The political battle waged on Capitol Hill fails to
take into account the drug war’s toll on human
rights and democratization in the region. U.S. mili-
tary and police aid fuels human rights violations in
countries facing local insurgencies or organized
coca-growers movements. It also strengthens the
very militaries and intelligence services that some
civilian governments in the Andes have been strug-
gling to bring under control. A close look at Bolivia
offers a telling picture of the devastating collateral
damage of a senseless war.
There is no other country in which the negative
impact of U.S. anti-narcotics policy is clearer than in
Bolivia. Unlike in Colombia and Peru, there is no
clear distinction between counternarcotics and
counterinsurgency activity in that country. While
current abuses pale in comparison to the killings and
disappearances of some of Bolivia’s military dicta-
torships-including that of General Hugo Banzer,
about to return to power-a disturbing pattern of
detentions, mistreatment and abuse of the local
population prevails in Bolivia’s primary coca-grow-
ing region, the Chapare. Moreover, social unrest,
conflict and violence in the Chapare have clearly
increased as a result of U.S. pressure on the Bolivian
government to meet the coca-eradication targets
set by Washington.
Trained and funded by the U.S. government, the
Bolivian anti-narcotics police commit a litany of
abuses. They carry out arbitrary searches and arrests,
steal local residents’ possessions and mistreat
individuals during raids and interrogations. A recent
study conducted by the Andean Information
Network of detainees on drug charges in
Cochabamba reveals startling statistics: 60% of
those detained stated that they were threatened
by police during their arrest and 44% affirmed that
they had been tortured and/or beaten. 1 Bolivian
officials implicated in abuses are rarely, if ever,
sanctioned.
Arbitrary detentions frequently take place in the
context of massive sweeps, when hundreds may be
detained at one time. Detainees are typically held
several days and released without being charged or
presented before judicial authorities, in clear viola-
tion of Bolivia’s own laws. Other detentions are not
indiscriminate, but rather target those organizing
opposition activities. Following two investigative
missions to Bolivia, Human Rights Watch/Americas
concluded that anti-narcotics police carry out arrests
“intended to suppress peaceful and lawful protest
activity; and detention of coca-growers union lead-
ers to secure advantage in negotiations with them
over government policy.” 2 The violent repression of
protests organized by coca growers and their fami-
lies has had a high toll in human lives. In 1995, such
conflicts ensued as the Bolivian government stepped
up eradication efforts in order to comply with a U.S.
ultimatum and avoid the sanctions accompanying
decertification. The result: seven dead, including a
13-year old girl and 6-month old baby, and scores
wounded.
During the first
four months of 1997,
the Andean Infor- Trained and funded
mation Network had
documented at least by the U.S.
six deaths and many
more wounded in government, the
confrontations sur-
rounding these anti- Bolivian anti-narcotics
narcotics operations. police carry out
Coca-grower federa-
tion leaders con- arbitrary searches and
tinue to be singled
out for detention arrests, steal local
and abuse. On April
9, Evo Morales, well- residents’ possessions,
known president of
the Federacion del and mistreat
Tr6pico, was shot in individuals during the leg and suffered
injuries from a ma- interrogations.
chete when police
attacked campesinos
trying to prevent an
eradication opera-
tion. The government claimed that Morales insti-
gated the violence and reiterated unsubstantiated
claims that he is involved with drug traffickers. Yet
he was never arrested or formally charged with any
crimes.
For all of the violence that has ensued as a result
of coca eradication in the Chapare, the Bolivian and
U.S. governments have little to show for it. In 1996,
the Bolivian government eradicated more coca than
ever before: 18,400 acres. However, as a result of
new plantings, the net coca eradicated was a mere
764 acres-a drop in the bucket of the approxi-
mately 118,000 acres estimated by the U.S. State
Department to be in production. 3 Yet the cycle of
violence-fed with U.S. aid, equipment, training
and advisers-continues unabated. -CY
1. Washington Office on Latin America, memorandum on Bolivia,
June 3 1997.
2 Human Rights Watch/Americas, Bolvia Under Pressure. Human
Rights Violations and Coca Eradication New York, May 1996,
p. 2.
3 US Department of State., 1997 International Narcotics Control
Strategy Report
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