U.S. Drug Czar Visits Bolivian Coca-Growing Region

U.S. anti-drug czar Bob Martinez flew to Bolivia’s main coca-growing region Friday to visit the site of U.S.-funded programs to eradicate coca, the raw material for cocaine.

A U.S. Embassy spokesman said Martinez wanted a firsthand view of problems faced by thousands of peasants whose livelihood depends on growing coca.

Bolivia and Peru produce most of the world’s coca, and U.S. officials say Bolivia is now the second-largest refiner of the drug after Colombia.

About 350,000 Bolivian peasants earn a living farming coca, mainly in the Chapare region, which accounts for 80% of Bolivia’s annual estimated output of 120,000 tons of coca leaves.

Fifty-six U.S. advisers arrived in Bolivia last month with 100 tons of communication equipment, arms and ammunition to train two army battalions that will reinforce the anti-drug police.

Martinez was to open a hospital in the Chapare region, on the eastern foothills of the Andes, where the U.S. funds programs aimed at developing alternative crops for farmers.

Martinez, head of Office of National Drug Control Policy, visited Colombia and Peru before arriving in Bolivia. His tour aims to bolster steps to combat drug lords and curb the flow of cocaine to the United States.