David Herrera: Coca growers union leader, Bolivia
Kohl, Bem & Farthing, Linda
How would you describe the current situation of the coca growers movement in Bolivia? We are focusing on how the government violates its own laws as well as the agreements that they have signed...
...The agreement eliminated forced eradication and replaced it with voluntary eradication and fair compensation carried out in conjunction with development projects...
...Also, NGOs that work in the Chapare always succumb to government pressure to support coca eradication programs, to urge campesinos not to plant more coca, and to support reforestation programs...
...Do you think campesinos are more or less willing to mobilize and participate now compared to five or ten years ago...
...We have already done this in the Chapare, where coca growers won the last elections in three municipalities as well as in sub-municipalities, local districts and councils...
...Since the 1953 Agrarian Reform, campesino organizations have become strong and important, since without an organization one is like an orphan...
...Then we would have our own representatives in the Bolivian Congress who would be able to defend and revise the laws that are against us as coca growers and against the Quechua and Aymara peoples...
...What is the role of women within the federation of coca producers...
...the local market for pineapple is saturated and there is no real access to an external market...
...But they will represent their social constituency, not any particular party...
...We may not be as successful as we would like this election, but by the next election we want to be able to demonstrate the unity of the campesino movement...
...And what strategies and tactics are you employing to reach those goals...
...So we think that we must confront the government politically, by organizing our own party and participating in the elections...
...We are also affiliated with international organizations in Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Guatemala-everywhere there are indigenous movements...
...But this is not going to remain only at the local level...
...During this term in office, we have been more honest and worked harder for the campesinos...
...This is a long term process that will take much time...
...The root problem that concerns everyone is land...
...We 11VOICES ON THE LEFT elect our representatives in congresses and our representatives have to follow the instructions given by the rank and file...
...aged to get laws passed in our favor...
...The coca producers aren't really involved with political parties...
...Things are going to get worse...
...A great deal depended on how the individual union leader acted...
...For example, we have mobilized against Law 1008 which controls coca production, because the law is unjust...
...We are neither peasants nor colonizers...
...We recognize the possibility...
...What is the relationship between the coca producers and political parties...
...If the leader of a particular confederation is honest and responsive to the grassroots, things work well, but if that leader is corrupt and only seeks personal interests, then the organization does not function...
...In 1991, we signed an agreement which promised that the armed forces would not participate in actions against drug trafficking or in coca eradication...
...Almost all the zones of have se coca production in the Chapare now have self-defense committees whose role is to commit organize, prepare and resist government role is t repression...
...In the municipal elections, a party will provide us with their banner, not as members of the party, but rather as part of the Sovereign Assembly of the people...
...What is happening could escalate at any moment...
...As a union we have not managed to confront this government with roadblocks or strikes, nor have we manVoL XXXI, No 1 JuLY/AuG 1997 lf-defense tees whose o organize, and resist .rnment session...
...we are the original owners of this country...
...Do you also work with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs...
...The same isn't true regarding Protestant sects that speak against the coca producers and even hold that the coca leaf in its natural form is harmful...
...For example, those who replaced coca with pineapple have found that they have been tricked...
...What kind of links does your organization maintain with other groups or movements...
...It is easier for local NGOs to work with the grassroots, with communities, where people are not sophisticated and can be tricked...
...We just received news that there prepare were confrontations today and yesterday...
...We work closely with the Confederation of Colonizers of Bolivia, with the Indigenous Federation of Bolivia and with the Bolivia Workers Central, with which we are affiliated...
...For example, they will be instructed to find a way to divide Law 1008 in two parts, one to deal with controlled substances and the other to deal with the coca leaf in its natural state...
...Every time we propose this, we are told that it would cost too much...
...Before, the way the union movement operated was almost the complete opposite of how it operates today...
...At the present time, the Campesino Confederation does not have a formal relationship with any NGOs, except for a few international NGOs to whom we provide information that they disseminate to other countries...
...And the population in general came out in solidarity, providing food and medicine which enabled us to stay two weeks in La Paz...
...the project is a large one...
...We are going to seek the help of professionals and intellectuals who are identified with us and who can assist us with this process...
...Was this electoral mobilization done with the cooperation of political parties or independently...
...The Catholic Church has won the confidence of the coca producers because it has served as an intermediary in numerous negotiations with the government and is a neutral body that we trust...
...But the government is not respecting this agreement...
...Another level of our struggle is to obtain compliance with the terms of an agreement we signed after a 1996 march to the capital...
...We had a meeting of the Campesino Confederation, the Colonizers' Federation and the First Nations Council, where we met to discuss how to best participate in the elections and to choose possible candidates...
...The women are organized in their own union, the Bartolina Sisas Peasant Federation...
...Almost all the zones of coca production in the Chapnar now Rather than getting better, things are going to get worse...
...This could blow up into a revolution...
...Some local NGOs work with some federations and unions, but the parent organization does not allow it...
...Because of this, groups in the Chapare have few ties to NGOs...
...In Bolivia, the 1953 Agrarian Reform mostly benefited landowners, logging companies, cattle ranchers and NACIA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS aVOICES ON THE LEFT transnational companies...
...Before we only resisted with demonstra- gove tions and mobilizations, with roadblocks and other forms of pressure...
...Here in the Chapare, the local women's federations are affiliated with the national women's federation...
...Therefore the central union prefers to have no relationship with them...
...Because of this, some unions are suggesting that if the government attacks with guns, then we as citizens have every right to defend ourselves and take up arms...
...An example of how much confidence there is was demonstrated in the 1996 march when 50,000 people marched to La Paz to demand their rights as coca growers...
...Of 88 million acres of productive land in Bolivia, campesinos only control about ten million...
...Our long term goals are to avoid conflict...
...These deputies have been used and manipulated by political parties...
...But despite massive mobilizations and protests, not even one article of the law has been changed...
...But in reality, the armed forces are in the Chapare region, the principal coca growing region in Bolivia, using their soldiers to forcibly eradicate our crops...
...We hope that this year the campesinos will respond positively to our proposals and we will have representation in Congress...
...But now repi we're thinking that if 500 or 600 wellarmed troops attack with tear gas and bullets, then the coca growers won't be able to defend themselves with just sticks...
...We are beginning to recognize our identity...
...Our project is very different...
...This whole process is being promoted and encouraged by the coca growers...
...If one day we succeed in becoming the government, we will begin to seek a truly sustainable development for all the campesinos, colonizers and indigenous people...
...We are focusing on how the government violates its own laws as well as the agreements that they have signed with us...
...When you are organized into a union, you are like a child who has his father, his mother and his house...
...Our short term goals are to get the agreements we have signed with the government carried out...
...We also have communication with the Landless Movement in Brazil...
...We cannot make a living any other way, so we continue to grow coca...
...If the government will not move on this, then we as an organization are thinking of developing our own projects to increase the production of alternative crops...
...There were leaders who helped the government and who lived off the government...
...And because the government has tricked them, they will continue to plant coca...
...Unionism has changed, and with our new executive committee, there has been more effort to communicate directly with the grassroots and explain to them what is going on...
...Do you think things are going to get better or remain the same...
...This resistance is going on as we speak...
...Between us, we represent the majority of people in our country...
...tion, which means that the parent organizations have a lot of dignity and respect in our country...
...Because of this, the women realize that if men haven't been able to resist the government, then they must...
...When you are organized into a union, in a federation, you are like a child who has his father, his mother and his house...
...We have been organizing the rank and file to participate in the national elections in June, 1997...
...How would you describe the participation of the grassroots in your organization...
...From the amount of international funding NGOs receive, they invest 30%, perhaps 50% in the project and they keep the rest...
...Also when there is illness in the family the women are responsible for caring for the sick and buying medicine...
...What are the goals of your organization...
...There are currently eight deputies and one senator in Congress who are considered indigenous representatives...
...We have seen that the women are the ones who suffer the most when the family doesn't have any money because they have to buy food every week...
...Of course in each town in the Chapare there are members of different political parties...
...The coca growers want sustainable development, in which each family that produces coca would benefit from alternative crops and the commercialization of crops that are produced in the Chapare...
...The problem that we coca growers have is an economic one...
...Since eradication began, 100,000 to 125,000 acres have been destroyed, but the government has never provided adequate alternative development or crop substitution...
...And do you think that there could be political changes within the government which would improve the situation of the coca growers...
...No, we don't have this hope, especially since currently several leftist and populist parties are part of the government, and things remain the same as under previous governments...
...Campesinos have a lot of confidence in their union organizaWithout an organization, one is like an orphan...
Vol. 31 • July 1997 • No. 1
