Do Bolivia's roaming cocaine bars mean Evo Morales is a drug lord?

Fri, 08/21/2009 - 2:55pm

In the Guardian, Jonathan Franklin provides a first-hand look at "cocaine tourism" in Bolivia:

"Tonight we have two types of cocaine; normal for 100 Bolivianos a gram, and strong cocaine for 150 [Bolivianos] a gram." The waiter has just finished taking our drink order of two rum-and-Cokes here in La Paz, Bolivia, and as everybody in this bar knows, he is now offering the main course. The bottled water is on the house.

The waiter arrives at the table, lowers the tray and places an empty black CD case in the middle of the table. Next to the CD case are two straws and two little black packets. He is so casual he might as well be delivering a sandwich and fries. And he has seen it all. "We had some Australians; they stayed here for four days. They would take turns sleeping and the only time they left was to go to the ATM," says Roberto, who has worked at Route 36 (in its various locations) for the last six months.

Franklin reports that in addition to the low prices a number of reasons conspire to make Bolivia the perfect location:

This new trend of 'cocaine tourism' can be put down to a combination of Bolivia's notoriously corrupt public officials, the chaotic "anything goes" attitude of La Paz, and the national example of President Evo Morales, himself a coca grower.

While the rest of the article is great, I'm not sure about the "national example" factor of Morales. I'm pretty sure the president is not selling his crops for processed cocaine. Morales did want to destigmatize coca crops when he won the presidency, but it was to restore the leaf's role in Bolivia's cultural heritage, not to give the thumbs up to full scale cocaine production. 

Obviously more coca crops make more cocaine much easier, but I wouldn't quite say Morales is explicilty in approval. 

AIZAR RALDES/AFP/Getty Images

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Evo Morales = Drug Lord

by lorenzo1811 on Sat, 08/22/2009 - 2:17pm

Coca production in the Chapare, a non-traditional coca growing region and source zone for Bolivian cocaine, continues to sky rocket. The coca leaf from the Chapare is not recognized as adequate for chewing and/or making tea. Morales continues to maintain his position as the head of the coca growing federations (while President of Bolivia) that cultivate the crop in this area.

Morales recently accepted 20,000 kilograms of donated Chapare coca leaf from his MAS party contituency to support his second presidential campaign. The sale of the leaf will pay for the campaign, but who will be purchasing it and what will it be used for?

Last year, Morales booted the U.S. Ambassador and the DEA from Bolivia. Now his MAS party contituency are reportedly driving brand new SUV's, have the latest in cable television hook-ups and even ATM's out in the very rural source zone. Bolivia's neighbors report greater amounts of cocaine entering their countries.

Morales may not be selling kilos out of the Presidential Palace, but is he complicit and the force behind Bolivia's new status as a narco-state? Absolutely!

Bolivia's foolish consistency

by FreeMarketeros.com on Thu, 08/27/2009 - 2:01pm

Bolivia's foolish consistency in making Bolivia more of a narco-state is almost as bad as his poor choice of promoting of a centralized command economy. People's desire to make a life for themselves irrespective of the government's broken promises to build a utopian society is so strong that ladies resort to renting babies to one another to facilitate panhandling. Read about it here: http://tinyurl.com/luorra

About the coca growing: If Morales would just be more open to some of the reforms that have made Chile more prosperous, he wouldn't have to spend so much effort on pet industries such as coca growing, which in large scale must be considered part of the region's drug supply network. If a narco state is what he wants, he'll have to suffer the reputational consequences of fewer international ties. And, he'll have to resort to making trade agreements with Brazil to make up for lost trade with the U.S., instead of making deals that are a net gain.

Clearly, the two mistakes of having socialism as an economic system, and turning a blind eye to drug production, are the result of ideology.

Lobby campaign for Tóásó El?d, held in prison San Pedro, Bolivia

by freeelod on Tue, 09/15/2009 - 7:19am

Pls help us to set him free from Morale's hands!!!

Free El?d Tóásó!
Action plan
Download in English: http://www.toasoelod.com/en_kerelem_ok.pdf Download in
Spanish: http://www.toasoelod.com/es_kerelem_ok.pdf (Sing this)
We would like to send 100,000+ signed petitions to the Bolivian president
Evo Morales asking him to set free the innocently jailed El?d Tóásó.
The Bolivian president has the right and powers to let El?d home.
Please contribute to this noble initiative. Print out the Spanish petition,
sign it, and send it by post to president Evo Morales to the address shown
in the header. The Hungarian and English letters are for information
purposes only. Please sign and send the Spanish version only.
Come, join our campaign, and make another 10 copies to be signed by your
friends, family and other contacts.
Please send the signed letters to the Evo Morales president directly to the
phisical address. The address is the first 6 collumns in the letter.
Thank you very much for your help and voluntary work!
Edit Tóásó, the sister of El?d
E-mail: toasoedit@toasoelod.com
Mobile (voice&SMS): +36-20 530-1597
Skype: denesedit