INDIGENOUS LATIN AMERICANS PUSH FOR CHANGE IN COCA POLICIES

SAN FRANCISCO - A little green leaf is causing big changes in Latin
America.

To the U.S. government, the coca leaf is the central ingredient in
cocaine, a dangerous and profitable drug that needs to be eradicated
at its source: the coca fields of South America.

But to many Latin American indigenous people, the coca leaf is a
medicine which they say should not only be allowed for traditional
use, but rather promoted on the international market for its curative
benefits.

Bolivia's Aymaran president, Evo Morales, has led the way in the push
to return the coca leaf to its place as medicine, which it held in the
Andes for thousands of years.

Since taking office, he has reversed the U.S.-backed "zero coca"
policy and begun a new program that would eliminate cocaine production
but focus on developing coca as a medicinal and nutritional product
for the international market, with the goal of eventually
declassifying it in the United Nations as a narcotic.

In other countries where coca has formed a part of the traditional
diet and culture but is now used to feed the multi-million-dollar
cocaine market, indigenous people have found themselves going up
against national governments that have historically cooperated with
U.S.-backed eradication policies.

In May, indigenous groups in Colombia protested the government's
decision to limit the sale of legal coca products like drinks and
ointments that had previously been sold in commercial outlets
throughout the country to indigenous territories.

"The coca leaf and the traditional products that come from it are
aligned with the ancient culture of the indigenous people of Latin
America," healer Carlos Mamanche recently told the Venezuelan
television station Telesur. The medical uses of coca, he said, "are
thousands of years old, older than Colombia, older than the United
States who is behind all this."

U.S. government officials have complained that despite Plan Colombia,
more coca destined for cocaine production is being produced than ever
before.

On May 14, Native groups in Argentina presented a proposal to the
National Congress which would recognize coca on a national level for
its "importance in medicinal, nutritional, ritual, religious and
social value." They claim corrupt government officials look the other
way in sales of large amounts, but sellers of small amounts of coca
are penalized.

In Peru, some 60,000 families depend upon coca production -much of it
destined for the illegal market - for their livelihood. Efforts by
President Alan Garcia to toughen coca eradication policies in April
were met by resistance from coca farmers, who blocked roads in protest.

Peru, like Bolivia and Colombia, allows for the cultivation of the
coca leaf for traditional and medicinal use.

A 1975 Harvard study found that coca is rich in iron, phosphorous,
calcium, vitamin A and riboflavin. In 1995, the World Health
Organization recommended further study of its potential health benefits.

Traditionally, coca, a mild stimulant and appetite suppressant, was
one of the staples of the Incan and Aymaran culture. Spanish
missionaries called the plant an agent of the devil, but Spanish
landowners gave coca to the Indians they enslaved to make them work
harder.

Today, indigenous people in the Andes continue to consider "Mama Coca"
a sacred plant, a crucial part of a ceremony and ritual honoring
Mother Earth and the spirits of the mountains.

Coca leaves are chewed or allowed to dissolve in the mouth, and are
often combined with a mixture of an alkaline substance.

It is also used as a medicinal tea for stomach problems and altitude
sickness, and as an anesthetic for wounds.

Critics of the U.S. eradication program say attempting to stop cocaine
trafficking and addiction by eradicating coca is like eliminating
barley or grapes to stop alcoholism. They emphasize that the coca leaf
needs to be considered separately from cocaine in the international
arena.

U.S. government officials disagree.

"There's really only one good use for the coca leaf in economic terms,
and that's cocaine," the U.S. ambassador to Bolivia, Philip Goldberg,
told The Associated Press.

On his recent visit to Colombia, President Bush promised to add
billions more in coca eradication assistance to the $6 billion already
spent on Plan Colombia.

The United States consumes about 50 percent of the 600 metric tons of
cocaine produced annually.