You turn to us for voices you won't hear anywhere else.

Sign up for Democracy Now!'s Daily Digest to get our latest headlines and stories delivered to your inbox every day.

“Coca and the Congressman” – A New Documentary on Bolivia and the Plight of Coca Growers

StoryAugust 07, 2003
Watch Full Show
Listen
Media Options
Listen

Related

The U.S. pressured the Bolivian government to declare a war on coca and the people who grow it. Evo Morales, the most powerful opposition leader in Bolivia and the first coca grower to be elected to congress is fighting back.

Bolivia’s embattled president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada secured a majority coalition in Congress on Tuesday.

The alliance with the New Republican Force, one of the biggest opposition groups, gives the ruling coalition enough votes to pass most laws and approve state appointments.

Bolivia is the world’s third-biggest producer of coca, the leaf used to make cocaine.

Pressured by the U.S. the white-dominated Bolivian government has declared war on coca and the people who grow it — known as cocaleros. Two thirds of Bolivia’s population is indigenous.

Bolivian governments since the 1990s have hacked down and uprooted thousands of acres of coca plants, mostly in the Chapare region.

In 1997, Evo Morales was the first cocalero elected to congress. Morales is the leader of the Movement Toward Socialism party. He organized blockades and closed highways to protest government policies toward coca growers winning concessions from the government.

In January 2002, the white-dominated Congress expelled Evo. He ran for president a year ago coming in second, just one percent behind the winner. He remains the most powerful opposition leader in Bolivia.

  • “Coca and the Congressman” — Documentary about coca growers in Bolivia. The excerpt is the leader of the Movement Toward Socialism party Evo Morales giving a radio interview in Bolivia.
  • Jon Alpert, filmmaker and founder of Downtown Community Television center. He is recently back from Bolivia where he produced and directed the film “Coca and the Congressman” about the coca growers of Bolivia.
  • Matthew O’Neil, director of programs and a producer at the Downtown Community Television center.
  • Kathryn Ledebur, Director of the Andean Information Network and a consultant for the Washington Office on Latin America speaking from Cochabamba, Bolivia.

Related Story

Web ExclusiveJun 27, 2024Failed Coup in Bolivia: Army Chief Arrested After Leading Troops in Attack on Government Palace
The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top