The Chapare mystery – El misterio del Chapare

Humberto Vacaflor writes in El Diario: The Chapare mystery The coca growers in Yungas were concerned that the quarantine prevented them from bringing the coca to the country’s markets, until they found a solution: they are going to apply all the biosafety protocols. The trucks will be disinfected with strict asepsis criteria and the producers…

Tensions Rise in Bolivia’s Chapare as Government Escalates Anti-Drug Operations

Max Radwin reports for InSight Crime: Officials from Bolivia’s interim government have stepped up drug trafficking operations over the last six months, but a focus on coca-producing communities in Cochabamba is creating tension with law enforcement that threatens to intensify. On April 23, thirteen members of a drug trafficking ring in the city of Entre Ríos,…

Political Blockades against Health – Bloqueos políticos contra Salud

El Diario reports: Minister Oscar Mercado Blockades for political purposes seek health catastrophe In the last hours, the demands of the protesters changed from requests for the relaxation of the quarantine to be able to work, to demands for resignation of authorities and advancement of the general elections The blockades caused by those related to…

Bolivia: honey, cocoa and spices – miel, cacao y especias

Editorial from El Diario: It is urgent to produce honey, cocoa and spices There is an urgent need to diversify our economy in various areas of production. Several decades ago, agricultural entrepreneurs held meetings to establish what items they could take on their own with a view to improving what they produced and, in many…

Cocaine and coronavirus

Gregorio Lanza writes in Pagina Siete: Conflicts, coca growers of the Chapare and coronavirus The leaders of the six coca producer federations in the tropics of Cochabamba rejected the entry of the Police into the region. One wonders, revenge? Provocation? Evo Morales’ instructions? or defense of drug production? Perhaps all together, however, if you analyze…