Bolivia. Evo Morales. His potential (he's very close) election may establish a second global Narco democracy (after Afghanistan). Evo would cancel American eradication programs in favor of an embrace of financially lucrative coca exports to the global economy.
DJO. ‘‘We are not interested in protecting U.S. interests,” Morales said in an interview two weeks ago. ‘‘We don’t want to protect policies that fail to resolve the problems of the majority in our country. The pretext is going after the narco-traffickers, the narco-terrorists. But they really just want to take control of our resources.”Again, like others in his position, he is turning to commercial ties with China to replace Western connections.
If he wins, I recommend the west decriminalize drug possession and use. His profit margin would collapse overnight, and he'd make more money growing soybeans.
Posted by: Don McArthur | November 03, 2005 at 09:50 AM
Don,
The problem is that they don't have a means of morally trading with America - the top consumer of their products - to create an even comparible stanard of live otherwise. As long as that is the case, they will be a mortal threat to America, since they see them as their source of life...
Morales on Moral Conflict
http://tinyurl.com/clg6q
Posted by: Moral Conflict | November 03, 2005 at 11:08 AM
I think this poor guy (the one who wrote this junk) needs to go to Bolivia and become a man. Maybe he would like to be raped by a marine or beaten by a narcopolice (UMOPAR), maybe then, hopefully, he will start understanding who is who and who controls the drug bussiness. I have no more comments about this but I consider necessary to point out the ignorance in which many people like to dwell just because they read a lot of yankee newspapers or CNN look-a-like "news".
Posted by: Rebelde | November 21, 2005 at 10:19 PM
It's really absurd to think that Evo Morales could be a " narco ", the Dea or some other organization would be the first to know
Posted by: William C | December 19, 2005 at 04:04 PM
He he! He's won
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4539454.stm
Posted by: phil jones | December 19, 2005 at 10:47 PM
See: to say that Evo Morales's election can establish a "narcodemocracy" is very dangerous, because it can be vindicative for a North American intervention in Bolivia. This would be a disaster, because quickly it would involve Brazil, Peru, Colombia and Venezuela. In the sequence, it is probable that Chile, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay also if they saw involved in this confusion. Did you already imagine a continental guerrilla? Which the cost (human and material) to combat a thing of these? Would it probably take the United States to the bankruptcy, don't you find?
The best, with certainty, is to respect the will of the Bolivian people and to understand that the leaf of the coca, in Bolivia, is part of the local culture, as well as the coffee or the tea they are part of the day by day of other countries...
Posted by: Fernando Cravo | December 21, 2005 at 05:01 AM
I don't know how many of you have spent any time in La Paz, but coca tea is pretty essential for getting acclimatized.
It's scary when you arrive and suddenly realize you can't actually breathe up there.
For me, it's very hard to understand the US war on drugs. I can't, now, imagine even a cynical rationale for it. Looks to me like a vestigal reflex still flapping because no-one has the courage to turn the policy around.
Posted by: phil jones | December 21, 2005 at 08:35 AM