HomeNewsBrief6 Arrested, 11 Wounded in Bolivia Coca Clashes
BRIEF

6 Arrested, 11 Wounded in Bolivia Coca Clashes

BOLIVIA / 4 JUN 2013 BY MARGUERITE CAWLEY EN

Ongoing clashes between coca growers and police over coca eradication in northwest Bolivia highlights the strained relationship between the security forces and the coca sector, although officials say they have now reached an agreement.

Six coca growers were arrested and 11 people were injured in clashes registered June 2 in Apolo, northwest of La Paz, as La Razon reports. The tensions come after 250 Joint Task Force (FTC) agents were deployed to Apolo to eradicate illegal coca crops, along with another 100 specially trained police responsible for providing control and surveillance.

As of part of their protests, coca growers reportedly set up a temporary roadblock, demanding that the eradication team withdraw from the area. They also kidnapped three FTC agents over the weekend, who have since been released. 

Similar confrontations were registered at the end of May, when a coca eradication team was met with armed resistance when entering Apolo. The government's top anti-drug official later said the violence was incited by Peruvian drug traffickers.

The government recently said that it had reached an agreement with Apolo's coca growers, in which only those cultivating coca within a designated area -- about 280 hectares -- would have their crops recognized as legal (Bolivian law allows for a certain amount of coca to be legally cultivated each year). Special cards would be given out to those cultivating coca within the designated area. 

InSight Crime Analysis

Bolivia allows coca to be grown legally on some 20,000 hectares, while President Evo Morales' administration has pledged to eradicate all cultivations that exceed that amount. La Paz department is an important hub for coca production, and tensions between growers and eradication teams, often made up of members of the security forces, have long existed. These recent aggressive clashes in Apolo could be one indication that the government faces a serious rift here between its eradication campaign and the coca sector. 

Morales relies on this sector for support and has previously encouraged coca growers to monitor each other in order to stay within legal limits. He also continues to push forward policies for commercializing legal coca products, allegedly as part of a strategy to combat drug trafficking, though there are signs that demand is not great enough to make it a viable industry.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

BARRIO 18 / 5 JUN 2023

After six months, the state of exception in Honduras has failed to significantly reduce gang violence and extortion.

EL SALVADOR / 13 DEC 2021

Efforts to reduce gang violence are often thought of as highly dependent on local conditions, but a recent report looks…

BOLIVIA / 29 DEC 2022

The US is losing allies in Latin America just as production of cocaine, fentanyl, and other synthetic drugs is going…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…