Lowland Colonization and Coca Control: Bolivia's Irreconcilable Policies

Geographers And Drugs: A Survey Of The Literature

“…The expansion of coca‐growing zones has been examined. In 1977, South predicted that production in Bolivia would expand and indeed, as Eastwood and Pollard () detailed, by the 1980s production exceeded internal demand. As part of this expansion, coca cultivation diffused beyond traditional areas in the valleys of the Yungas into the colonization zones of the Chaparé and Alto Beni (Eastwood and Pollard ).…”

“…In 1977, South predicted that production in Bolivia would expand and indeed, as Eastwood and Pollard () detailed, by the 1980s production exceeded internal demand. As part of this expansion, coca cultivation diffused beyond traditional areas in the valleys of the Yungas into the colonization zones of the Chaparé and Alto Beni (Eastwood and Pollard ). Eastwood and Pollard () claim that cultivation shifted primarily because of better soils, while in a more recent study Corva () argued that the expansion of Bolivia's drug economy was part of a wider process of drug‐production globalization.…”

“…Of all the drug commodities, coca and cocaine have attracted the most attention. Since the 1970s, geographers have studied the diffusion of coca, particularly through the lens of political ecology (South ; Eastwood and Pollard ; Bradley and Millington ). Coca production in Peru and Bolivia is rooted in long‐standing indigenous use, with cultural, religious, social, medicinal, and economic importance (South ; Eastwood and Pollard ).…”

“…Since the 1970s, geographers have studied the diffusion of coca, particularly through the lens of political ecology (South ; Eastwood and Pollard ; Bradley and Millington ). Coca production in Peru and Bolivia is rooted in long‐standing indigenous use, with cultural, religious, social, medicinal, and economic importance (South ; Eastwood and Pollard ). Geographic conditions favorable to illicit coca cultivation include suitable soil and climate, and large, remote stretches of land with little to no state presence (Allen ).…”

“…As part of this expansion, coca cultivation diffused beyond traditional areas in the valleys of the Yungas into the colonization zones of the Chaparé and Alto Beni (Eastwood and Pollard ). Eastwood and Pollard () claim that cultivation shifted primarily because of better soils, while in a more recent study Corva () argued that the expansion of Bolivia's drug economy was part of a wider process of drug‐production globalization. He contended that when tens of thousands of members of Bolivia's most powerful labor syndicate were laid off in the mid‐1980s—due to privatization of state‐owned enterprises resulting from International Monetary Fund and World Bank debt restructuring—these underemployed indigenous workers migrated to the Chaparé region.…”