Pubdate: Sun, 04 Mar 2001 Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press (MN) Copyright: 2001 St. Paul Pioneer Press Contact: 345 Cedar St., St. Paul, MN 55101 Website: http://www.pioneerplanet.com/ Forum: http://www.pioneerplanet.com/watercooler/ Author: Kevin G. Hall, Knight Ridder Foreign Service BOLIVIA NEARS ERADICATING COMMERCIAL COCA PRODUCTION SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia This Andean mountain nation in South America is about to accomplish the unthinkable: eradicating commercial coca production in a country that once was a major narcotics supplier to the United States. Bolivian troops have uprooted the last 1,500 acres of coca plants in Bolivia's southern Chapare region and are launching an offensive in the north to effectively rid the nation by the end of 2002 of the plant from which cocaine is manufactured, government officials said. The program's success is the result of an enormous effort, backed by the United States, over just a few years. But it has imposed a high social cost on farmers deprived of livelihoods, a problem that could pose dangers as the United States becomes more deeply involved in a much larger cocoa eradication drive in Colombia. ``The accomplishments are so significant that they go beyond Bolivia. They made Bolivia the one success story in getting out of the narcotrafficking business,'' said Manuel Rocha, the U.S. ambassador to Bolivia. In three years, Bolivia has wiped out more than 94,000 acres of coca plants in the Chapare, the country's southern, prime coca region. President Hugo Banzer declared the Chapare coca-free on Feb. 21 during an international anti-narcotics conference in Santa Cruz. He said that within months efforts would begin in the Yungas, a high-altitude region northeast of the capital La Paz, to eradicate some 4,200 acres. That would leave about 4,900 acres intact for indigenous populations, who for centuries have grown the plant for medicinal uses. Bolivia has been able to carry out its eradication program because of a firm political decision to change the image of the country as a drug state. Banzer, a former dictator in the 1970s, named the effort Plan Dignity and wrapped it in nationalism. The United States has contributed about $350 million to anti-drug efforts in Bolivia since 1993, most of it since 1997 when Plan Dignity began. But the Banzer government also has had an easier job than its neighbors have. It has not had to shoot its way onto farms or spray crop-killing chemicals from helicopters while trying to avoid sniper fire. Instead, troops have been able to march onto lands worked by poor peasant farmers and uproot the coca. Next door in Peru, former President Alberto Fujimori concentrated on interdiction efforts instead of confronting the growers. Experts fear coca is on the rebound there. In Colombia, leftist guerrillas waging a decades-long civil war control a large swath of the coca regions. They are widely believed to allow drug organizations to operate in their territory in exchange for a cut of the illicit earnings to fund their war machine. Of course, any drug-war victory can be fleeting. After years of apparent success in Peru, the top leadership of the country -- now in exile or sought by Interpol -- stands accused of at least a passive role in drug trafficking. Peruvian farmers have said they never stopped growing coca and are replanting to tap rising prices. Bolivia's success will get close scrutiny in Washington, where the Clinton administration last year committed the United States to a $1.6 billion long-term military aid program called Plan Colombia. It provides Blackhawk helicopters and other sophisticated military hardware for aerial spraying to eradicate coca. It also provides financial assistance for Colombia's Andean neighbors who may face refugee problems and the temptation to produce more coca leaves to take advantage of higher prices. Coca leaves are made into a paste and, with chemicals, transformed into a base that can be sold as a block or further refined into a white powder. The Andean countries last year produced between 740 and 850 metric tons, mostly in Colombia. The United States received about 270-300 tons of that, Europe about 140 tons and Latin America 40-80 tons. President Bush has yet to announce a stance on Plan Colombia. But the harsh economic and human rights consequences of Bolivia's coca eradication may give some congressmen pause in the debate over U.S. anti-drug policy. When the Plan Dignity eradication effort started in 1997, Bolivia, a country of 8 million about the size of Texas and California combined, had an estimated potential to produce enough coca to make 200 metric tons of cocaine. Late last year that was down to 70 tons. ``The fact that eradication is doable has been established,'' Vice President Jorge Quiroga said in an interview. But now Bolivia worries that the Bush administration and Congress will spend money on coca producers like Colombia at the expense of economic development projects in countries that have halted coca production. The United States has given at least $37 million in alternative development funding over the past three years, a level Quiroga and others want to see maintained or increased to offset social costs of coca eradication. - ---