MORALES: LIMIT COCA GROWING

Likely President Says Farmers Should Have A Say In Control Of Crop

LA PAZ, Bolivia - Bolivia's presidential front-runner said Tuesday he would
not allow unlimited production of coca, the crop used to produce cocaine.

"There won't be the free cultivation of the coca leaf," Evo Morales said at
a news conference, where he also called on the U.S. government to enter an
agreement to "truly" fight drug trafficking.

Coca farmers should have a say in controlling the crop, he said, but left
unclear how that could be accomplished.

Morales, a leftist coca grower who campaigned against a U.S.-backed coca
eradication effort, gave few details about how he would control illegal
trafficking.

The government restricts coca production and has tried to carry out an
aggressive, U.S.-funded effort to limit the crop.

Morales said his drug policy will be "zero cocaine and zero drug
trafficking, but not zero coca or zero cocaleros."

He also said the government would study whether to increase the amount of
coca legally grown for traditional consumption. Current laws permit coca
cultivation in 29,000 acres of the Yungas valley and a small amount in the
Chapare region.

For thousands of years, people in the Andes have chewed coca to stave off
hunger, made it into tea or used it as medicine. Most is grown on small
family plots.

With 30 percent of the vote counted from Sunday's election, Morales had 48
percent, while conservative rival Jorge Quiroga had 35 percent, according
to the National Electoral Court.