BOLIVIA STRUGGLING WITH PRICE OF FIGHTING COCA

Economies dependent on illegal crop have few alternatives

CHIMORE, Bolivia - Coca leaf farmers recently dynamited sections of the
mountain road connecting the Bolivian capital, La Paz, with the northern
Yungas region, causing a landslide of rocks and boulders - a natural road
blockade.

A U.S. military helicopter was shot at last month, injuring one soldier.

Violent acts of protest such as these are on the rise in Bolivia's
coca-growing regions as the country moves very close to eradicating all of
its illegal coca as part of the global "war on drugs."

At the root of much of these protests is the lack of economic alternatives
for coca farmers and rising human-rights abuses, the growers'
representatives say.

"While we have eradication of coca without real alternative development,
there will be more unemployment, more growing of coca, more violence," said
Evo Morales, a leader of the coca growers and a Bolivian congressman.

The term "alternative development" refers to infrastructure and
agro-industrial projects that have taken place in Bolivian coca-growing
regions in order to move their economies away from a dependence on coca, the
raw material for making cocaine.

Since the Bolivian government began its "Dignity Plan" to eradicate coca in
1998, it has succeeded in reducing coca, experts say. But it has made only
limited progress in advancing alternative development.

Bolivia was once the world's leading producer of coca for processing into
cocaine. According to government figures, nearly 87 percent of Bolivia's
exports at the end of the 1980s was coca.

Today, Bolivia has fallen to third among the world's producers of coca for
cocaine: Colombia now supplies 70 percent of the world's cocaine, and Peru
is the second-leading producer.

Last year, Bolivia reduced by an astounding 68 percent its coca-growing
capacity in the Chapare region, its main coca-growing area, located near the
city of Cochabamba. The government says it should eliminate all remaining
coca in the Chapare, about 12,050 acres, by the end of this year.

An estimated 5,000 acres of coca are scheduled for elimination next year in
the Yungas region, along with 750 acres in the northwestern Apolo region.

By 2002, the government will allow just 30,000 acres of coca crops to remain
in the Yungas for legal uses such as tea and chewing.

The government allows some coca to be legally grown because it has long been
a part of Bolivian culture. Locals say that a tea called mate de coca is a
cure for numerous ailments, from stomach viruses to altitude sickness to the
common cold. Other Bolivians chew coca for the mild energy boost it gives
them.

But while the eradication of illegal coca has been successful, Bolivian
government statistics show that 94.6 percent of the estimated 185,000 people
in the Chapare are now living in desperate poverty. Thousands of Quechua and
Aymara Indian farmers are out of work due to coca eradication.

Miguel Zambrana, owner of Chapare Export, which exports bananas to
Argentina, employs more than 200 people on his plantations in the Chapare.
Nine years ago his business received seed funding from the U.S. Agency for
International Development; it is considered one of the alternative
development success stories.

But Mr. Zambrana says that despite the enormous potential of the Chapare as
a profitable agricultural zone for exporting pineapple, papaya, and other
fruits, few other examples of successful alternative development exist.

"None of the money currently for alternative development - which is not that
much - goes to the people living in the Chapare. It is going to high
salaried consultants," Mr. Zambrana said. "We need a development bank set up
to help the people."

U.S. officials say that existing alternative development efforts are
working.

"It has taken many years of research and investment by Bolivian and
international donors to develop successful alternative crops for the
Chapare. But for farmers and investors willing to make the effort, great
opportunities exist," said the U.S. ambassador, Donna Hrinak, in a prepared
statement.

Edmundo Espinoza, a director of Bolivia's Vice Ministry on Alternative
Development, said that funds are used for technical assistance to farmers
and for building infrastructure.

"There is still poverty all over the Chapare," Mr. Espinoza said. "But at
least some people there now have electricity, running water, schools and
roads."

Human-rights groups also say that Bolivia's government - whose elected
president, Hugo Banzer, ruled the country as a right-wing dictator from 1971
to 1978 - is relying on strong-arm tactics to eradicate the coca.

They say that in Bolivia's rush to meet U.S. certification - required by
U.S. law in order to receive foreign aid and multilateral bank loans - its
military has led a brutal crackdown in the Chapare, leading to thousands of
arrests and numerous human-rights violations.

"The Chapare has been militarized. Homes are illegally searched; people are
being illegally detained and tortured," said Veronica Ramos, a spokesperson
for the Cochabamba group Permanent Assembly for Human Rights.

The U.S. State Department Human Rights Report for Bolivia in 1999 noted that
"there were credible reports of abuses by police, including use of excessive
force, petty theft, extortion and improper arrests. Investigations of
alleged official abuses were slow."

Bolivian officials assert that coca eradication must be accompanied by
greater support from the United States and Europe for economic alternatives
to coca.

"We need the U.S. and Europe to help us more with the alternative
development programs. We have some, but we need more because the coca
eradication is progressing rapidly," said Vice President Jorge Quiroga.

Nearly all of the $67 million in U.S. financing for Bolivia's
coca-eradication program last year went toward removing coca, fighting drug
traffickers and funding the Bolivian military. Last year, the United States
also approved special funding for three new military bases in the Chapare.

Mr. Quiroga estimates that Bolivia needs about $60 million more per year for
successful alternative development.

Meanwhile, until alternatives prosper, Evo Morales insists there will be
more, not less, coca growing.

"Coca has a big illegal international market," Mr. Morales said. "And when
you eradicate the coca, the price of coca goes up."

Jimmy Langman is a free-lance journalist based in Santiago, Chile.