3 day trip to the Chapare region

We were lucky enough to be included in a tour to the largest coca growing region of Bolivia. The tour was sponsored by Omanaser, a public rights branch of the Maryknoll institute, that has been working with US and Bolivian governments and the coca growers unions to subdue conflicts that came to a head in the late eighties over coca production, resulting in deaths and injuries.

Here are a few interesting facts about coca:
The price paid to coca growers is 2% of the value of cocaine. (and we commercial fishermen are complaining!) Bolivia is the third poorest nation in the Western Hemishere. Nearly 30% of the populstion subsists on less than a dollar a day. Until the 1990's growing coca provided subsistence for approximately 45,000 Chapare families. The coca leaf has a long history of being used for a mild stimulant and appetite suppressant before it's use as an ingredient for cocaine. It plays an important role in Andean social and religious life. It is now legal for each member of the agriculture union to have about 1/4 acre of coca on thier farms. The "US War on Drugs" funded and continues to fund, military intervention and training for coca irradication. (We also visited a training facility) The tactics used have now been cooled down as human rights were being violated and there is no proof the tactics slowed down overall coca production in South America. (when the pressure is put on one area, coca is produced in a new area) The current president of Bolivia was the head of the coca growers union.