Bolivia and coca: law, policy, and drug control.

• Author: Hallums, Melanie R.

1. INTRODUCTION

   Centuries mark the history of the relationship between the Bolivian people and coca, the principal ingredient of cocaine. Ancient Indian traditions used the coca leaf in many facets of cultural life, yet it never gained the notoriety of the modern scourge of cocaine. United States-led international concern over illicit narcotics trafficking has transformed Bolivian foreign relations, economics, and internal politics, and it continues to shape Bolivia's future and reflections about its past.

   Bolivia is one of the Andean nations targeted by the U.S. "War on Drugs,"(1) escalated by Presidents Reagan and Bush.(2) As cocaine became a problem for the United States, so too did it become a problem for Bolivia. Since the 1980s, the United States has remained heavily involved in fighting an international "war" against drugs,(3) especially against cocaine in the Andean nations of Bolivia, Peru, and Colombia.(4) Since the advent of the "war," however, drug supplies have increased substantially, both in the United States and in the world market. The international drug trade generates an estimated $400 to $500 billion annually.(5) From 1984 to 1994, coca production nearly doubled, although the United States spent billions of dollars on narcotics-control assistance to Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru.(6) While the Bolivian government has cooperated with the U.S. anti-drug struggle,(7) coca production has not diminished. Meanwhile, the problem of U.S. cocaine consumption continues to demand a solution.(8)

   While some critics believe the international anti-drug effort is at a standstill, legal mechanisms remain in place and new projects continue.(9) Although the Clinton administration focuses more resources than previous administrations on treatment rather than enforcement, substantial U.S. funding of overseas source country programs still supports the war against drugs in Latin America. The Andean nations of Peru, Bolivia, and Colombia continue to lead the world in cocaine production,(10) while the United States leads the world in cocaine consumption.(11) The United States also leads the international community in protesting the illicit production and trafficking of cocaine, and the supply-side international strategy still garnishes support among the U.S. public.(12)

   Bolivia's situation is representative of all the Andean countries' struggles with the cocaine trade. This Note uses Bolivia as a model to evaluate the legal mechanisms available to address the international drug trafficking problem. Part II traces the history of coca production, use, and legislation in Bolivia to shed light on part of the backdrop against which the international drug effort must be viewed. Part III explains the international involvement in Bolivia, including the international drug problem and the United Nations (hereinafter U.N.) response to it. Part IV evaluates this hemisphere's action against cocaine trafficking, focusing on U.S. involvement, bilateral treaties, and regional agreements. Part V suggests possible alternatives in law and policy for addressing the coca issue in Bolivia. The current international approach to cocaine trafficking is failing. This Note concludes that only a multilateral approach, with the greatest involvement by the Andean nations, will approach the necessary regional solution to the drug crisis.

2. COCA IN BOLIVIA

   To understand the complex framework of Bolivia's coca production and subsequent international concerns over it, coca itself must be considered as one factor among many. Bolivia's cultural, political, and economic traditions have allowed the coca industry to amass a strength rivaled only by international demand for coca and cocaine. Today, regulation of coca production permeates Bolivia's international relations.

   1. Does Bolivia Have a Cocaine Problem?

      This question can be answered both in the affirmative and the negative. Many Bolivians would respond that Bolivia has the problem of pressure imposed by the United States to curb coca production because of the U.S. cocaine epidemic. Domestically, however, cocaine abuse does not appear to pose a serious problem for the Bolivian population.(13) Yet, narco-trafficking activities threaten Bolivia's political and economic stability.

      Bolivia is the poorest country in South America, and, among Latin American countries, its poverty level is second only to that of Haiti.(14) With a per capita income of $770 a year, many Bolivian farmers have discovered a profitable industry in coca production, which yields about $475 an acre annually.(15) In contrast, crops such as bananas and grapefruit average from $35 to $250 a year, if buyers exist.(16) Although coca has been cultivated for centuries, the illicit coca phenomenon in Bolivia has existed, arguably, for only the last couple of decades.

   2. The Evolution of Coca in Bolivia

      Coca has been used in Bolivia for centuries, but not in the concentrated form of powder or rock cocaine that has given the coca leaf international notoriety in the last twenty years. Rather, ancient rituals and traditions involved chewing the coca leaf (acullico)(17) or drinking it in the form of tea (mate de coca). The Inca kings and nobility chewed coca leaves and the practice became widespread, especially among highland Bolivians and Peruvians.(18) Coca remained a valuable commodity throughout the Spanish invasion in the sixteenth century.(19) During colonial times, coca was used to pay slaves in the tin and silver mines.(20)

      Many traditions involving the coca leaf continue among the indigenous Bolivian populations, which consist mainly of Aymara and Quechua Indians.(21) Coca remains an integral part of Andean Bolivian culture. The leaf is used for medicinal purposes,(22) as an appetite and thirst suppressant,(23) to counter the effects of altitude sickness,(24) and often as the central focus of religious and cultural rituals.(25) In most rural areas of Bolivia, workers carry little pouches (k'intus) of coca leaves in their pockets.(26) Chewing coca is considered an important social skill; adults gather to chew it after meals and pause for coca breaks.(27) Coca serves an economic role even without the cocaine industry, functioning as a medium of exchange and as a deferred payment in many parts of the Andes.(28)

      Throughout the 1970s, however, the cultivation of coca shifted from mostly traditional subsistence farming to massive export-oriented coca production. This shift was not a spontaneous change in agricultural practices on the part of Bolivian coca farmers (cocaleros); rather, it resulted from a combination of political, economic, and social factors. Politically, Bolivia is one of only four nations in Latin America to have sustained a popularly based revolution.(29) In 1952, the political group known as the Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario (National Revolutionary Movement) gained power after an urban revolt.(30) The new government made significant changes that affected the country in many ways. The government nationalized about eighty percent of Bolivia's main industry, tin. It also implemented comprehensive agrarian reform. Broad agrarian reform efforts divided the old hacienda system and distributed land to Indian farmers.(31) As the old land structure collapsed, the working and peasant classes became politically mobilized.(32) Increased political power and massive income redistribution allowed these classes to participate more in Bolivia's political life and exert more pressure on the government.(33)

      Although the central government increased its formal powers after the 1952 revolution, the state remains weak against internal pressures.(34) Bolivia's weak central government can be traced historically to the Spanish colonial system and, more recently, to constant threats to its external and internal sovereignty.(35) While the Bolivian constitutional structures reflect the Spanish tradition, in which most political power resides in the chief executive and the administrative tools of the state, these branches have not been very powerful in Bolivia. The 1952 revolution furthered the lack of central political authority in Bolivia.(36)

      The weakness of Bolivia's central government can be explained by various factors. Relative to its size, Bolivia's overall population is small, mostly rural, and fragmented along racial, ethnic, and cultural lines. Also, Bolivia's dramatic topography divides it into three distinct regions, enhancing geographic and regional diversity, as well as inter-regional rivalry.(37) The lack of strong state institutions, coupled with regional diversity and autonomy in parts of Bolivia, arguably set the stage for later drug production to prosper.(38)

      Economic factors also contributed to the rise in export-oriented coca production in Bolivia. Since the Spanish colonial era, Bolivia's economy has been based on the export of minerals to foreign countries.(39) The decrease in international market prices for tin and natural gas in the 1970s and 1980s led to the decline of the highland economy and to high rates of unemployment. Many workers migrated from the highlands to the Chapare, where coca cultivation offered jobs and profits.(40) During the 1980s, the illegal coca economy surpassed the traditional legal coca market, launching Bolivia into the international drug trade.(41)

      Three areas of Bolivia yield most of its coca: the Yungas in La Paz, the Chapare in Cochabamba, and the Yapacani in Santa Cruz.(42) Ideal coca-growing climates and extreme poverty in these rural areas make them prime regions for coca production. Continuing rural poverty, combined with a lack of economic opportunities in the cities, perpetuates coca production among rural farmers.(43) About forty-two percent of Bolivia's seven million people live in rural areas, and of these, an estimated eighty percent suffer extreme poverty, according to the U.N. Development Program.(44)

      Primarily in response to U.S. pressures, Bolivian police have...