below, the past and the future. It is possible for a Yatiri in one reading to observe the past, present, health, and illness of the person in front of him. Those seeking to eradicate coca from Bolivian society need to reflect on this ritual and the embedded significance of the plant to those who are Bolivian , who not only grow it, but chew on it and depend upon it as a support in their every day meagre existence.
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