HomeNewsBriefBolivia's Overflowing Coca Deposits Raise Debate
BRIEF

Bolivia's Overflowing Coca Deposits Raise Debate

BOLIVIA / 13 NOV 2015 BY ARRON DAUGHERTY EN

A debate on what to do with Bolivia's overflowing stores of seized coca highlights the Andean nation's unique relationship with the leaf and its approach to combating drug trafficking. 

Bolivian officials are saying the country's deposits for confiscated coca have reached their maximum capacity of 3 million pounds, reported La Razon.

Much of this storage space is rented, placing a burden on the budget of Bolivia's General Directorate of Coca Leaf and Industrialization (Digcoin). The head of Digcoin, Ricardo Albino Paniagua, has suggested either burning or composting the stored coca on military land. 

However, government officials have already voiced their opposition to the prospect of burning coca. 

"We can't burn it because of its sacred character," Rural Development Minister Cesar Cocarico said during a press conference. The minister agreed with the idea of composting seized coca leafs, but admitted it would take a lot more time and effort than burning them. 

Paniagua noted that previous composting projects have been unable to keep up with the quantity of seized coca.

InSight Crime Analysis

Bolivia's debate on how to dispose of the confiscated coca highlights the leaf's unique place in Bolivian society.

While it is common to think of coca only as the essential ingredient used to make cocaine, the plant has been cultivated in Bolivia since the time of the Incas and is used for a host of medicinal, nutritional and religious purposes. An estimated 30 percent of all Bolivians chew coca on a regular basis. Bolivia's President, Evo Morales, was once a coca farmer himself and head of the country's coca growers federation

SEE ALSO: Coverage of Bolivia

As a result, Bolivia's anti-drug policies look significantly different than those of the world's other main coca producers, Peru and Colombia. Bolivia currently allows 12,000 hectares of coca to be cultivated for traditional domestic markets and forbids eradicating illegal coca crops with herbicides and aerial fumigation. In contrast Colombia, the world's biggest coca producer, only recently stopped aerial fumigation.

Regulating coca production is arguably easier in Bolivia than in Colombia and Peru, where much of the coca is sown in territories controlled by armed rebel groups. Still, it is worth noting that Colombia is forecast to see its second straight year of dramatic increases in cultivation, while United Nations statistics show Bolivian production of the leaf is at its lowest in over a decade

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

COCA / 12 SEP 2023

President Gustavo Petro is seeking a radical shift in the way Colombia fights cocaine trafficking. But he may quickly run…

ARGENTINA / 7 MAR 2022

Paraguay has launched the biggest operation against cocaine trafficking and money laundering in its history, unleashing a scandal that has…

BOLIVIA / 23 SEP 2022

As world leaders met for the United Nations General Assembly, Latin American presidents expressed various concerns about organized crime.

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…