La Paz, Sep 8 (EFE) . – A struggle of forces within the arrangement that represents the coca growers in the Bolivian province of La Paz erupted on Thursday in open violence when one of the rival factions attacked and burned a market in La Paz.
Members of an organization within the Adepcoca arrangement entered the town of La Paz on Thursday after walking more than a hundred kilometers (60 miles) from the subtropical region of Los Yungas.
In Villa El Carmen, north of the city, they besieged a “parallel” coca market run by Arnoldo Alanes, identified a year ago through Nacional as the head of Adepcoca.
After nearly an hour of throwing Molotov cocktails and dynamite cartridges at the police guarding the market, the Yungas contingent forced the door and set fire to the structure.
Some manufacturers aligned with the Alans who tried to flee were beaten, as were several policemen.
The invaders of Los Yungas, led by Freddy Machicado, told Efe that they would call for a direct dialogue with Bolivian President Luis Arce.
Machicado had told Efe in the past that his followers would not leave La Paz “empty-handed. “
Bolivia, like neighboring Peru, allows the cultivation of coca — the crude for cocaine — in limited quantities for classic use in folk medicine and Andean devout rites.
In its natural form, coca is a mild stimulant that is valued in the Andes for its ability to counteract the effects of altitude sickness and prevent fatigue.
Former President Evo Morales, who began his political career as the leader of a coca growers’ union, convinced the United Nations in 2013 to settle for Bolivia’s reinstatement to the 1961 Convention on Narcotic Drugs, amended to remove the ban on chewing coca leaf.
Until September 2021, Bolivia had two legal markets for the sale of coca leaves: one in the community of Villa Fátima de La Paz and that of Sacaba in the central province of Cochabamba.
But in line with the popularity of Alanes at the head of Adepcoca, those of Arce legalized the opening of the “parallel” market in Villa El Carmen.
Bolivian government authorizes coca plantations on 22,000 hectares (54,320 acres). EFE lnm/dr