Bolivia appeals to the U.N. over U.S. law allowing extradition of coca growers

Record ID: 102961

  • Title: Bolivia appeals to the U.N. over U.S. law allowing extradition of coca growers
  • Date: 19th May 2016
  • Summary: LA PAZ, BOLIVIA (MAY 19, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF FORMER BOLIVIAN PRESIDENT, JORGE QUIROGA RAMIREZ (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FORMER BOLIVIAN PRESIDENT, JORGE QUIROGA RAMIREZ, SAYING: "The American market is supplied by cocaine from Colombia which travels through Venezuela and Mexico, whilst Bolivian cocaine goes to Brazil and Argentina. That is where our problem is. We have neighbours in these countries under the umbrella of 21st century socialism who showed themselves as a group of intelligent colleagues, who carried out corruption and business with each other, protecting each other and looking the other way when the problem was raised. There were the Kirchners in Argentina, the Workers' Party in Brazil, and I am sorry to say it but that is how it is, take note and forget what Mrs. Faistan says in the United States, Sergio Massa in Argentina. Sioli, Evo Morales's friend, says that we must militarise the border between Argentina and Bolivia."
  • Embargoed: 3rd June 2016 21:46
  • Keywords: Coca cocaine drug trafficking United States Bolivia Evo Morales
  • Location: SUCRE, CHAPARE AND LA PAZ, BOLIVIA
  • City: SUCRE, CHAPARE AND LA PAZ, BOLIVIA
  • Country: Bolivia
  • Topics: Diplomacy/Foreign Policy,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA0034IH5LC3
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: PART AUDIO AS INCOMING
    Bolivia filed an official complaint to the United Nations over a U.S. law which makes it possible for the North American Justice Department to prosecute and extradite growers of the coca leaf outside the United States, Bolivian authorities announced on Thursday (May 19).
    The Transnational Drug-Trafficking Law, passed by U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday, deems illegal the "fabrication and distribution" of class I and II controlled substances which are known or are believed to be intended for illegal importation into the United States.
    Coca leaves, grown in the Andes for use in legal and traditional teas or to be chewed directly as part of local custom, are considered a class II substance by U.S. law.
    As such, coca growers in Bolivia, Peru and Colombia, could be considered part of drug-trafficking networks and sanctioned by the United States.
    President Evo Morales, who represents several coca growing unions, said the move represented colonial interests which were out of place in modern times.
    "Just because they are technologically advanced does not mean they can approve laws to invade and kidnap (our people). It is the responsibility of all countries to fight against drug trafficking, it is our obligation. I want to say to you that we are much better off in Bolivia without the (U.S.) military base, without the Drug Enforcement Agency, and even without U.S. participation in cooperative efforts in the fight against drug trafficking," Morales said at an event in Sucre.
    Morales expelled the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) from Bolivia in 2008, when he declared the nationalisation of the fight against drug trafficking.
    "We nationalised and regionalized the fight against drug trafficking. I do not understand why they should approve transnational law if the times of colonialism and imperial domination have ended, this neoliberal model does not work for Latin America and the Caribbean, we are going through times of international liberation leading our social movements," he said.
    Whist the U.S. presents the law as an extra tool in the fight against drug trafficking, many Latin American groups see it as a move intended to impose U.S. domestic interests abroad.
    Former Bolivian President, Jorge Quiroga Ramirez, said, however, that attentions had to be turned south, addressing issues endemic to Latin America itself.
    "The American market is supplied by cocaine from Colombia which travels through Venezuela and Mexico, whilst Bolivian cocaine goes to Brazil and Argentina. That is where our problem is. We have neighbours in these countries under the umbrella of 21st century socialism who showed themselves as a group of intelligent colleagues, who carried out corruption and business with each other, protecting each other and looking the other way when the problem was raised. There were the Kirchners in Argentina, the Workers' Party in Brazil, and I am sorry to say it but that is how it is, take note and forget what Mrs Faistan says in the United States, Sergio Massa in Argentina. Sioli, Evo Morales's friend, says that we must militarise the border between Argentina and Bolivia," said Ramirez.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register