from Cuba News
La Paz, Oct 21 (Prensa Latina) The Bolivian Government and the
Ombudsman''s Office are currently investigating the causes and
people involved in a clash between coca growers and anti-drug agents
that resulted in injuries to 27 people and the taking of eight
hostages.
The incident occurred on Saturday, when farmers from the northern
town of Apolo ambushed a group of Joint-Task-Force soldiers
preparing to eradicate excess crops of coca leaves in that area, 442
kilometers from La Paz.
The Ombudsman's Office confirmed that a commission had been assigned
to the locality to analyze the situation, while the Government
(Interior) Ministry reported that it would verify with Peruvian
authorities the supposed participation of drug traffickers from that
country in the clash.
After the death of a soldier on Saturday, the Ministry reported the
death of a policeman on Sunday afternoon as a result of the wounds
suffered and denounced the coca growers seizure of eight soldiers as
hostages.
Government Minister Carlos Romero said the ambush on the agents was
premeditated and supported by foreigners.
The coca growers told the local station Radio Fides that the clash
was a resistance measure, in the face of police abuse.
Although Bolivia defends cultivation of coca as a tradition and way
of life for the Andean people, it fights excess crops, due to the
danger that they will be used to make cocaine and not as the leaf
has been traditionally used for generations.
Bolivian legislation recognizes 12,000 hectares of coca crops for
chewing, infusions or Andean religious rituals, as legal.
According to official data, Bolivia eradicated more than 9,000
hectares of illegal coca plantations this year, and as many as
25,300 hectares in 2012.
According to the UN, coca crops in 2005 occupied 25,400 hectares of
this nation, but the figure reached 27,500 in 2006, increasing to
28,900 in 2007, to 30,500 in 2008, and to 30,900 in 2009.
The crop reached 31,000 in 2010, decreasing to 27,200 in 2011.
Shane Mage
"Thunderbolt steers all things." Herakleitos of Ephesos, fr. 64
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