Bolivia Steps Up Fight against Drugs - Eurad

A €37,3 mill program

In April this year, UNODC and the Bolivian Government jointly launched a comprehensive six-year program in the country. Projects worth $3.1 million are already being implemented under the program, whose overall implementation will cost $47.9 million (€37,3 mill).

A comprehensive program

The program has six components: integrated development; prevention and treatment; the fight against organized crime; governance and combating corruption; crime prevention and criminal justice; and investigation, analysis and information.

UNODC will support the implementation of the country program, through which it aims to reinforce the Government's capacity to face the mentioned challenges in the long term.

High profile

The new representative of the UNs drug agency (UNODC Country Office) in Bolivia, César Guedes, was 23rd August welcomed at a ceremony held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and attended by the Bolivian President Evo Morales, State ministers, Government officials and members of the international community.

President Morales welcomed the strengthened presence of UNODC to provide technical assistance against drug trafficking, organized crime and corruption, and encouraged the international community to cooperate more closely with his country in countering the drug problem on the principle of shared responsibility.

The coca farmer

When Morales was speaking at a meeting of the U.N. Committee on Narcotic Drugs in March 2009, he urged the delegation to correct the "historical mistake" that had banned the coca plant. To demonstrate his view of the plant as harmless, he held up a coca leaf and claimed it not to be harmful.

To demonstrate, Morales put the leaf in his mouth and began chewing. – This is a coca leaf. This is not cocaine, president Evo Morales said at the time. Morales was previously the leader of a coca farmer union.

A balancing act

It seems obvious from these two events that the Bolivian President is doing a balancing act; on the one hand to remain popular in his constituency while at the same time being cooperative and supportive of international supply and demand reduction strategies.

For the UNODC this agreement is probably important in order to counter the notion that Morales is fundamentally challenging the international control regime, which he is clearly not.

(Picture of Morales is taken from Radiobras /Agência Brasil)