Pubdate: Sun, 20 Feb 2005 Source: Observer, The (UK) Copyright: 2005 The Observer Contact: http://www.observer.co.uk/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/315 Author: Grace Livingstone Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n255/a11.html?9839 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine) COLLUSION BEHIND COCAINE PROFITS The Big Issue: Drugs And Ethics Cocaine is not the cause of Colombia's problems. (World, last week). The guerrilla war started long before the cocaine trade took off. Poverty and inequality, exacerbated by unfair international trade laws, are to blame. Coffee used to be Colombia's biggest export, but since the rich countries destroyed the international coffee pricing agreement in 1989 the coffee price has collapsed, causing misery not only in the Colombian countryside but across Latin America. Peasants grow coca-leaf because it is the only crop from which they can make a living. Grace Livingstone London N6 - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom