BOLIVIAN COCA LEAF GROWERS IN VAST PROTEST OVER ANTI-DRUG POLICY

VILLA TUNARI, COCHABAMBA, Bolivia, Sept 18 (AFP) -Thousands of unionized
coca leaf growers blocked the country's main highway Monday, angered at the
Bolivian government's anti-narcotics policy and plans to build a military
base in the region.

One of the organizers, leftist lawmaker Evo Morales, said the response to
the protest had been "excellent" with some 15,000 growers joining in the
ongoing protest.

Around 60,000 indigenous families in the area live by raising the coca
plant, the raw material from which cocaine is processed. The leaves are also
used as a non-narcotic traditional tea in many Andean countries.

"We are making our voice heard again, in favor of sovereignty, against the
Yankees who want to take control of our lands," Morales said, referring to
US aid to the Bolivian anti-drugs program.

Coca leaf growers had blocked traffic at different points along almost 300
kilometers (187 miles) of the highway linking the capital La Paz to central
Cochabamba and eastern Santa Cruz provinces.

Throughout the day, helicopters and planes of Bolivia's anti-drug force flew
over Villa Tunari, where some 6,000 families live. Just 50 kilometersmiles)
away is the Chimore military police base, the region's main base.

In the past three years, the government of President Hugo Banzer -- with the
enthusiastic support of the US government -- has destroyed almost 38,000
hectares (93,900 acres) of coca leaf, or about 90 percent of Bolivia's coca
crop, which thousands of farmers plant to eke out a subsistence income.

Morales said other rural workers and sympathizers around Bolivia had adhered
to the coca leaf growers protest cause Monday.

No clashes were registered with anti-drug forces, he noted.

"We are open to dialogue with the government but so far we have received no
invitation from the government for negotiations," he said.

The main thrust of the protest was for the Bolivian government to cancel
plans to build three new military bases for the anti-drugs fight.

The United States has contributed two million dollars for the base in the
Chapare region. Defense Minister Oscar Vargas said Monday that construction
on the first base would begin in October.

The coca leaf growers also are demanding the government guarantee prices for
substitute crops, and setting up a university with agronomy and
environmental studies in the area.

Bolivia is the world's number three coca leaf producer after Colombia and
Peru. The United States, the European Union and the United Nations have
pledged financial aid to help Bolivian coca leaf growers plant alternate
crops, including tea, bananas and pineapples.