Bolivia's Evo Morales Defends Coca Cultivation and Use Before the UN (Translation)

elmundo.com.bo ^ | September 20, 2006 | El Mundo - Bolivia ( translated by self )

[StJacques]

Evo Morales takes the coca leaf to the UN and defends it

After unexpectedly wielding a green coca leaf in his right hand, Bolivian President Evo Morales demonstrated Tuesday before world leaders one of the many injustices which he came to raise before the United Nations.

Before the initial surprise and reserved applause immediately afterwards, Morales said that to criminalize the coca leaf was an "historic injustice."

"This leaf represents the Andean culture, the environment and the hope of the people," said Morales, who before being President was the leader of the Bolivian coca growers.

"It is not possible that the coca leaf is legal for Coca Cola and is illegal for other medicinal consumers in our country and in the entire world," he added, during the most applauded participating speech in the inaugural session of the General Assembly. "It has been demonstrated that the coca leaf does no harm to human health," he continued, always exhibiting the little green leaf to the view of all the world. But after admitting that "the coca leaf has been misused for an illegal product," he proposed a just and efficient fight against narcotics trafficking.

Once and again Morales vehemently demonstrated his claims. After saying that in the early evening he had listened to the speech of the government of the United States which does not accept the cultivation of coca and which "puts conditions of modifying our norms to us," he responded energetically that "we do not need blackmail nor threats," which earned one of the most strenuous rounds of applause that endorsed his statements.

"We need an alliance in the fight against narcotics trafficking," Morales added. "But it cannot be a pretext for subduing the Andean countries. The calls for certification or decertification in the fight against narcotics trafficking are an instrument of recolonization or colonization of the Andean peoples. This we do not accept."

The United States awards that certification as a means of recognizing those countries who in their judgement cooperate in the fight against narcotics trafficking.

Morales also defended the initiative of his government to nationalize hydrocarbons.¹

"If the Bolivian state exercises its property right on a resource such as natural gas, hydrocarbons, petroleum, but we do not explain it to anyone; it will be respected, it will be guaranteed that (foreign companies) will recoup their investment and they will have the right to profit, but they will not profit as before." He also assured that his government will respect private property.

"By this struggle for the rights of the people I have arrived where we are coming, to repair an historic damage," he affirmed.

After attacking "Neo-Liberalism" as a fatal recipe for Bolivia, he asked for respect for the environment taking into account that "we indigenous peoples live in harmony with Mother Earth."

And to conclude his animated speech, which contrasted with other routine speeches that passed without shame and without glory, the Bolivian President requested of the United States, "with much respect" to "withdraw the troops from Iraq if you want to respect human rights," hours after U.S. President George W. Bush assured the Iraqi government that "we will not abandon you."

Another round of reserved applause closed Morales's speech.

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Translator's Note:

¹ The exact words in the original article were to "privatize hydrocarbons," which I take to be a term of political art on the part of Morales, because what is transpiring is the nationalization of oil and natural gas exploration and production in Bolivia.

[Alia]

After attacking "Neo-Liberalism" as a fatal recipe for Bolivia, he asked for respect for the environment taking into account that "we indigenous peoples live in harmony with Mother Earth."

Translation: I'm an elite masquerading as a peasant. We eat dirt for supper, dirt for breakfast. We evacuate our bodily matter around trees, preferably closer to our neighbor's hut, than our own.

And to conclude his animated speech, which contrasted with other routine speeches that passed without shame and without glory, the Bolivian President requested of the United States, "with much respect" to "withdraw the troops from Iraq if you want to respect human rights," hours after U.S. President George W. Bush assured the Iraqi government that "we will not abandon you."

Alia translation of Bolivian President: "Withdraw your troops from Iraq or we will not respect your personal human rights to live. We will loosen the "illegal" coca "natural" products upon your culture."

[microgood]

Actually, the Inca runners use to use it to run across the Andes as at such high altitudes the Coca leave, when chewed on in conjunction with lime (which releases the ingredient) gave them much greater endurance. It was also used by farmers in the high altitudes of the Andes for endurance.

I also know some people that travelled to Quito, Ecuador, which is a real high altitude airport and it was given to airline passengers in tea as late as the 70s to help adjust to the altitude.

My Spanish Teacher in high school showed us a coca pouch used by the natives of Chile to store the leaves, which of course does not give you the high refined coke or crack does. He is right, however, it is a very big part of their past and is still used at high altitudes all over the Andes.

[Shuttle Shucker]

At least THIS guy wasn't able to speak there as a head of state: Doesn't he look like someone who figures he's got nothing better to do than to try and make a mess for others in hopes of getting noticed?

[StJacques]

microgood, I wrote on this issue via Freepmail with one of our crew and I'd like to just paste in what I wrote in this post:

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I can explain this one a bit, because I learned about it in Colombia where it is right out in the open in the high altitude cities and towns in the southernmost area of the country near the Ecuadoran border. I also understand that the same holds true of the mountainous region of the Alta Guajira in northern Colombia, which is just south of the Caribbean port city of Santa Marta fronting the Venezuelan - Colombian border.

Coca leaves are dried for just a few hours and are sometimes chewed or used to make straight coca tea or occasionally as either a minor ingredient in Yerba Maté or the major ingredient in Coca Maté, two types of blended herb teas which are drunk only rarely in Colombia but are very popular elsewhere in South America. If chewed by themselves the dried leaves do have some nutritional value, but don't believe the hippie web sites who try to tell you all sorts of things about coca. It is really a useful source of carbohydrate and a mild source of calcium with trace amounts of some of the B vitamins and carotene.

The nutritional value of dried coca leaf is greatly reduced by the way it is prepared as a stimulant in a form known as "bazuka" which is pronounced almost identically as "bazooka." I saw how this was done in a small Andean village near the southern Colombian city of Popayan, an area I only visited once, which incidentally is the same visit where I saw the aftermath of a recent attack by the FARC.

The local Andean Indians collect very small dried snail shells alongside mountain streams for lime. The shells are really quite tiny and are chosen for having been bleached white by the sun over a period of months. The coca leaves are taken up by the hands and crushed and then put into a large stone mortar and pestle called a Pilon, which is used elsewhere in the making of sauces for dishes. The snail shells are then added and the two are crushed together. It's about 80% coca leaf 20% shell by my examination of the process. Then comes the disgusting part. The preparer will spit two or three times into the crushed mixture until he is able to form an almost fluid paste. He mixes it all together thoroughly and then reaches into the mixture by hand and forms up little balls which are then dried and placed into a little leather pouch all the local Indians carry. They consume it by placing it in their mouth between the cheek and gums.

In spite of the fact that the local Indians all claim that bazuka gives them "mucho alimento" (a lot of nourishment), the claim is false. The enzymes in saliva provoke a chemical reaction that essentially results in a mild form of coca base and is really used as a stimulant and to depress appetite. At around 5:00 p.m. I saw groups of these Indians waiting to catch local buses or commercial jeeps to go home and they were all incredibly skinny, had blood-red eyes (I mean really red), and you could tell which side of the mouth they preferred to place their bazuka because all the nerve endings on that side of their faces were deadened and they looked like they had just returned from getting a root canal at the dentist, as their facial muscles were all relaxed causing the skin to droop. A local doctor told me that almost all of the nutritional value of the plain dried coca leaf is lost in the making of bazuka. I believed him then, and I still do now.

This practice is not very widespread in Colombia, but as you go south in the high Andes, and especially in the Peruvian and Bolivian highlands, it becomes more and more prevalent.
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Morales is actually on sound ground to say that it is part of their culture, but given his ties to Hugo Chavez, who is very closely linked with the FARC in Colombia, who are major players in the cocaine trade, I take Morales' speech to be a threat very much in line with what Alia wrote in her #21 above.

[microgood]

Morales is actually on sound ground to say that it is part of their culture, but given his ties to Hugo Chavez, who is very closely linked with the FARC in Colombia, who are major players in the cocaine trade, I take Morales' speech to be a threat very much in line with what Alia wrote in her #21 above.

Thanks for that info. Very interesting. BTW,I agree with you on Morales.

But having read a bit on Plan Columbia, I am not sure what to think about our eradication policies down there, mainly because many of the farmers need to grow coca to survive because our farm subsidies in the US wiped out their traditional crops and now that they are spraying the whole country with Roundup, the growers have moved into the National Parks where they cannot spray. In the mean time the farmers have developed a strain of coca resistant to Roundup so now we want to spray some fungicide which does permanent damage to the soil.

In addition, now that they have found oil in Columbia we are getting enmeshed in their civil war down there since the FARC control the land where the oil is but we want the oil so we can tell Chavez to stuff it so we are doubling our military presence. It is just a mess down there.

One funny part I read about was Paul Wellstone went down to see about the crop eradication program and how it was affecting the farmers and water, and as he was watching the wind came up the overspray soaked the entire delegation with Roundup from head to toe. Needless to say he was not impressed.

[Malsua]

Nice Erik Estrada hair-do.

[BritExPatInFla]

Additionally, why the hell can't a soveriegn nation grow whatever the heck they want? The Coca plant grows naturally there, yet we think we can tell tham they aren't to grow it? Just don't let us catch it coming into our country in a refined state. Otherwise, stay the hell out of other nation's business.

[Covenantor]

Evo, Devo, Evo, Devo...whatever.

Nice hats btw.

[Alia]

Thank you for posting that information, St. Jaques. It was very informative.

Here's the thing that cracks me up: liberals talking about sweet peeps in 3rd world countries. Like Evo Morales. These people would slit your throat for a buck as fast as an Islamofacist would just because you live. But on the surface, all sweetness and light. There was no other way for me to interpret Morales' "presentation" given all the data I know.

[StJacques]

On Plan Colombia, etc.....

It is a very complex problem, and I cannot argue with some of the difficulties in its enactment which you raise. But from my perspective, there are two really important parts to it which mandate its continuance. The first is that the military aid we have sent to Colombia has rejuvenated their ability to take on the FARC, who are plainly and simply the most dangerous guerrilla/terrorist group in the Western Hemisphere, as our own Department of State correctly rates them in my opinion. Just think about that point for a brief moment. Here the U.S. is involved in a world-wide War on Terror and it is the Colombian government which is taking the point in fighting the number one threat in the western hemisphere. The second reason to continue the program is that it has reassured Colombians that the world is aware of what is happening to them and that they are not standing alone. This is more necessary than one might expect if the facts come out into the open. Last year alone, over 1,100 people were killed by land mines in Colombia, mostly in the southeastern corner of the country in the area bordering Peru, Brazil and Venezuela; i.e. "FARC country." This is the largest number of citizens killed by land mines anywhere in the world (read about this here at this link, go to end of text). I'll have more to say about Colombian casualties in a second.

I think there is also some evidence that the Colombian government may be winning the struggle, in spite of some of the problems you mentioned. There have been two leftist guerrilla groups fighting the Colombian government; the FARC and the ELN (Ejercito de la Liberacion Nacional or the National Liberation Army). The ELN has been active mostly in northern, and especially northwest Colombia and they are now asking for peace talks. So it appears to me that the Colombian government's strategy has been to eliminate the ELN first and then move on to the FARC and, if that's the case, it's working.

The FARC is by far the greater danger, in fact, they are a far greater danger than many people realize. They have the support of Hugo Chavez -- in spite of all his denials to the contrary -- and their involvement in the cocaine business earns them about $400 million per year according to one estimate I read recently. The FARC wants the Colombian government to essentially cede control over the southeastern corner of the country to them, so they can grow their coca, process it, and sell it with impunity. It is true that they have been able to rebound after eradication campaigns, but that is mainly because there is such a widespread area available for them to cultivate coca, a region larger than Rhode Island in fact. But their international connections, which include developing attachments with Mexican drug cartels and the Mexican EPR, a minor but dangerous guerrilla group, as well as rumors of Middle Eastern connections (I doubt the validity of all these reports, but with so many I've got to believe something must be true); mark the FARC as a danger that must be eliminated, at whatever the cost. For a $7.5 billion investment on our part, plus $4 billion from Colombia and $3.5 billion from elsewhere, I'd say that Plan Colombia is doing ok, in spite of the problems.

And finally, Colombians are dying in large numbers (thousands over the past fifteen years) in the drug wars and terrorist conflicts. These include hundreds of judges, at least one favored presidential candidate, numerous policemen at all levels, local government officials, federal agricultural agents (a favorite target of the FARC, who fear agricultural development in their areas of control), newspaper men (the drug cartels' favorite targets) and ordinary citizens. In spite of all of this, Colombia is standing with the U.S. in the War on Terror and its larger political landscape has moved away from the left, who they rightfully fear for the dangerous policies they truly represent. I say that if Colombia is sticking with us in spite of all the terrible costs they have paid, we should stick with them.

All you really have to know is that the Colombians hate Hugo Chavez and he doesn't like them in turn. A lot of people missed the fact that it was a Colombian reporter from Barranquilla who embarrassed Chavez so badly two days ago in his press conference by asking him to explain how he could speak to the peaceful nature of Venezuelan democracy when there are international reports of leftist murders of local opposition leaders surfacing regularly. And Chavez only asked her where she was from and when she told him, he moved on to the next question without answering her.

I like the Colombians.

[StJacques]

Ping to my #30 above.

[Wolfie]

Reminds me of those tobacco execs testifying before Congress.

[Alia]

Yours is an inspiring bit of news, St. Jacques. Very heartening. Even so, it contrasts with Evo Morales' presentation the other day. His presentation seems so oddly in contrast to what you've written about Columbia.

Last evening I did some digging around Chavez and Maduro. Found some fascinating data.

In re "And Chavez only asked her where she was from and when she told him, he moved on to the next question without answering her"... see here. It appears that Chavez is behind some privacy invasive software in his "coup" bids to power; listing names, how people voted, where they live, etc.:

--snip:

This window has lots of information to discriminate, harass, classify and label people near wher you live. You have the ID number, age, whether the person signed petitions against the opposition, against Chavez, whether the person is rated as "opposition", abstainer and in columns not shown, whether the person signed or not against Chavez and if his or her signature were rejected or not. Then in the buttons below, you can print, search, filter according to categories or simply click on the button labeled "patriots". Press that and you only see the true "Aryans" loyal to the process, those that signed against the opposition. These are your revolutionary, fascist buddies, ready to die or whatever for the revolution. In fact, if they are not on your side but they participate in any of the misiones, you can threaten them with removal of their meager perks, if they don't want to follow orders. Cute, immoral and perverse, no?--end snip

Second, there's a freep posted article from 2003 which details AQ/Hamas/Hezbollah connections to Venezuela.

--snips:

Venezuela's Margarita Island, a tourist destination with a large Arab population, has been identified as a source of funding and site of money laundering for the Hezbollah and Hamas militant groups.

Investigators say Rahaman has ties to the region where the borders of Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil meet. Local Arab traders there are accused of sending millions back to Hamas and Hezbollah. U.S., Argentine and Israeli authorities believe the area was the launching site for bombing attacks in Buenos Aires, Argentina, against the Israeli Embassy in 1992 and a Jewish community center in 1994 that left 86 dead.

Brazilian federal police also said recently that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the alleged al-Qaida chief of operations and Sept. 11 mastermind who was arrested earlier this month in Pakistan, visited the triple-border region at least twice in the 1990s.

And in 1999, police captured an Egyptian terror suspect affiliated with al-Qaida who established himself at the triple border in order to set up a network there, according to Argentine intelligence documents.

Rahaman had phone contact and other ties with suspected extremists in the triple border region, a U.S. official said in an interview. It is not clear whether Rahaman traveled to the area, the U.S. official said.

Investigators in Europe and Venezuela have not yet determined what Rahaman's target might have been, the U.S. official said.

But if he turns out to have been part of an al-Qaida operation, it would mark the first time the group has tried to launch an attack from Latin America, raising fears of a new front in the U.S. government's war on terror just hours from Miami. U.S. law enforcement officials are monitoring the case, but have not opened an official investigation.

Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert who heads the Washington office for Rand Corporation, noted that al-Qaida's Web site was paid for from a Caracas-based bank account for a brief period last year.

--end snips

I have absolutely no doubts in re FARC; an utterly heinous organization. Some years back, doing some digging on another subject? I found "FARC" representations at California colleges. These, if they still remain, no longer show up on search engines.

P.S. My favorite coffee beans are from Columbia.

[Alia]

I've known a number of Columbians who've moved to the US. Each and every last one of them was a staunch conservative. I apologize for digressing into the whole Chavez Maduro thing; but coupled with Evo Morales' presentation I am concerned for Columbia who has been a good ally of the US.

[StJacques]

No apologies are necessary Alia. I always enjoy your takes on Latin America. It's obvious to me that you are very well-informed. That's why I ping you.

And by the way, I'm going to be posting a translation of a very interesting article from the El Mercurio newspaper (Santiago, Chile) web site later today giving the behind the scenes story of a developing diplomatic rupture between Chavez's Venezuela and Bachelet's Chile that follows from Chavez's antics before the UN last week and the intrusion of Venezuela's ambassador to Chile into Chilean politics. Look for it around 5:00 p.m. Central if not earlier. I'm a little busy with work today, but I may get more time in about an hour.