LEGAL COCA IN BOLIVIA WOULD HURT U.S. WAR ON DRUGS

Official: Growing Source of Cocaine Against Treaty

LA PAZ, Bolivia - The president of Bolivia is considering a plan to resume
cultivation of the raw ingredient in cocaine in a remote jungle basin, a
move the U.S. government fears would undermine what is viewed as its most
successful anti-drug program in South America.

President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada is studying a proposal to allow
cultivation of coca in the Chapare region of central Bolivia to help calm
unrest among growers who have blockaded major highways and put their
support behind his political rival.

"We've begun serious dialogues with coca growers with the aim of combatting
drug trafficking and maintaining social tranquility," said Ernesto
Justiniano, the vice minister of social defense.

Justiniano said the program would hurt drug traffickers by giving the
government more control over what is now a clandestine industry in the
jungle lowlands.

U.S. officials staunchly oppose the proposal to allow each grower in the
area to plant one-fifth of an acre of coca, saying it would undermine the
$1.3 billion effort to eradicate coca plantations from the region over the
last six years.

"Our policy is very clear and it remains clear," said an official at the
U.S. embassy who spoke only on condition his name not be used. "Any
proposal that would legitimize or legalize any coca in the Chapare -which
is illegal - would be a violation of Bolivian law and a violation of
international treaties to which Bolivia is a signatory."