Thanks to Pachamama, Mother Earth, thanks for the Coca Plant.
We, Aymaras and Quechuas, original nations of the Andes,
have survived the onslaught of the white man until today thanks to our coca leaf.
From the moment the white man came to our land
he has tried to control our leaf for his own enrichment.
He has abused it here and now he is abusing it everywhere else.
Since it has escaped his control he is intent on destroying it.
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He has labeled our sacred plant a drug,
to be prohibited and eliminated under universally binding drugs conventions.
With these conventions the United Nations have offended and betrayed
the Aymara and Quechua Nations.
Under the cover of these conventions and
after impoverishing our people with their neoliberal policies,
the United States government, foremost enemy of the Indians,
has used its dollars to bribe the officials of Bolivia,
corrupt its institutions and pit white Bolivians against us.
Recently the United States Embassy in La Paz has funded a mercenary force
with orders to eliminate the coca plant and the Indians defending it.
Coca is not a drug!
This lie has to be called.
The moment has come for us to stop the menace of anihilation of
the coca plant and our communal ways of living.
The coca plant has sustained us through all adversities until today and
we will strive, with all our might and with her help,
to thwart the white man's wicked plans.
Like other plants coca is a medicine, a holy plant.
Thanks to coca we have withstood the untold sufferings
brought upon us by the white man's unholy war on drugs.
Therefore, the United Nations should respect our coca leaf and
take it off their prohibitive lists.
Therefore, the United States should get all their drug war personel and
equipment out of Bolivia.
They have abused their stay.
Let them go home to fight their own countries drug war.
Therefore, the white men should stop their war on drugs and
accept that we live peacefully with the coca plant.
They should consider reports from Harvard University,
their most cherished academic institution,
about the beneficial uses of our plant.
But this will not come about without our active intervention.
We have to rise to the occasion.
The moment has come for the original nations to take power in our own hands.
The moment has come for us to redeem the coca plant.
We have learned to treat the plant with respect and she has generously rewarded usFrom now on we will no longer tolerate any foreign powers harming our plant.
We will be her sovereign guardians.
Those nations that accept this will be our friends.
We will help them treat its abuse.
Those that will continue to repress our plant will be our enemies and
the predictions of sickness and misery proferred by our yaquiris,
as recorded by legend, will certainly befall them.
As long as the American invader fights us, we, the original nations,
won't forget our war cry, born from the pain of our people: Causachun coca! Wañuchun yanquis! Long live coca! Yankee go home!
take it off their prohibitive lists.
Therefore, the United States should get all their drug war personel and
equipment out of Bolivia.
They have abused their stay.
Let them go home to fight their own countries drug war.
Therefore, the white men should stop their war on drugs and
accept that we live peacefully with the coca plant.
They should consider reports from Harvard University,
their most cherished academic institution,
about the beneficial uses of our plant.
But this will not come about without our active intervention.
We have to rise to the occasion.
The moment has come for the original nations to take power in our own hands.
The moment has come for us to redeem the coca plant.
We have learned to treat the plant with respect and she has generously rewarded usFrom now on we will no longer tolerate any foreign powers harming our plant.
We will be her sovereign guardians.
Those nations that accept this will be our friends.
We will help them treat its abuse.
Those that will continue to repress our plant will be our enemies and
the predictions of sickness and misery proferred by our yaquiris,
as recorded by legend, will certainly befall them.
As long as the American invader fights us, we, the original nations,
won't forget our war cry, born from the pain of our people: Causachun coca! Wañuchun yanquis! Long live coca! Yankee go home!
The coca leaf has been used since times immemorial, by man and animal alike.
The Andean peoples sustained themeselves with it throughout their history.
While the Incas tried to limit its use for the priviliged classes of the empire,
foreign rulers tried unsuccesfully to eliminate it.
After initially persecuting the coca plant the Spanish wisely decided to regulate its sale.
Since 1948 the United States government, leaning on the United Nations Conventions,
is bent on eliminating the plant, by all means.......
The Andean peoples sustained themeselves with it throughout their history.
While the Incas tried to limit its use for the priviliged classes of the empire,
foreign rulers tried unsuccesfully to eliminate it.
After initially persecuting the coca plant the Spanish wisely decided to regulate its sale.
Since 1948 the United States government, leaning on the United Nations Conventions,
is bent on eliminating the plant, by all means.......
The coca leaf has medicinal properties for man and community alike.
Individually indians use it to combat hunger and fatigue and
to cure pulmonary and digestive ailments.
Socially the coca leaf is chewed at births, weddings and at wakes,
tightening the bonds between those present.
When the alcaloid cocaine was extracted from the leaf
in the middle of the 19th century,
white men grasped its invigorating properties,
oblivious of the warnings against abuse of Andean tradition.
Individually indians use it to combat hunger and fatigue and
to cure pulmonary and digestive ailments.
Socially the coca leaf is chewed at births, weddings and at wakes,
tightening the bonds between those present.
When the alcaloid cocaine was extracted from the leaf
in the middle of the 19th century,
white men grasped its invigorating properties,
oblivious of the warnings against abuse of Andean tradition.
Evo Morales
AymaGreat Leader of the Original Nations
Elected President of Bolivia
Thanks to Mama Coca
Thanks to Mama Coca
Evo Cocalero
Cocalero in the Chapare
When the mines closed in the 60's, the Morales family, like thousands of other Bolivians moved to the Chapare region to clear the fields
and cultivate tropical fruits and vegetables.
In 1985 import barriers were lifted.
Foreign produce pushed all products except the coca leaf out of the market.
Since then the farmers have become ever more dependent
on this source of income for their survival,
defending their inalienable right to its use and
cultivation with tenacity born of despair.
Evo Dirigente Cocalero
Meeting of Cocaleros
To this end the cocaleros formed their own unions,
uniting them in the Federation of the Unions of theTropics with Evo as its president.
With repression mounting Evo decided
to take the plight of the cocaleros to the political level,
becoming their representative in parliament in 1998.
Charged with terrorism in early 2002, Evo was ousted from this body.
Then he decided to run for the presidency of Boliva
Coca belongs to the gods.
Pachamama, Mother Earth, gave it to her people, the Aymara and Quechua nations.
In Bolivia the Aymaras and Quechuas constitue the majority of the population.
They live on the altiplano, in the mountains and in the valleys
Coca unites them and makes them strong.
It unites them to work and to wage war, to weep together and to celebrate together. Till today coca is the cement that unites their communities.
Their communal ways of living have always been at odds
with the individualistic ways of the white men,
those that control Bolivia and
those they model themselves upon in the original European nations.
Pachamama, Mother Earth, gave it to her people, the Aymara and Quechua nations.
In Bolivia the Aymaras and Quechuas constitue the majority of the population.
They live on the altiplano, in the mountains and in the valleys
Coca unites them and makes them strong.
It unites them to work and to wage war, to weep together and to celebrate together. Till today coca is the cement that unites their communities.
Their communal ways of living have always been at odds
with the individualistic ways of the white men,
those that control Bolivia and
those they model themselves upon in the original European nations.
Women walking across the Altiplano
The disappearance of border tariffs and
the subsequent flooding of local markets with foreign products and
services has caused the gradual collapse of local economies,
generating discontent and resistance.
Unlike neighboring Peru the Bolivian Indians did not resort to violence.
Led by the cocaleros they marched to the capital city, La Paz, again and again,
to claim for justice and dignity.
But the successive governments failed to keep their promises and
forced the Indians to organize themselves politically.
For the first time since the conquest of America
the original nations are on the brink of taking power in their own hands,
a truly historical moment, full of consequences for Indians and white men alike.
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