Coca, Cocaine, and the Bolivian Reality

This volume examines the impact of coca and the cocaine trade on Bolivia, the poorest and most vulnerable of the South American countries. Topics examined include coca growers who have organized to protect their livelihood; coca substitution programs that have provided no viable alternative; and the repressive legal and extralegal apparatus which has been mobilized against the growers. Surprising studies show how coca cultivation may be environmentally conservative and how it can underwrite traditional culture. At the same time, both politically and economically, Bolivian society has been transformed by coca and the cocaine trade and efforts to combat them. These efforts, concentrating on supply-side interdiction and coca eradication, have had negative impacts within Bolivia, have damaged the relationship between Bolivia and the United States, and have been ineffective in stemming the flow of cocaine to consuming countries.