editorial comment paraphernalia has a solution: Plan Bolivia (or maybe Plan Andean, but surely, this is covered by the Monroe doctrine already....)

By Mark John

BRUSSELS, June 14 (Reuters) - Bolivia needs urgent international help to stop farmers turning to coca production as a political crisis distracts efforts to combat drugs, the head of the U.N. drugs office on Tuesday.

The impoverished Andean nation is the world's third largest producer of coca, which is used to make cocaine, and has seen a steady rise in coca planting over the past five years.

"We are very concerned about the situation in Bolivia," Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) told a news conference in Brussels.

"We strongly believe that the international community should engage in massive support to Bolivia," he added, calling for aid to help wean Bolivian growers from coca onto legal crops.

The UNODC's annual survey of coca production showed coca cultivation in Bolivia rose 17 percent in 2004. Its cocaine output rose 35 percent to 107 tonnes, still well behind Peru and Colombia, which remains the world's biggest producer.

Weeks of crippling protests by indigenous groups, labourers and miners forced former President Carlos Mesa to resign last week, the country's second leader in two years to be ousted by protests over who should own Bolivia's gas reserves.

His successor, Eduardo Rodriguez, has promised early elections and some calm appeared to return after protesters called a truce with his government at the weekend.

Costa said experiences in countries such as Afghanistan had shown that political instability frequently led to increased cultivation of illegal crops as authorities turn their attention to tackling the unrest and drugs policy becomes less effective.

"The weaker the government, the greater the amount of land cultivated," he said.

The UNODC urged Bolivian authorities to show more commitment to cutting coca cultivation and use international help to make alternative livelihood schemes available to more people.

Its report showed that the rise in coca planting in Bolivia and a 14 percent increase in Peru had contributed to an overall 3 percent increase in cultivation across the Andean region, offsetting a 7 percent drop in Colombia.

Costa played down the significance of the 2004 increase. He said data over the past five years did not suggest that U.S. anti-drug policies focusing on Colombia were leading to any long-term "spill-over" of production into Peru and Bolivia.

back | to top | full article >>