Pubdate: Wed, 19 Feb 2003 Source: Miami Herald (FL) Copyright: 2003 The Miami Herald Contact: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/262 Author: Kevin G. Hall, Knight Ridder News Service Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Evo+Morales BOLIVIA MOVING TO EASE U.S.-AIDED COCA ERADICATION COCHABAMBA, Bolivia - Bolivia's government is preparing to relax its unpopular effort to eradicate coca and allow farmers to grow the raw material from which cocaine is made. The move, which could come within a week, would be a sharp reversal of Washington's only success in curbing drug production in South America's Andean region. U.S. officials fear that any increase in legal coca production would also be an opening to greater illicit sales. The United States has given Bolivia more than $1.3 billion in counter-narcotics and development aid since 1993. However, embattled Bolivian President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada vowed as a campaigner to review the coca-eradication policy, and his leading opponents are pro-coca. Government negotiators and coca growers came to a tentative agreement on coca growing last week in Cochabamba, even as violent demonstrations nationwide killed more than two dozen and destroyed a number of government buildings. The proposed coca deal, which Sanchez de Lozada is reviewing, would allow roughly 15,000 Bolivian farmers in Bolivia's tropical Chapare region to grow a ''catu'' of coca -- about a fifth of an acre -- during a six-month period equal to two harvests, said Bolivian antidrug czar Ernesto Justiniano. During the six-month period a study would be undertaken to determine how much demand there is for legal uses of coca. Many Bolivians chew coca legally as a stimulant, appetite suppressant or to cope with exertion at high altitudes. Bolivia currently allows about 30,000 acres of legal coca in the Yungas region outside La Paz to meet this need. Coca farmers argue that there is an underserved market for legal uses of coca. Antidrug czar Justiniano contends that if farmers agree to grow limited quantities of legal coca, they would be less likely to grow coca for illegal sale. ''Eradication is not an end it itself but a tactic in the fight against drug trafficking,'' he said. The United States insists that no more coca growing can be justified. ''A pause in eradication is a pause in development,'' U.S. Ambassador David Greenlee has warned repeatedly in the Bolivian media, reminding Bolivians that the U.S. aid remains tied to ''zero coca'' in the Chapare region east of Cochabamba, where most coca is grown and clandestine cocaine laboratories are found. Justiniano estimated that 15,000 farmers in the Chapare would participate if coca growing were permitted. Bolivia is the only South American success story in the U.S.-led war on drugs. Since 1998, it has eradicated more than 148,000 acres of coca, reducing illicit cocaine production from 234 tons a year to less than eight tons annually. Effective eradication has cost traditional political parties dearly as voters resentful of a strong U.S. presence flocked to radical, pro-coca parties. The leading coca-growing proponent, Evo Morales, fell 43,000 votes short of winning the popular vote against Sanchez de Lozada in last year's presidential elections. Morales and his allies now control about a third of Bolivia's Congress. Interviewed at his home in Cochabamba, Morales said he believes the U.S. goal for ''zero coca'' in Bolivia is now dead. He predicted that by the time coca-growing negotiations with the government are done, ''we will end up with two or three catus of coca'' per farmer. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials in Washington, beset by a heavy snowfall, could not be reached for comment. The issue became more urgent after last week's violent demonstrations and rioting in protests aimed at Sanchez de Lozada. Opponents want the president to resign after just seven months in office. His Cabinet resigned Tuesday and he desperately seeks international aid to stave off collapse and silence detractors. - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk