It seems the U.S. has been trying to eradicate the growing of coca plants in Bolivia, but the Bolivians aren't standing for it.
<a href='http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=15291' target='_blank'>Full article</a>Former Bolivian presidential candidate Evo Morales threatened to launch a campaign to overthrow the government if it does not respond Tuesday to demands by coca farmers who have been manning a roadblock on the country's main highway for the past week.
President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada did not rule out the possibility of declaring a state of siege to clamp down on the sporadic attempts by small farmers from the central coca-producing region of Chapare to block traffic on the highway that connects the cities of Cochabamba and Santa Cruz, the hub of the country's commercial activity.
But peasant leader and parliamentarian Morales, with the leftist Movement Towards Socialism (MAS), warned that he could call for ''civil disobedience'' if the government decides to declare a state of emergency in response to the farmers' demands for more land for growing coca, the raw material used to produce cocaine, but also used here for traditional medicinal and ritual purposes.
Sánchez de Lozada accused Morales of inciting ''sedition'', trying to ''destroy democracy,'' and ''distract public opinion,'' besides hurting the possibility for economic growth and the implementation of a job-creation plan this year as a result of the continued roadblocks.
At least 19 demonstrators have died and hundreds have been arrested since Jan 13 in clashes with the more than 7,000 police and military troops sent by the government to keep order in Chapare.
<a href='http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10519611/' target='_blank'>Full article</a>Bolivia’s socialist presidential candidate Evo Morales, who has promised to become Washington’s “nightmare,” said his victory was assured in Sunday’s elections after two independent exit polls showed him with an unexpectedly strong lead.
If the projected margin holds, Morales, a coca farmer who has said he will end a U.S.-backed anti-drug campaign aimed at eradicating the crop used to make cocaine, will likely be declared president in January over his conservative opponent.
So should the U.S. let them have their coca plants?
Is the U.S. war on drugs dead?
<a href='http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/hem ... meduse.htm' target='_blank'>Medical uses for coca plant</a>