This is a jungle swamp in northern Bolivia. I am following two men who are taking me to their hidden cocaine factory. Bolivia is one of the worlds biggest producers of cocaine paste. A new indigenous government here is proclaiming a dramatic and successful strategy in the fight against the cocaine trade. I have come to speak to the people involved and see for myself if indeed the cocaine war is being won in Bolivia.
Roberto These are the coca leaves that we step on. And then the juice we get we mix it. Only after one hour. This is it, the paste.
Roberto told me that there no longer existed the huge Colombian run factories of the 90s but businesses were smaller now and run by local individuals. I asked if the new government had made things easier or harder..
Now. There is more control. Before the local landowners rented places like this. But they wont anymore. Now we have to do it without their knowledge. That’s why nobody must see our route here.
I left Roberto crushing coca leaves for the liquid that would soon travel to Miami, New York and London. Yet it is the alternative cultivation and the traditional use of the coca leaves, such as coca tea, and mate, that is at the heart of the new Bolivian governments policy.
Government Minister Felipe Casares
The Coca leaf to the Bolivian government is a cultural issue and part of our identity. Therefore we are obliged to dignify the coca leaf, because the coca leaf in its natural state is not a narcotic. And the coca leaf producers are not drug traffickers.
Severino – Coca farmer
Now with our new government, we are trying to legalise the coca leaf.
Maxima – coca farmer.
For us the coca leaf is sacred. We need it to buy clothes and other things. Without coca there is sadness in our lives. Its everything for us.
The new president of Bolivia Evo Morales used to be a coca farmer. His promise to legalize traditional coca growing has ensured massive popular support. The power base of the new government are the tens of thousands of militant coca farmers. But his slogan of Coca Yes and Cocaine no has also sceptism and worry.
Senator Rafael Loayez
If we have this very permissive policy of let the cocaleros grow the leaf, we are going to have another problem. No every cocalero has the right to grow their own cato, the communities and the families are making cocaine. We don’t have cartels, we don’t have terrorists, but we have this traffic that is very difficult to fight.
The United States are now pressuring Bolivia to avoid expanding coca leaf production. But according to the UN, the jungles of Bolivia are officially producing fewer tonnes of cocaine paste.Those being tasked in finding the jungle cocaine factories, are the Bolivian Counter Narcotic Commandoes, known as the FELCN.
These commandoes have a fearsome reputation. They also have a terrible human rights record against the cocalero farmers and Indigenous population.
Soldier Someone has dumped coca around here? You know where? But have you heard something about it eh?
Farmer in forest.
Maybe someone from this area knows, but we are not from here.
The irony for many of these soldiers is that their new president and commander in chief, was once a cocalero farmer and seen as enemy. Many of the soldiers told me they were sceptical of the policy of allowing more coca to be grown but they were given strict instructions not give their opinions to the press.
Later that day I accompanied the commandoes as they discovered a jungle cocaine factory.
Piece to Camera So this is what they have found the Bolivian commandos, a medium size cocaine base factory, the workers were not here when we got here.
Despite threats from the United States, which has reduced official aid, Bolivia is at a genuine cross roads in fighting cocaine production. From what I saw, tiny rural production farms still exist across the Bolivian jungles. But the bold nationwide plans of exploiting legal uses for coca, seem to be bearing fruit - both in reducing national cocaine production, and giving farmers a realistic and economic alternative.
Roberto These are the coca leaves that we step on. And then the juice we get we mix it. Only after one hour. This is it, the paste.
Roberto told me that there no longer existed the huge Colombian run factories of the 90s but businesses were smaller now and run by local individuals. I asked if the new government had made things easier or harder..
Now. There is more control. Before the local landowners rented places like this. But they wont anymore. Now we have to do it without their knowledge. That’s why nobody must see our route here.
I left Roberto crushing coca leaves for the liquid that would soon travel to Miami, New York and London. Yet it is the alternative cultivation and the traditional use of the coca leaves, such as coca tea, and mate, that is at the heart of the new Bolivian governments policy.
Government Minister Felipe Casares
The Coca leaf to the Bolivian government is a cultural issue and part of our identity. Therefore we are obliged to dignify the coca leaf, because the coca leaf in its natural state is not a narcotic. And the coca leaf producers are not drug traffickers.
Severino – Coca farmer
Now with our new government, we are trying to legalise the coca leaf.
Maxima – coca farmer.
For us the coca leaf is sacred. We need it to buy clothes and other things. Without coca there is sadness in our lives. Its everything for us.
The new president of Bolivia Evo Morales used to be a coca farmer. His promise to legalize traditional coca growing has ensured massive popular support. The power base of the new government are the tens of thousands of militant coca farmers. But his slogan of Coca Yes and Cocaine no has also sceptism and worry.
Senator Rafael Loayez
If we have this very permissive policy of let the cocaleros grow the leaf, we are going to have another problem. No every cocalero has the right to grow their own cato, the communities and the families are making cocaine. We don’t have cartels, we don’t have terrorists, but we have this traffic that is very difficult to fight.
The United States are now pressuring Bolivia to avoid expanding coca leaf production. But according to the UN, the jungles of Bolivia are officially producing fewer tonnes of cocaine paste.Those being tasked in finding the jungle cocaine factories, are the Bolivian Counter Narcotic Commandoes, known as the FELCN.
These commandoes have a fearsome reputation. They also have a terrible human rights record against the cocalero farmers and Indigenous population.
Soldier Someone has dumped coca around here? You know where? But have you heard something about it eh?
Farmer in forest.
Maybe someone from this area knows, but we are not from here.
The irony for many of these soldiers is that their new president and commander in chief, was once a cocalero farmer and seen as enemy. Many of the soldiers told me they were sceptical of the policy of allowing more coca to be grown but they were given strict instructions not give their opinions to the press.
Later that day I accompanied the commandoes as they discovered a jungle cocaine factory.
Piece to Camera So this is what they have found the Bolivian commandos, a medium size cocaine base factory, the workers were not here when we got here.
Despite threats from the United States, which has reduced official aid, Bolivia is at a genuine cross roads in fighting cocaine production. From what I saw, tiny rural production farms still exist across the Bolivian jungles. But the bold nationwide plans of exploiting legal uses for coca, seem to be bearing fruit - both in reducing national cocaine production, and giving farmers a realistic and economic alternative.