Weekly Report - 21 October 2010 (WR-10-42)

President Evo Morales for the first time has acknowledged the role of coca producers (cocaleros) from the Chapare, his home turf, in the illegal drugs trade. The admission had a clear short-term political aim - appeasing the cocaleros from the Yungas in La Paz, who, long insistent that Morales favours their Chapare counterparts, are once again causing problems for the government. It is, however, likely to subject to fresh criticism his drugs policy of “coca sí­, cocaí­na no" - based on the distinction between the illegal narcotic and raw coca leaf, an important symbol of indigenous culture.
 
A former cocalero himself, Morales made the admission at a recent meeting of the umbrella organisation of coca growers, Seis Federaciones del Trópico de Cochabamba, which he still heads. He rebuked the Chapare coca producers for not respecting legal production limits, acknowledging that some of the coca grown is funnelled into the illegal narcotics trade. The media linked this reversal to renewed unrest among the Yungas-based cocaleros over his government's alleged preference for the Chapare (see box).