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January 27, 2011

Thousands Protest U.S. Coca Stance in Bolivia 
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In Bolivia, thousands of people marched to the U.S. embassy in the
capital city La Paz Wednesday in protest of the Obama administration's
opposition to the Andean practice of chewing coca leaves. The United
Nations is currently reviewing a Bolivian proposal to remove a clause of
a 1961 U.N. convention that declared the coca leaf an illegal narcotic
alongside a number of hard drugs including cocaine and heroin. The
United States has said it will file a formal objection to removing the
coca leaf ban. Bolivia's Deputy Minister of Coca, German Loza, called
the movement to legalize the coca leaf "a social revolution."

German Loza: "This march is a social revolution, an action in defense of
the coca leaf and its chewing, which has never had harmful effects on
people's health. That is why we can't continue to be subjected to the
powers of the international community that ignores the nature of the
coca leaf."



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