Weekly Report - 7 October 2003

Camilo González Posso, a former health minister who is currently running for the governorship of Cauca department, is proposing the `industrialisation' of coca. If it is designated a traditional medicine, he argues, it could be used to prepare aromatic waters, coca tea, bread, soap and other products. He says that the industrialisation of coca in Bolivia and Peru has generated many jobs. Coca is traditionally used by the indigenous communities of Cauca.