Latin America: Venezuela-Funded Coca Factory Opens in Bolivia 6/23/06

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Bolivian President Evo Morales traveled to the town of Irupana in Bolivia's Yungas coca-growing region Saturday to preside over the opening of a factory where coca leaves will be made into legal products. Morales, who rose to power as the leader of a confederation of coca growers' unions has vowed to seek alternative legal uses for the plant as part of his anti-cocaine strategy.

"Manufacturing coca products doesn't do any harm because coca isn't a drug," Morales told hundreds of coca growing peasants in Irupana in an address that was televised around the country. "They're going to make flour, tea, soft drinks and other products in the first two plants," he said.

Earlier this year, Morales traveled the world, in part to seek markets for coca products, and that strategy may be paying off. The Associated Press reported Bolivian government officials saying that China, Cuba, India, and Venezuela have already expressed interest in buying coca products.

Morales has positioned himself alongside Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Cuba's Fidel Castro as part of a leftist pole in hemispheric affairs. Bolivian Agriculture Minister Hugo Salvatierra told Bolivian state television that Chavez has pledged $1 million to fund two coca-processing factories.

Although current Bolivian law limits coca production to some 29,000 acres in the Yungas, unsanctioned production is occurring there, as well as in the Chapare region. According to US and UN figures, Bolivia is the world's third largest coca producer, after Colombia and Peru. US government policy is to eradicate unsanctioned coca, but Morales would rather find legitimate markets for it.

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Issue #441 -- 6/23/06

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Editorial: Unintended Consequences | Feature: Move to Block DEA Medical Marijuana Raids Heads for House Floor Vote Next Week | Feature: Look for More No-Knock Drug Raids, More Collateral Damage in Wake of Supreme Court Ruling, Experts Warn | DRCNet Review Essay: Over the Transom -- Modern Day Pamphleteers Address the Drug War | Offer and Appeal: Important New Legalization Video and Drug War Facts Book Available | Book Offer: Burning Rainbow Farm: How a Stoner Utopia Went up in Smoke | Feature: Move to Block DEA Medical Marijuana Raids Heads for House Floor Vote Next Week Alert: Major Medical Marijuana Vote in Congress Next Week! | Feedback: Do You Read Drug War Chronicle? | Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories | Marijuana: West Hollywood Passes "Lowest Priority" Resolution | Drugged Driving: Michigan Supreme Court Upholds State DUID Law -- Now You Don't Even Have to Be High to Get Busted | Canada: In Harm Reduction Bid, Vancouver Police to Stay Away From Overdose Calls | Europe: Scottish Drug Czar Says Drug War Is Lost, Causes Big To-Do | Africa: Nigerian Narcs in Losing Battle with Marijuana Farmers | Latin America: Venezuela-Funded Coca Factory Opens in Bolivia | Medical Marijuana: National Multiple Sclerosis Society to Fund Study | Web Scan: Len Bias, UN Coca Survey, Oaksterdam News | Weekly: This Week in History | Weekly: The Reformer's Calendar


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