Weekly Report - 9 September 2003

It is not often that one finds Colombians suggesting that they should emulate Bolivia, but that is precisely what Camilo González Posso, candidate to the governorship of Cauca and former health minister, is recommending regarding his department's coca plantations. He wants to industrialise the coca leaf, much as Bolivia does with its legal `traditional-use' plantations of the Yungas. This, he says, would provide a good living for Cauca's Páez and Guambiano indigenous peoples, who form a substantial segment of the local population.