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Date : Thu, 14 Feb 2002
Bolivian Government Signs Agreement with Coca Growers

BOLIVIAN GOVERNMENT SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH COCA GROWERS

In the early morning of Saturday, February 9th coca grower leaders and the
government arrived at an agreement after having negotiated through the
night.  Although government ministers had initially rejected the presence
of union leader Evo Morales in the talks, the later agreed to his
participation.  The Human Rights Ombudsman's Office, the Catholic Church
and the Permanent Human Rights Assembly successfully mediated the talks.

Political analysts and human rights monitors attribute the surprising shift
in the Bolivian government's hard-line approach to widespread public
concern and that continued blockades and violence would provoke substantial
economic and human losses during the four day Carnival weekend.  Government
representatives also feared that sustained violence would further
deteriorate the ruling parties' political already substantially eroded
credibility in the upcoming presidential and congressional elections.

Sadly, the spiraling violence beginning in mid-January could have been
avoided if government officials had negotiated the same points
earlier.  The substantial concessions made in the agreement will most
likely provide a superficial and temporary “band-aid” for deep-rooted
festering social problems.  Violence will most likely erupt again within
the next several months.

CONTENT OF THE AGREEMENT

1) REWORKING OF SUPREME DECREES:  Coca growers lifted blockades as a result
of a few key concessions.  According to the new agreement, Supreme Decrees
26415 and 26491 will be repealed and replaced by a law agreed upon by the
different negotiating parties. These decrees prohibited drying,
transporting, and selling coca leaves, and may violated Law 1008 and
Bolivian Constitutional norms. The coca market in Sacaba has been reopened
as a result, at least until new legislation is put into effect.

2) EVALUATION OF MORALES'S REMOVAL FROM CONGRESS:  The status of ousted
congressman and coca leader Evo Morales was a contentious issue, but coca
growers ultimately agreed to accept a guarantee of his constitutional
rights, and his right to continue participating in political and union
activities.  The decision about his congressional seat has been left in the
hands of the Constitutional Tribunal.  His reinstatement, if it did indeed
occur, would be largely symbolic since he would have to resign soon in
order to run again.  Unless he is convicted on specific charges, he will be
allowed to seek office in the future.

3) ECONOMIC COMPENSATION FOR DEAD AND INJURED:  The government also agreed
to pay indemnization to the families of coca growers who died in
confrontations with security forces, and to pay the medical expenses of
those who were injured.  Though the government has honored these agreements
in the past, they tend to provide resources in the larger hospitals more
adequately than in smaller rural facilities where many coca growers have
been treated, such as the Villa Tunari Hospital.

   Also, this agreement comes nearly a month after the injuries inflicted
in the Sacaba conflict.  Some of the seriously wounded have been waiting to
receive necessary surgical procedures that they cannot afford.  The lack of
prompt medical attention is a problem that would be better addressed by a
standing agreement that anticipates future clashes.

Also, although economic compensation is an important obligation mandated by
international agreements, there is concern that the Bolivian government
uses financial compensation to substitute impartial investigations in the
civilian court system to hold perpetrators of human rights violations
responsible for their actions.

4) RADIO SOBERANIA: The government also agreed to give Radio Soberania
legal approval and return their equipment so that they could operate,
though under a different name, by the end of this month.  (The equipment
was seized and the radio station shut down on January 22 in a thinly veiled
attack against their opposition voice.)

5) RELEASE OF DETAINED UNION LEADERS:  The agreement established that
detainees held for participation in the Sacaba conflict but without
concrete evidence of their direct participation in crimes would be
released.   In cases that were less clear, the agreement stated that
representatives from the Permanent Human Rights Assembly, the Human Rights
Ombudsman, and the government would review the charges against of each the
detainees on a case-by-case basis.

On February 13th, Judge Vivian Enriquez reviewed the cases of eleven
leaders held under a number of charges including conspiracy to commit
murder and sedition. The prosecutor argued that eight of the eleven
detainees should remain incarcerated due to the evidence that links them to
violent acts committed in Sacaba.  However, the judge ruled that eight of
the eleven could be released.   Four leaders, Delfin Olivera, Fidel Tarqui,
Feliciano Mamani, and Eusebio Rubio, after presenting bail set at 10,000
bolivianos (about $1450).  They will be released in several days if the
meet this condition.  The judge freed Leonilda Zurita, Oswaldo Toco, Elena
Almendras and Wilde Moscoso.  The defense attorney said he would appeal the
decision to keep leaders Silvia Lazarte and Nicolás Panoso detained.  He
also stated that the bail is beyond the economic means of all of the
detainees and that the judge failed to take their economic situation into
consideration as she is required to do by the new criminal procedures code.

Evo Morales stated that coca growers would renew road blockades if all
detainees were not liberated by February 18th.

THE LA PAZ YUNGAS AGREEMENT

In accordance with the agreement reached by Chapare coca growers and
government officials, the agreement between the government and La Paz
Yungas unions, arrived at on February 12 also promises the protection of
the commercialization of Yungas coca in local, national, and international
markets and the repeal of Supreme Decrees 26415 and 26491 for that
region.  Other points of the agreement highlight the economic and social
needs of coca growing and other campesino communities.  Their demands
include new and improved roads and tunnels, health care equipment for rural
clinics as well as more physicians and nurses, and the formation of
committee made up of government and campesino representatives to improve
technical assistance programs, product quality, and access to different
markets.
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