BOLIVIA WINNING THE WAR AGAINST COCA PRODUCTION

Country Once Leading Supplier Of Narcotics To United States

SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia -- This Andean mountain nation in South America is
about to accomplish the unthinkable: eradicating commercial coca production
in a country that once was a major narcotics supplier to the United States.

Bolivian troops have uprooted the last 1,500 acres of coca plants in
Bolivia's southern Chapare region and are launching an offensive in the
north to effectively rid the nation by the end of 2002 of the plant from
which cocaine is manufactured, government officials said.

The program's success is the result of an enormous effort, backed by the
United States, over just a few years. But it has imposed a high social cost
on farmers deprived of livelihoods, a problem that could pose dangers as
the United States becomes more deeply involved in a much larger cocoa
eradication drive in Colombia.

"The accomplishments are so significant that they go beyond Bolivia. They
made Bolivia the one success story in getting out of the narcotrafficking
business," said Manuel Rocha, the U.S. ambassador to Bolivia.

Added Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., chairman of a House subcommittee on drug
policy that visited the country last week, "In the drug area, seldom do we
see the degree of success we have had in Bolivia."

In three years, Bolivia has wiped out more than 94,000 acres of coca plants
in the Chapare, Bolivia's southern, prime coca region.

President Hugo Banzer declared the Chapare coca-free on Feb. 21 during an
international anti-narcotics conference in Santa Cruz. He said that within
months efforts would begin in the Yungas, a high-altitude region northeast
of the capital La Paz, to eradicate some 4,200 acres.

That would leave about 4,900 acres intact for indigenous populations, who
for centuries have grown the plant for medicinal uses.

Bolivia has been able to carry out its eradication program because of a
firm political decision to change the image of the country as a drug state.
Banzer, a former dictator in the 1970s, named the effort Plan Dignity and
wrapped it in nationalism. The United States has contributed about $350
million to anti-drug efforts in Bolivia since 1993, most of it since 1997
when Plan Dignity began.

But the Banzer government has also had an easier job than its neighbors
have. It has not had to shoot its way onto farms or spray crop-killing
chemicals from helicopters while trying to avoid sniper fire. Instead,
troops have been able to march onto lands worked by poor peasant farmers
and uproot the coca.

Next door in Peru, former President Alberto Fujimori concentrated on
interdiction efforts instead of confronting the growers. Experts fear coca
is on the rebound there. In Colombia, leftist guerrillas waging a
decades-long civil war control a large swath of the coca regions. They are
widely believed to allow drug organizations to operate in their territory
in exchange for a cut of the illicit earnings to fund their war machine.

Bolivia's success will get close scrutiny in Washington, where the Clinton
administration last year committed the United States to a $1.6 billion
long-term military aid program called Plan Colombia. It provides Black Hawk
helicopters and other sophisticated military hardware for aerial spraying
to eradicate coca. It also provides financial assistance for Colombia's
Andean neighbors who may face refugee problems and the temptation to
produce more coca leaves to take advantage of higher prices.

Coca leaves are made into a paste and, with chemicals, transformed into a
base that can be sold as a block or further refined into a white powder.
The Andean countries last year produced between 740 and 850 metric tons,
mostly in Colombia. The United States received about 270-300 tons of that,
Europe about 140 tons and Latin America 40-80 tons.

President Bush has yet to announce a stance on Plan Colombia. But the harsh
economic and human rights consequences of Bolivia's coca eradication may
give some congressmen pause in the debate over U.S. anti-drug policy.

When the Plan Dignity eradication effort started in 1997, Bolivia, a
country of 8 million about the size of Texas and California combined, had
an estimated potential to produce enough coca to make 200 metric tons of
cocaine. Late last year that was down to 70 tons.

"The fact that eradication is doable has been established," Vice President
Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga said in an interview.

But now Bolivia worries the Bush administration and Congress will spend
money on coca producers like Colombia at the expense of economic
development projects in countries that have halted coca production. The
United States has given at least $37 million in alternative development
funding over the past three years, a level Quiroga and others want to see
maintained or increased to offset social costs of coca eradication.

Critics say the success in Bolivia has come with a lot of stick and very
little carrot. Human rights groups say the Bolivian military has often
abused farmers.

"They tie together our hands and our feet and hold us until they are done"
removing coca plants, said one Chapare coca farmer, afraid to use his real
name. The farmer, who was seconded by others who told of beatings, joined
more than 5,000 other "cocaleros" -- or coca farmers -- in protest outside
the Chimore air base in the Chapare region last week. Chanting "Coca or
Death," they prevented the Bolivian government from showing off eradication
successes to visiting international delegates of the anti-narcotics forum.