Pubdate: Sun, 23 Feb 2003 Source: San Antonio Express-News (TX) Copyright: 2003 San Antonio Express-News Contact: http://www.mysanantonio.com/expressnews/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/384 Author: Graham Gori, Associated Press Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/area/Bolivia Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine) BOLIVIAN DECISION COULD HURT U.S. DRUG WAR LA PAZ, Bolivia - The president here is considering a plan to resume cultivation of the raw ingredient in cocaine in a remote jungle basin - a move the U.S. government fears would undermine what's viewed as its most successful anti-drug program in South America. President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada is studying a proposal to allow cultivation of coca in the Chapare region of central Bolivia to help calm unrest among growers who've blockaded major highways and put their support behind his political rival. "We've begun serious dialogues with coca growers with the aim of combating drug trafficking and maintaining said social tranquility," Ernesto Justiniano, the vice minister of social defense. Justiniano said the program would hurt drug traffickers by giving the government more control over what's now a clandestine industry in the jungle lowlands. U.S. officials staunchly oppose the proposal to allow each grower in the area to plant one-fifth of an acre of coca, saying it would undermine the $1.3 billion effort to eradicate coca plantations from the region over the past six years. "Our policy is very clear and it remains clear," said an official at the U.S. embassy who spoke only on condition his name not be used. "Any proposal that would legitimize or legalize any coca in the Chapare - which is illegal - - would be a violation of Bolivian law and a violation of international treaties to which Bolivia is a signatory." U.S. officials have said the proposal could trigger a halt in aid from the United States and international lending agencies such as the International Monetary Fund to South America's poorest nation. It also could be used to exclude Bolivia from inclusion in a proposed hemispheric free-trade zone backed by Washington. Bolivia's government plans to conduct a study to determine the size of the nation's limited legal coca market, which now is restricted to some 30,000 acres to supply indigenous people who chew the leaves, which act as a stimulant and can stave off hunger. American officials fear enlarging the area allowed for legal cultivation would return Bolivia to the ranks of major cocaine producers. All coca production in the Chapare - a jungle basin the size of New Jersey that supplied half of all cocaine in the world five years ago - is illegal. The leaf has been eradicated by U.S.-trained soldiers who often engage in firefights with coca farmers. Despite U.S. opposition, analysts say Bolivia's government has little bargaining power with the coca growers, who stage frequent blockades along the nation's largest highway at a time when the Bolivia's government is struggling with an economic crisis. - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk