SMALL-SCALE COCA FARMERS SERVE TRADITIONAL MARKETS

Re: "Leftist claims election victory in Bolivia," Dec. 20.

The article stated that Evo Morales' "apparent victory did not mellow
his crusade against U.S. coca-eradication efforts." This statement
appears to paint Morales as a cocaine drug lord or at least a sympathizer.

I met with Morales during my visit to Bolivia last summer. There is a
vast difference between the small-scale coca farmers whom Morales
represents and the large-scale purveyors of coca for cocaine who are
the legitimate targets for U.S. coca-eradication efforts in
neighbouring countries.

The raw coca leaf is not the same as the refined cocaine product and
the Bolivian people use the leaf in its raw form for various
nutritional, medicinal and cultural purposes. They are allowed to
cultivate small family coca plots to sell the leaves in the local
market for traditional uses that have longstanding cultural value to
the Bolivians and people in other Andean countries.

Morales is crusading against the blanket eradication of all coca
farming because he supports the cultural use of the leaf in the
native lifestyle but he does not support the large-scale farmers who
grow coca for cocaine production and and he has stated he will not
legalize cocaine.

A skeptic might assume that the only way to stop cocaine is to
eradicate all coca farming but this is like saying that the only way
to stop alcoholism is to prohibit alcohol. The American
one-size-fits-all solution discriminates against the indigous people
of Bolivia who elected Morales.

Nancy Stuart,

Victoria.