Conflict flares in the Bolivian tropics

Key problems

• The accelerated eradication of coca fields has lead to the impoverishment and criminalisation of the cocaleros

• Mass-scale police and military interventions in the Chapare perpetrating human rights violations

• The failure of alternative development programmes

• The polarisation of the conflict

Recommendations

• The government should approach the problem of coca production delinking it from the US anti-drugs policy

• Demilitarise the coca-growing regions

• Redesign alternative development programmes creating new consumer markets and outlets

• Alternative development should imply participation of the peasantry and their vision of how to make the best use of the region’s natural resources

Forced eradication should be separated from alternative development