Bolivian Leader Slams US Campaign

Caracas, Nov 4 (Prensa Latina) Presidential candidate Evo Morales stated the US is spearheading a campaign in Bolivia to damage the reputation of social movements, according to an interview published by Venezuelan Pax Magazine on Friday.

Morales, leader of the Movimiento al Socialismo (Movement toward Socialism, MAS), asserted that power groups present farmers´ organizations as drug dealers and terrorists.

These are tactics to discredit social movements, noted Morales, who is favored by surveys to win the December presidential elections.

The MAS leader said Spanish landowners accounted for most coca growers in colonial times, and it was the US that promoted its cultivation among miners.

Now they penalize the coca plant when it has become a cultural force that is part of the national identity and economy, he added.

It is legal for Coca-Cola but illegal for the indigenous population, replied Morales, saying the World Health Organization has proven that coca leaves cause no damage to human beings.

The indigenous leader also asked why agents of the US Drug Enforcement Agency "wear uniforms, carry weapons and suppress demonstrators in Bolivia with impunity."

He called to re-found the nation to seek justice and equity for an honourable, sovereign and productive country where all people can live, and defended his proposal for a Constitutive Assembly that represents all Bolivians.