Contestation and collective coca in Bolivia against President Evo Morales

Thousands of rebel cocaleros organized a march and a collective cough munching a place in La Paz on Tuesday, Bolivia, in an unusual demonstration against the government of Evo Morales.

"We have been the court of this government", complained Sergio Pampa, leader of coca producers of Yungas in northern La Paz, one of the two cocalero unions in the country this is facing the government for a year.

Pampa said that the new coca law adopted at the end of 2017 "marks the break". The standard raises to 22,000 hectares the legal cultivation of the leaf for the traditional consumption and legalizes the coca of Chapare, political stronghold of Morales, where the fields of coca were until now not recognized by the law .

In the past, these struggles against eradication in Chaparein the center of the country were encouraged by the United States and they forged Morales' political career until they became president in 2006.

Tuesday's march was noisy but peaceful. When visiting the city center, the cocaleros stopped at the prison where their leader, Franklin Gutiérrez, is incarcerated for incitement to a demonstration resulting in the death of a policeman coca eradication brigade last year.

"Franklin is a political prisoner"he was read on posters.

The event ended with a gathering to claim the freedom of their leader and the coca growers started chewing coca. Chewing, as chewing is known, is a social, ritual and medicinal practices since pre-Hispanic times, this still prevails. It consists of keeping a bowl of coca in your mouth, sucking the juice to quell hunger, alleviating fatigue and treating stomach ailments. In its natural state, coca is a stimulant of light but it is not narcotic..

The acoustic day was realized by the coca growers in front of the US Embbady even before the split between the two unions.

No authority referred to the demonstration and there was also no police presence to avoid clashes like a year ago. A group of riot police kept a fence in the penitentiary door where the cocaleros stayed for a few minutes.

Last week, Morales highlighted its coca control policywho, he said, is peaceful and agrees with the unions to avoid any cultivation outside the authorized limits.

According to the authorities, Yungas producers do not respect the delimitation established by law.

With 24,000 hectares until 2017 according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)Bolivia ranks third in the world for coca and cocaine production, after Colombia and Peru.

More than 80,000 coca growers depend on coca, which according to UNODC, would have paid $ 374 million in 2017, 1% of GDP, not counting what cocaine generates.