A pro-coca candidate

last updated 8 January 2015

Chapare, Bolivia

A radical Indian coca farmer has emerged as the favorite to win Bolivia’s Dec. 18 presidential election. The candidate, Evo Morales, promises to decriminalize the growing of coca, the plant used to make cocaine, and put a stop to “the endless suffering caused by the white man’s infamous war on drugs.” Coca is a traditional crop in the Andean highlands, where people chew coca leaves to relieve hunger pangs, and boil them in medicinal teas. The Bolivian and U.S. governments say Bolivian coca is increasingly being used to produce cocaine. Dozens have died in clashes between farmers and soldiers involved in a decade-old coca-eradication program.