Crisis
Bolivia
Continues:
Government
Yields
on
Military
Bases
After
US
Signals
Assent,
Farmers
Still
Demanding
Personal
Coca
Plots
10/7/00
A massive wave of protests, fueled in part by peasants' rejection of a US-sponsored coca eradication scheme, continues to shake the government of president and former dictator Hugo Banzer. In addition to the cocaleros (coca-growing peasants), the regime faces strikes and blockades by teachers, the national peasants' union, and the Water and Life Coordinating Committee, whose members brought the government to its knees with protests over water price hikes six months ago. Although the past week has been relatively peaceful compared to the first two weeks of the uprising, tensions remain high. An estimated 50,000 peasants continue to block highways nationwide, and protestors and troops engaged in several tense confrontations during the week. Protestors and the Banzer government remain locked in negotiations over wages and land tenure as well as the coca issue. The Banzer regime, having heard approving signals from Washington, has now backtracked on its "non-negotiable" plan to build three US-sponsored military bases in the Chapare, the country's main coca-producing region. Reuters reported that "unnamed US diplomats" said their concerns about monitoring coca production in the Chapare could be met without the bases, provided that Bolivia beefed up troop numbers in the region. These comments mark a retreat in the US position. Earlier in the week, a US embassy official speaking anonymously told one local observer that if the government backed away from the bases, it could "create doubts" about Bolivia's pledge to make the country coca-free by 2002. Banzer's retreat on the issue of the military bases, along with his unfulfilled threat early in the week to break the blockades using military force, suggests an increasingly isolated and desperate government. Unease in La Paz was only heightened when ten high-ranking military officers in Santa Cruz circulated a letter holding the government responsible for civilian deaths, demanding a political solution to the crisis, and calling for an overhaul of the cabinet. But even as Banzer yielded on the military bases, Congressman Evo Morales, leader of the Six Federations of the Tropico, the cocalero's group, remained adamant that the "zero coca option" was unacceptable. Under that portion of Banzer's Plan Dignidad, even small plots of coca for legal, traditional uses would vanish. "As long as the government is unwilling to discuss the coca option, we won't have an agreement," Morales told Reuters. After failed negotiations earlier in the week, Morales vowed "war" if agreements could not be met. His statements come amid reports that Bolivian peasants are threatening to take up arms if a solution is not reached. Morales' high profile may be placing him in danger. Congressmen friendly to the government are now demanding that Morales be stripped of his congressional immunity and arrested. Hard-line Minister of Government Fortun has repeatedly described Morales as a "narcotrafficker." Bolivian press reports during the week suggest that the government may be ready to compromise on the zero coca option, though those reports have been officially denied. According to NarcoNews.com, La Razon newspaper in La Paz has reported that the government has made a secret offer to allow 400 square meters of coca per family, but that this is only half of what the cocaleros are willing to accept. Still, granting peasants the right to harvest limited coca plots is probably the only peaceful way out for Banzer. Now, if only he can convince the US government that this is the case. Slightly more than a year ago, drug czar Gen. Barry McCaffrey met with Banzer and told reporters "Bolivia has a lot to be proud of" with its eradication program. McCaffrey has not commented on the ongoing crisis there now. For Sanho Tree, drug policy analyst at the Institute of Policy Studies, "If Plan Colombia is phase one of coca eradication, what we're seeing in Bolivia in phase three -- the reaction. We can expect a similar reaction in Colombia, only there everyone is already heavily armed." Meanwhile, according to a report in the Herald (Glasgow), raw coca prices are climbing as a result of fears that the US-Colombian adventure will cause shortages. While increases in raw coca prices will have a miniscule impact on cocaine prices in the United States and other consuming countries, coca farmers of South America stand to see their incomes double, even if no further price increases occur. With prices having risen from about $20 for a 25-lb. bag of coca leaf to $35 in recent weeks, Plan Colombia could have the unintended consequence of sparking renewed coca cultivation across the region. According to Oct. 7th reports from Reuters and the New York Times, teachers and national peasant unions have agreed to call off their protests, after the Banzer government acceded to most of their demands. Coca farmers, however, continue to blockade highways, after the government's refusal to halt the forced coca eradication program. For English-language translations of Bolivian and foreign press coverage, go to http://www.narconews.com/pressbriefing.html. The Andean Information Network (http://www.scbbs-bo.com/ain/) provides frequent briefings on the situation from in-country observers based in the Chapare.
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