Weekly Report - 10 September 2026 (WR-26-36)

Bolivia’s President Rodrigo Paz is intent on taking a tough approach to surging coca cultivation. The Paz administration launched a new five-year national counter-narcotics policy this week with financing for US$492m. This followed the publication of the latest annual monitoring report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) showing coca cultivation increased by 7% in Bolivia in 2025. But the plan’s success hinges on the government’s willingness to reverse a surge in coca cultivation in the Chapare region of Cochabamba department, the stronghold of a former coca grower it has so far proved reluctant to confront – former president Evo Morales (2006-2019).