Pubdate: Fri, 04 May 2001
Source: Financial Times (UK)
Section: The Americas; Pg. 3
Copyright: The Financial Times Limited 2001
Contact:  http://www.ft.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/154
Author: Paul Keller

BOLIVIAN GOVERNMENT TO MEET COCA PROTESTERS

LIMA - Bolivia stepped back from the brink of violent social conflict with 
talks due to start yesterday in the capital, La Paz, between the government 
and protesting coca growers.

In negotiations to hold the talks, coca growers, led by Evo Morales, a 
militant union leader and congressman, agreed to clear road blocks set up 
to protest about the US-sponsored eradication of their crops, a government 
spokesman said.

In return, the government has withdrawn some 7,000 troops from the tropical 
Chapare area - once the main coca-growing region - 200 miles south-east of 
the capital.

"There is political will on both sides to reach an agreement," the 
spokesman said. "But what is not in discussion is coca eradication. We will 
be talking about how we can help coca growers with more aid and other 
measures."

The Chapare coca producers - some 40,000 - want the government to halt its 
eradication programme, suspend a drug-trafficking law and withdraw troops 
from the region. The deadline for an agreement is May 21.

The government has also agreed to suspend indefinitely its plans to chop 
down 1,700 hectares of illegally grown coca in the Yungas area outside La Paz.

Coca eradication has been a cornerstone of Bolivia's attempt to clean up 
its image as a drug-trafficking centre and attract massive US aid. But the 
eradication of some 70,000 hectares of leaf - the raw material for cocaine 
- - has deprived impoverished farmers of their livelihoods and caused much 
unrest.

At least 10 people died in clashes between police and Chapare coca farmers 
last year.

President Hugo Banzer's government has been besieged by protests and 
strikes in recent weeks, as groups of workers stepped up their protests 
about what they see as the state's failure to keep its promises - 
including, they say, halting privatisation, raising pay and rehiring 
dismissed public workers.

Seven lawmakers held a hunger strike last month to support the unions and 
protest about alleged excessive force used by police when they broke up the 
demonstrations of the coca growers, who arrived in La Paz last week after a 
15-day march from the Chapare.

Protesters have called for Mr Banzer, a former military dictator who ruled 
in the 1970s, to stand down immediately rather than wait for mid-2002 
elections.

Deteriorating economic conditions, allegations of corruption and social 
unrest have further undermined Mr Banzer's grip on power.
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