HaCKeRz KrOnIcKLeZ 3/HaCKeRz_KrOnIcKLeZ.iso/drugs/coca.plant.in.danger

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From: [e-mail] (Dennis McClain-Furmanski)
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
Subject: Coca Plant In Danger?
Date: 5 Jan 1995 18:24:55 GMT
Message-ID: <3ehdhn$[e-mail]>

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DOCUMENT: COCA.TXT


                     U N I T E D    N A T I O N S

     Economic and Social Council            ENGLISH
     Distr.                                 Original: SPANISH
     GENERAL
     E/CN.4/Sub.2/AC.4/1993/6               GE. 93-14223 (E)
     9 July 1993


     COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS

     Sub-Commission on Prevention of
     Discrimination and Protection of Minorities
     Working Group on Indigenous Populations

     Eleventh session
     19-30 July 1993
     Item 5 of the provisional agenda


        REVIEW OF DEVELOPMENTS PERTAINING TO THE PROMOTION AND
        PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS OF
                         INDIGENOUS POPULATION
             Information received from indigenous peoples'
                  and non-governmental organizations


         INFORMATION SUBMITTED BY THE "TUPAY KATARI" MOVEMENT

                  COCA: AN ANDEAN CULTURAL TRADITION


                             I. BACKGROUND

     1. The coca plant is as old as man. The cultivation and
     consumption of its leaves, which were considered sacred by
     pre-Columbian civilizations goes back over 4,000 years. Of
     greatest significance is the fact that over time the shrub
     has become an integral part of Andean culture and today, as
     in the past, it represents the material and spiritual force
     underlying the identity of the indigenous peoples.

     2. In the Andes no plant is more appreciated and valued by
     the Indians than the coca plant. The natives of the
     Tahuantinsuyo Empire which included Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador
     and northern Argentina planted it just as the vine is
     cultivated in Europe. Historical record has shown that the
     coca plant, which has been cultivated since time immemorial,
     has always been omnipresent in the indigenous universe and
     that it has not only enriched their ancestral traditions but
     symbolized their vigorous resistance to colonial domination
     and subjection.

     3. Since the Spanish conquistadors identified it as one of
     the essential elements of the magical, religious and
     medicinal ritual of Andean tradition and as a factor that
     permitted the conquered Indians to maintain their cohesion
     and resistance, coca has always been persecuted and combated
     as a "diabolic weed". Within the ethnocentric view of the
     European colonizers, the mysterious leaf employed in rituals
     and religious offerings to the Sun and Mother Earth hindered
     the conversion of the indigenous peoples to Christianism.
     The first adversaries of the coca plant appeared and
     proposed its straightforward eradication under the pretext
     of ensuring the salvation of indigenous souls.

     4. Throughout the centuries the coca leaf has been attacked
     and defended from all sides. It was attacked by the
     colonizers as part of a process of cultural alienation and
     by the Inquisition, behind which hid the ferocious appetites
     for gold, silver and all the wealth that slumbered in the
     depths of the Andes. Despite the inestimable contribution by
     the pre-Columbian civilizations to old Europe in the form of
     a number of valuable plants such as the potato, maize, the
     tomato, okra, cotton, the chili pepper, quinoa and certain
     varieties of bean, paradoxically coca is singled out for
     discrimination. However, the aboriginal peoples identify
     with the coca plant - a living expression of Andean culture
     - and by defending it they have always defended the rights
     of the Andean people to preserve their millennial traditions
     and values.

                         II. ANDEAN TRADITIONS

     5. Within the aboriginal peoples' way of life, the coca leaf
     is not a commodity in the Andean world nor does it possess
     any commodity value in social relations. The fundamental
     role of the shrub, with its mythological connotations, is as
     a nexus integrating and assuring the social cohesion of
     indigenous families and communities (ayllus); throughout
     their lives it is present as a symbol of fraternity,
     solidarity, community spirit, mutual comprehension and
     reciprocal tolerance among the members of the vast empire of
     Tahuantinsuyo.

     6. Coca has also played and continues to play a role in
     mediating conflicts, as a factor of reconciliation towards
     peace and peaceful communal work and finally as a medium for
     transactions and deferred payment.

     7. In connection with its spiritual function, the sacred
     leaf of the Incas has been used for millennia by the Indians
     in ceremonial and ritual acts to express respect and
     gratitude to their gods and to Mother Earth for having
     provided them with the means of subsistence for life to
     continue.

     8. In the Indian world view the coca leaf also acts as a
     natural nexus for the balance between nature and the people
     of the Andes; between labour - the barometer of their human
     dignity - and rational enjoyment of their natural resources.
     These peoples' harmonious development of a society which was
     the most advanced and best organized of its time is a source
     of inspiration today for all those struggling for the
     survival of the Earth and of its vegetable and animal
     diversity.

     9. Among the manifold social functions performed in
     traditional relations by coca, it inspires native
     hospitality and generosity. It is the Indian's companion,
     whether he is a miner or a labourer, from the cradle to the
     grave. At times of physical and moral exhaustion, despair
     and suffering, the small green leaves not only quell the
     pangs of hunger, sadness and suffering, but like a pick-me-
     up and a tonic they revitalize the Indians' resistance to
     the vicissitudes of time, to the hard labour on arid soils
     and the exploitation in mines, and provide them with comfort
     better to support their status as a vanquished people,
     discriminated against, exploited and affronted in their
     dignity.

     10. Furthermore, within the Andean civilizations' millennial
     tradition, the coca plant has served as a spiritual and
     material factor, as a source of knowledge and intuition for
     the indigenous populations, thanks to which they were able
     to diagnose and cure numerous illnesses, to foretell the
     fate and destiny of the ayllus in the noble coca leaves and
     predict natural occurrences (hail, frost, etc.) in order
     better to prepare and adapt themselves to the rigors of the
     weather.

     11. Consequently, it is impossible to imagine the native
     Andean Indians without their plant, which enshrines so much
     respect and veneration. By virtue of its profound mystical
     and mythical significance in religion, culture, health and
     work, the coca leaf is a powerful symbol of Indian identity
     and thus irreplaceable by any alternative crop. Those who
     try to eradicate coca are guilty of undermining the very
     foundations of the Andean cultural heritage, of uprooting
     ancestral traditions and promoting the overbearing
     penetration of Western so-called "civilization".


                       III. THE VIRTUES OF COCA

     12. In the light of the research carried out and confirmed
     by daily experience, one may assert that the coca plant is
     essentially a medicinal plant par excellence, whose
     preventive and therapeutic properties have demonstrated
     their effectiveness throughout time.

     13. According to research, the chemical composition of coca
     leaves is more complete and rich in calories, proteins,
     fats, carbohydrates, fibre, ash, minerals (calcium,
     phosphorous, iron, potassium, magnesium, sodium, ascorbic
     acid, etc.) and vitamins A, C and E than other food plants
     and infusions in common use such as coffee, tea, camomile,
     etc. Thanks to this research, it is nowadays recognized that
     the coca leaf contains more proteins (19.9 per cent) than
     meat (19.4 per cent) and far more calcium (2,191 per cent)
     than condensed milk, and that it is richer in vitamin B-1
     (276 per cent) than fresh carrots (see, Carter and Mamani,
     Coca in Bolivia, 1980).

     14. It is not by chance that the plant has acquired a broad
     and diverse range of applications in the traditional
     medicine of the indigenous people. Its irreplaceable
     qualities have been demonstrated over time and throughout a
     vast territory. The coca leaf has established itself as the
     traditional remedy for treating physiological and
     psychological illness, and by virtue of its composition it
     is a powerful energy restorer for curing stomach and
     digestive ailments, alleviating affections of the larynx and
     vocal chords, preventing vertigo, regulating arterial
     pressure and the metabolism of carbohydrates, and even of
     improving sexual prowess.

     15. Finally, a direct link has been established between
     man's hunger, his physical and moral fatigue and the
     traditional use of coca, which ranges from chewing, through
     infusions to poultices. Under extreme poverty, characterized
     by malnutrition and by disease due essentially to lack of
     calories and vitamins, the chemical composition of coca not
     only allows indigenous people to withstand cold and hunger,
     but also provides them with a valuable source of vitamins
     and energy.

     16. In this respect, foreign tourists are even more aware
     than the Indians themselves of the value of coca as the
     basis of an excellent herbal tea for controlling altitude
     sickness (soroche) and adapting to the climate of the
     fascinating Andean altiplano. It is significant that during
     a visit to Bolivia, Pope John Paul II consented to drink
     coca tea and implicitly acknowledged the virtues of the
     sacred leaf of the Incas.


                 IV. CONFUSION BETWEEN COCA AND DRUGS

     17. Firstly, it is necessary to stress and distinguish the
     fundamental difference between chewing coca in the Andean
     setting and the unlawful use of cocaine in the West. In a
     speech made in 1992 before the annual Assembly of the World
     Health Organization, the President of the Republic of
     Bolivia, Mr. Paz Zamora referred to these confused and
     contradictory interpretations and observed that "coca is an
     Andean tradition while cocaine is a Western habit" (Tribune
     de Geneve, 7 May 1992).

     18. Undoubtedly the consumer countries deliberately
     assimilate the leaf with its profound significance and the
     reviled drug, condemned by indigenous peoples but avidly
     consumed by westerners in the form of cocaine, whose
     perverse effects are destroying the health of present and
     future generations in the consumer societies. In the view of
     the adversaries of coca, trapped by their own logic of
     supply and demand, coercion is sufficient to control drug
     addiction: i.e. eradicating the plant to the detriment of
     the survival of an ancestral Andean tradition.

     19. Secondly, by virtue of its properties in medicine,
     health and work, the traditional form of coca leaf
     consumption is neither harmful nor injurious to the
     organism, unlike caffeine, tannin and nicotine which have
     spread and achieved universal recognition.

     20. In contrast with growing alcohol and tobacco
     consumption, the traditional use of coca in its manifold
     forms is not and never has been a form of drug addiction,
     but a natural indigenous custom which it is possible to give
     up without producing any narcotic syndrome. No one can
     claim, in the absence of scientific proof to the contrary,
     that the Quechua and Aymara Indians, particularly in Peru
     and Bolivia, who have been chewing the sacred leaf of their
     ancestors since time immemorial, have become drug addicts.

     21. Consequently, the indigenous coca producing populations
     have every reason to be indignant about the lack of logic in
     the contradictory arguments of the Western countries, which
     maintain that the perverse effects of the drug in their rich
     societies can be controlled without eradicating the
     economic, social and moral factors that have engendered one
     of the West's greatest scourges.

     22. The adversaries of Andean culture, who condemn the coca
     plant, with a glass of whisky in one hand and a cigarette in
     the other, clamour for its eradication and treat its
     producers as pariahs should give a plain answer to the
     following questions: If alcoholism is one of the greatest
     scourges in Europe and responsible for the slow
     extermination of the indigenous populations in America, why
     is the cultivation of the vine not eradicated, even though
     the vine incarnates one of the elements of the old world's
     identity? Since the tobacco habit is responsible for a huge
     number of victims in consumer societies, why is it
     impossible to prohibit the growing of tobacco? Obviously, no
     answers will be forthcoming.

     23. However, there is one irrefutable observation that needs
     to be emphasized: was it not the gringo, the white man, for
     whom gold, plants and even cultural artifacts embody
     mercantile and monetary value who disembarked on Indian land
     and transformed the coca leaf, which contains 1 per cent of
     cocaine among its 14 alkaloids, into an illicit commodity.
     The chemical processing of the leaves of the plant, with
     their extremely varied therapeutic properties, into a hard
     paste and the preparation and consumption of cocaine in the
     West is part of the logic of the renowned market economy,
     and like any commodity, is determined by capitalism's
     economic laws of supply and demand.

     24. In the light of economic reality, we have every right to
     assert that the causes of this contemporary scourge are not
     to be found in the Andean countries nor are they the fault
     of the Indians, who are usually blamed. The true causes must
     be sought in the huge drug markets, in the insatiable
     economic and financial interests run by international and
     multinational mafias, among those reaches of society nagged
     by anxiety, by the constant fear of losing the rat race and
     by despair. Finally, questions must be raised about the
     attitude and complicity of the dependent countries' ruling
     classes whose leaders only yesterday hypocritically viewed
     coca as a means of depraving the Indians and then
     shamelessly accepted the leftovers from the huge earnings of
     the unlawful traffic generated by the West.

     25. The paradox is that the United States of America, which
     declared war on coca plantations, condoned the coup d'etat
     carried out in the 1980s in Bolivia by the military-drug
     traffickers, and nowadays in the name of democracy stand
     surety for the policy of corrupt Governments and bestow
     their generosity on regimes run by veritable mafias.

     26. In this context, the cocaine consuming countries have
     been caught up in the web of their own economic liberalism
     and are the victims of their own way of life, morals and
     license by which everything is permitted, except the
     preservation of human dignity. As a result they have no
     answer to the question of how to eradicate from a sick
     social body those once accepted pernicious habits, and they
     are even less able to find a remedy to restore the social
     and moral balance of those excluded from the consumer
     societies.

     27. Meanwhile, the indigenous populations have for centuries
     been suffering from the curse of their own wealth: in the
     past they suffered from the curse of gold and silver and
     nowadays they are the victims twice or even thrice over of
     their coca plant, international crime, the pillaging of
     their coca plantations, the military occupation of their
     territories and the violation of their national sovereignty,
     as well as suffering repression and affront to their
     dignity. For this reason, the indigenous peoples
     unhesitatingly condemn criminal acts that violate the
     peoples' physical and moral integrity.


             IV. AGAINST ERADICATION AND FOR LEGALIZATION

     28. Under the United Nations Convention Against Illicit
     Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances,
     signed in Vienna in 1988, it is prohibited to sow,
     cultivate, harvest, process and market coca leaves, against
     which an undeclared war is being waged to achieve their
     complete eradication, with the exception of lawful
     consumption such as for chewing, medicinal use in herbal tea
     and poultices, etc.

     29. As has already been observed, in Western eyes the most
     suitable solution to the unlawful traffic in cocaine paste
     for export to the United States of America and Europe would
     be the total eradication of coca plantations in the Andean
     countries over a period of some six years at a cost of
     millions of dollars.

     30. This strategy, which has been developed by the Drug
     Enforcement Administration of the United States Department
     of Justice includes a vast programme to eradicate the Andean
     shrub by abusively and unlawfully employing herbicides such
     as hexazinone and tebuthiuron which have devastating effects
     on vegetable life. Apart from definitively eradicating the
     coca plantations, the arbitrary and unilateral use of
     defoliants and other chemicals would render vast areas of
     Andean land sterile and transform them into a desert. Even
     more significant, by its perverse effects, this coercive
     measure is a de facto violation of the spirit of the Rio
     Conference on safeguarding biodiversity.

     31. In addition to the campaign to eradicate and replace
     millennial crops, which goes far further than we imagine,
     there are other plans and methods of destruction. The
     "scientists" of the United States Drug Enforcement
     Administration even recommend the use of other "natural
     enemies" such as insects and fungi. This pernicious plan,
     which is inspired by research, envisages the use of the
     larva of the eloria noyesi butterfly, whose voracity makes
     it one of the most efficient weapons to eliminate the shrub.
     According to research, the butterfly, which inhabits coca
     producing areas and apparently exclusively feeds on coca
     leaves, is allegedly capable of consuming over 50 leaves in
     its one month of existence, and of destroying even the
     shrubs' buds; as a result even the hardiest plants die under
     the onslaught of eloria.

     32. The report by the Drug Enforcement Administration also
     recommends other "natural enemies" such as the larva of the
     eucleodora coca fly which apparently only attacks certain
     varieties of plant, the herbivorous ayromyernex ant, of
     whose effects little is known, and the aeguidos pacificus
     beetle all of which constitute a serious threat to the
     survival of the Andean plant. However, cocaine and the other
     alkaloids contained in the coca leaves offer natural defence
     and resistance to the unsavoury pests manipulated by
     "scientists" in the drug-consuming countries.

     33. Whatever weapons are used to control coca growing and
     cultivation, with its traditional roots among the natives of
     the Andes, any sophisticated eradication and extirpation
     campaign will prove illusory and utopian in the context of
     the market economy and of uncontrolled economic
     neoliberalism - the ideology of modern societies - whose
     inspiration lies in the irrational instinct to produce and
     consume more and more. Far from putting an end to the
     extraction, crystallization, purification and chemical
     synthesis of coca unlawful criminal acts which represent a
     direct threat to the health and well-being of consumers -
     the eradication of ancestral plants and the destruction of
     aboriginal customs and traditions could generate social
     conflicts with irreparable consequences.

     34. In the light of the foregoing it is imperative to
     legalize the sowing, cultivation, exploitation, marketing
     and consumption of coca leaves to allow the rehabilitation
     of their medicinal qualities and the reassessment of their
     pharmacological properties, which should moreover be the
     subject of scientific research.

     35. In the eyes of the indigenous populations this is
     undoubtedly the only way to bring the areas devoted to coca
     growing gradually under control, absorb the surplus illegal
     production, plan and organize marketing subject to special
     regulations, with the overall objective of balancing supply
     and demand for lawful consumption.

     36. There is no other solution to the constant growth and
     expansion of the drug trade in the industrialized countries,
     unless Governments demonstrate the political will to
     industrialize surplus production to manufacture medicines,
     food, infusions, etc. It is now the responsibility of the
     Government of consumer and producer countries to accord just
     and equitable treatment to coca cultivation and resolutely
     fight the international mafias which have infiltrated every
     sphere of economic, political and social life.

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