Pubdate: Sat, 24 Feb 2001 Source: Bergen Record (NJ) Copyright: 2001 Bergen Record Corp. Contact: 150 River St., Hackensack, NJ 07601 Fax: (201) 646-4749 Feedback: http://www.bergen.com/cgi-bin/feedback Website: http://www.bergen.com/ Author: Vanessa Arrington, Associated Press BOLIVIA, WITH U.S. HELP, CLAIMS VICTORY IN DRUG WAR CHIMORE, Bolivia -- Declaring a victory in the drug war, the Bolivian government says a U.S.-financed campaign has wiped out coca farming in the Chapare region, once a major world producer of coca. But farmers who were persuaded to give up coca in favor of legal crops say the victory may be short-lived if they don't receive financial aid. They called on the United States to help by buying more of their bananas, oranges, and pineapples. "You all have to open up your markets," said 30-year-old Beningo Cossio, a coca farmer turned honey producer, referring to the United States. "Our products are only being sold locally and that's not enough." Since taking office in 1997 and pledging to rid Bolivia from the list of drug-producing countries by 2002, President Hugo Banzer has moved aggressively to wipe out illegal coca, the raw ingredient of cocaine. As part of the effort, more than 106,000 acres of coca farms have been uprooted in the Chapare region in the last three years. The last 50 acres were destroyed this week. For farmers accustomed to the lucrative profits of coca, the switch to legal crops has meant a blow to their livelihood. The coca leaves sell for nearly $5 a pound, while crops such as pineapple -- one of the alternative development crops now being grow in Chapare -- sell for 10 cents a pound. "This is simply not enough to pay the rent or eat," said Maria Justina Beltran, balancing a sleeping baby on her belly and holding a coca plant in her hand. "Families here are lucky to make $50 a month," said Elizabeth Copa, adding that that has made many farmers leery of the alternative crop projects. "I think people would embrace these projects more if there were more markets available." Herbert Muller, an economist and a former Bolivian government minister, said the eradication program has resulted in an annual loss to the economy of South America's poorest nation of $300 million. He said the economic hardships being felt by the farmers could potentially undermine the accomplishments of the effort. "Without more development, the risk is that within two or three years . . . Bolivia will again be on the cocaine circuit," he said. U.S. officials concede more needs to be done to help the farmers. But they also point out that Bolivia has been the recipient of billions of dollars in U.S. aid in recent decades. One U.S. lawmaker attending the three-day conference this week said he thought Bolivia's eradication effort had been grounded in a sense of moral responsibility, but he argued other countries have no moral obligation to financially compensate Bolivians farmers who have given up growing an illegal substance. "The product they were growing here was killing kids [in Bolivia], killing kids in Europe, and in America. It had to be shut down regardless," said Mark Souder, a Republican congressman from Indiana. Members of the U.S. Congress are tentatively scheduled this year to decide whether to loosen up the U.S. market for Bolivian imports such as Andean textiles and the Chapare's alternative crops. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager