Our Team in Vice News: ‘We Aren’t Terrorists’: Coca Farmers Are Relieved Bolivia’s New Government Is Leaving Them Alone

A recent article by Amy Booth cites our GCRF funded research. Read the original article here‘

SHINAHOTA, Bolivia — Snaking up the forested hillside behind Tomás Inturias’s barn in the tropical region of Chapare, a narrow path strewn with mossy rocks leads to a clearing. There, rows of whippy coca bushes – the base ingredient for cocaine – are basking in the sun.

“You can touch it if you like,” he said, surveying the young plants fondly. “In another month and a half, it’ll be harvested.”

For the past year, coca growers like Inturias had feared that Bolivia’s pioneering legal coca-growing scheme – and their livelihoods – might be on the chopping block if centrist candidate Carlos Mesa became president after the October 18 election….

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