Zero Coca, Zero Culture: Bolivia's Struggle to Balance Cultural Identity and the Need for Economic Stability in the Midst of the Expiring Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act

Tulsa Journal of Comparative and International Law Volume 14 | Issue 2 Article 6 3-1-2007 Zero Coca, Zero Culture: Bolivia's Struggle to Balance Cultural Identity and the Need for Economic Stability in the Midst of the Expiring Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act Cameron Ming Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.law.utulsa.edu/tjcil Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Cameron Ming, Zero Coca, Zero Culture: Bolivia's Struggle to Balance Cultural Identity and the Need for Economic Stability in the Midst of the Expiring Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act, 14 Tulsa J. Comp. & Int'l L. 375 (2006). Available at: http://digitalcommons.law.utulsa.edu/tjcil/vol14/iss2/6 This Casenote/Comment is brought to you for free and open access by TU Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Tulsa Journal of Comparative and International Law by an authorized administrator of TU Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact . ZERO COCA, ZERO CULTURE: BOLIVIA'S STRUGGLE TO BALANCE CULTURAL IDENTITY AND THE NEED FOR ECONOMIC STABILITY IN THE MIDST OF THE EXPIRING ANDEAN TRADE PROMOTION AND DRUG ERADICATION ACT CameronMing* I. INTRODUCTION "The Saudis can fight alcoholism by forbidding the sale of Jack Daniels, but we'd think they were crazy if they ordered us to eradicate fields of barley in Tennessee."' -John Tierney, a journalist, regarding the eradication of coca in Bolivia. From adobe hut to presidential mansion, Evo Morales is a man of the people. 2 Bred3 on Bolivia's harsh altiplano rather than among the country's economic elite, Morales assumed the office of president in a historic victory for J.D. candidate, University of Tulsa College of Law, Tulsa, OK, May 2008; B.A., English, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, Aug. 2003. A special thanks to Austin and Greg for all of your guidance and persistence. Most importantly, I am eternally indebted to Kressyda and Eliot for being the light at the end of this long tunnel. 1. John Tierney, Reading the Coca Leaves, N.Y. TIMES, Sept. 23, 2006, at A11. 2. See Jennifer Brea, Evo Morales,Presidentof Bolivia, About.com, http://worldnews.about.com/od/whoswhoinworldaffairs/p/evomorales.htm (last visited Apr. 30, 2007). 3. Evo Morales Aima - Childhood, http://www.evomorales.net/paginasEng/perfilEng-infan.aspx (last visited Apr. 30, 2007) [hereinafter Childhood]. TULSA J. COMP. & INT'L L. [Vol. 14:2 democracy. 4 An anomaly among politicians, Morales is described as an incorruptible, honest official who promotes popular causes. 5 But despite all of his alleged good characteristics, one item has become an international stumbling block for Morales: his fervent dedication to the coca leaf.6 It is difficult to understand how the coca leaf, believed to be a gift from the gods, 7 could be the source of human rights violations 8 and a billion dollar illegal drug industry. 9 Yet coca has been a cause of contention for decades. And with the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act ("ATPDEA") set to expire on June 30, 2007,10 the leaf may soon be linked to the "erosion of democracy" in Bolivia. 1 1 Bolivia is one of the poorest countries in South America, despite having the second largest natural gas reserves on the continent. Nearly two-thirds of the nation's population live in squalor. 13 In times of financial trouble, Bolivia has 4. Waltraud Queiser Morales, Responding to Bolivian Democracy: Avoiding the Mistakes of Early U.S. Cuban Policy, MIL. REv., July-Aug. 2006, at 27, available at http://usacac.leavenworth.army.mil/CAC/milreview/English/JulAugO6/Morales.pdf ("The election of Evo Morales as president of Bolivia is perhaps the strongest evidence to date that countries on the Andean Ridge are achieving that often-stated policy goal. By all accounts, Morales's election gave him the first true public mandate in Bolivia's history.") [hereinafter Responding to Bolivian Democracy]. 5. Steve Boggan, 'Coca is a Way of Life', GUARDIAN, http://www.guardian.co.uk/intemational/story/0,,1705685,00.html; Democracy, supra note 4, at 32. Feb. 9, 2006, available at Responding to Bolivian 6. Boggan, supra note 5. 7. Solimar Santos, Comment, Unintended Consequences of United States' Foreign Drug Policy in Bolivia, 33 U. MIAMI INTER-AM. L. REv. 127, 131 (2002). 8. See Sam Logan, Bolivia Has the Right To Grow Coca, International Relations & Securities Network, Aug. 17, 2006, available at http://www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?id=16539. 9. See Office of National Drug Control Policy, Drug Policy Information Clearinghouse:Fact Sheet, Mar. 2003, at 2, available at http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/pdf/drug-datasum.pdf. 10. ATPA Extension, H.R. 6111, 109th Cong. § 7002(a) (2006) ("Section 208 of the Andean Trade Preference Act (19 U.S.C. 3206) is amended by striking 'December 31, 2006' and inserting 'June 30, 2007'."). 11. Hal Weitzman, Rhetoric collides with Bolivia trade hope, FIN. TIMES, Aug. 30, 2006, available at http://www.ft.com/cms/s/d6d3e98e-3854-1 ldb-ae2c-0000779e2340.html. 12. Connie Veillette, Bolivia: Political and Economic Developments and Relations with the United States, CRS REPORT FOR CONGRESS, June 22, 2005, available at http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL32580.pdf. 13. U.S. Department of State, Background Note: Bolivia, Mar. 27, 2007, available at http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35751.htm [hereinafter Profile]; Julie McCarthy, A Bolivian Populist Upends the Status Quo, Sept. 15, 2006, NPR, available at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.phpstoryld=6061781 ("At least 60 percent of Bolivia's population lives on $2 or less a day, and the gap between rich and poor is one of the widest in the world."); Habitat for Humanity Bolivia, http://www.habitat.org/intllac/24.aspx (last visited Apr. 30, 2007) ("Bolivia has a population of 8 million people, 3.6 million of which do not have access 2007] ZERO COCA, ZERO CULTURE turned to its centuries old friend, the coca leaf, to help alleviate economic pains.14 In 1985, economic adjustments caused many to rely on the production of the coca leaf which stimulated the overall national economy.' 5 However, coca is also the main ingredient in cocaine.16 Bolivia's economic dependence on coca has caused the United States to place a greater interest in expanding economic development in Bolivia, aloTg with its cocaine-producing With the ultimate goal to wean counterparts-Columbia, Ecuador, and Peru. them off of coca, the United States passed the Andean Trade Preferences Act ("ATPA") in 1991.18 That act made way for the renamed Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act ("ATPDEA") in 2002,19 which permits an abundance of goods to enter the United States with no importation tariffs, in hopes that the economy will grow in other areas.20 The ATPDEA expired on Dec. 31, 2006, but was shortly extended to June 30, 2007. 2 1 The language of the temporary extension provides for a further conditional extension of six m (...truncated)