Movement for Socialism - Political Instrument for the Sovereignty of the Peoples (In Spanish Movimiento al Socialismo-Instrumento Político por la Soberanía de los Pueblos) or MAS rose as a left-wing populist political organization to support the preservation of the coca plant and the cocalero economy. It grew out of and gained support from the indigenous grassroots organizations that began to coalesce following the closure of mines and the criminalization of the coca plant and indigenous cocaleros. [7] Bolivia’s new leftwing president, Luis Arce, has distanced himself from his predecessor and has not taken part in Morales’s caravan to Chapare province. Chuquimia, Leny (16 January 2022). "De Quintana a del Castillo: 26 hombres y mujeres fuertes de Evo, Lucho y David"[From Quintana to del Castillo: 26 Confidants of Evo, Lucho, and David]. Página Siete (in Spanish). La Paz. Archived from the original on 16 January 2022 . Retrieved 30 August 2022. We will never forget our President Evo. He identifies our roots. He represents the poor, the peasants, and this story will never be forgotten. He will always be our undisputed leader,” said Choque, a coordinator for the Mas party in Cochabamba.

While some may use this as a low-abv Chartreuse substitute, I’m sure most are sipping it as cold shots or with simple mixers. I’ll add that I had a hard time getting to sleep after my experience with Cocalero — though whether that was due to any residual impact of Cocalero’s more exotic ingredients or something else is an open question. a b Aré Vásquez, Tuffí (2 June 2019). "¿Quién es el cocalero de 29 años que prepara Evo Morales para su sucesión?"[Who Is the 29-Year-Old Cocalero Evo Morales Is Preparing for His Succession?]. Infobae (in Spanish). Buenos Aires. Archived from the original on 2 June 2019 . Retrieved 29 August 2022. Andrónico Rodríguez: 'Es tiempo de curar las heridas y tomar en cuenta a la oposición' "[Andrónico Rodríguez: "It's Time to Heal the Wounds and Take the Opposition into Account"]. Opinión (in Spanish). Cochabamba. 5 December 2020. Archived from the original on 9 August 2022 . Retrieved 30 August 2022. Mi labor se traducirá en la generación de espacios de diálogo y concertación, ... tratando de evitar en todo momento tomar decisiones en función a mayorías y minorías ... Queremos que [la oposición] sientan que su voz y voto también son muy importantes; que tienen nuestro respeto porque son autoridades y servidores públicos elegidos democráticamente. Cocaleros reeligen a Morales como su líder y plantean otro juicio contra Áñez"[ Cocaleros Reelect Morales As Their Leader and Put Forward Another Trial Against Áñez]. Swissinfo (in Spanish). Bern. EFE. 20 September 2021. Archived from the original on 29 August 2022 . Retrieved 29 August 2022. La [ sic] Seis Federaciones del Trópico de Cochabamba [son] el mayor sindicato del sector [cocalero] en Bolivia.They showed no mercy to my sister, in spite of her being a woman, and they beat and tortured her as if she was a man. We want justice for all the victims. We want justice from that damn dictatorship we lived through,” said Mark Frauz, another family member. “It’s a joy for us that Evo has returned.” Bolivia's CYCN drug-policy programme was remarkably successful at controlling coca production in certain regions and benefitting historically marginalised communities, yet its effect was not homogeneous for other regions. This study finds that the strength of local coca organisations was instrumental in shaping different policy outcomes at the local level. CYCN was successful in areas where cocalero organisations were unified and committed to reform, and less successful in areas where cocalero organisations resisted reforms that threatened the interests of coca farmers. These findings have implications for two research programmes on social movements in the MAS government and CYCN impacts on living standards in coca regions, while also contributing policy lessons for drug-producing countries.

Since we introduced Cocalero Clásico in Georgia last summer, we’ve received an incredible response from bartenders and retailers who have really embraced the product,” remarked John Ralph, CEO of Intrepid Spirits. “Cocalero is unlike anything else on the market, and we’re confidently poised to replicate the success we’ve had in Atlanta in multiple other cities across the country over the next 12 months.” This article analyses the efforts of President Morales (2006–19) in implementing the world's first supply-side harm-reduction drug policy focused on supporting legal coca farmers while sanctioning illicit coca cultivation. Morales’ efforts were constrained by previous US-supported policy that divided Bolivian coca farmers, creating divergent interests with respect to reform. In line with US pressures, in 1988 Bolivia adopted the Law of Coca and Controlled Substances (Law 1008), which closely mirrored a similar US-promoted law in Peru. Footnote 5 Law 1008 distinguished traditional coca cultivation zones from non-traditional zones; targeting the latter with militarised eradication that caused violence and social unrest. Footnote 6 Responding to this social discontent, President Morales, a coca farmer, adopted the ‘Coca Yes, Cocaine No’ (CYCN) drug programme, an innovative harm-reduction approach that distinguished coca from cocaine and expanded legal production and community control. However, the new CYCN programme coexisted with Law 1008 for over a decade.In the ensuing years, Rodríguez rapidly rose through the ranks of cocalero union leadership. [3] In 2013, he replaced his mother as the Manco Cápac Union's minute taker and in 2014, he assumed office as secretary of relations of the 21 September Workers' Center, rising to become the organization's general secretary the following year. In 2016, Rodríguez was elected as executive of the Mamoré Bulo Bulo Federation, where he served for two terms. [2] As a representative of this organization, Rodríguez was presented twice as a candidate for the vice presidency of the Six Federations' Coordination Committee during the body's XIII and XIV congresses. On the first occasion in 2016, he attained 184 votes, placing third, but in 2018, he was elected, attaining the support of 1,020 of the organization's delegates. As vice president, Rodríguez served as second in command under Evo Morales, who had directed the Six Federations as its top leader for over two decades by that point. [6] [7] [8] Finally, in Chapare, an area of mostly non-traditional coca cultivation and the third area of interest, peasant unions played a pivotal role in supporting the implementation of CYCN reforms. These powerful agrarian unions formed after the 1953 Agrarian Reform in response to frontier colonisation. Following the Agrarian Reform, land plots became smaller in the highlands and the MNR government encouraged peasants to colonise Chapare, a semi-tropical lowland area east and north-east of the city of Cochabamba, and other frontier regions. As colonos (settlers) arrived in the 1960s, agrarian unions, fashioned from both highland Indigenous and peasant organisational structures, emerged as the governing authority in the absence of state presence. Colonos registered with their neighbourhood union and received a parcel of land in exchange for monthly dues and communal labour. Footnote 43 Existing research finds that electorally secure governments in new democracies are more likely to escalate repression in response to social resistance. Footnote 64 Following the crisis-plagued presidency of leftist Hernán Siles Zuazo (1982–5), the Bolivian Left was in electoral decline, leaving the Right to dominate national politics throughout the 1990s and escalate repression against Chapare growers. Footnote 65 The Chapare coca struggles peaked in 1998 with the initiation of Plan Dignidad (Dignity Plan), a militarised eradication campaign that reduced Chapare coca from 31,500 to 6,000 hectares, and caused the death of 25 cocaleros and left hundreds more injured or detained. Footnote 66 During this period, Morales, president of the Six Federations, led a successful grassroots resistance against repressive drug policies. In 1994, the Six Federations allied with other sectors that led to the creation of the MAS in 1998 as a mass movement and party. Footnote 67 Given the legal distinction created by Law 1008, this article asks, what was the impact of CYCN in areas of traditional and non-traditional coca production? To answer this question, the analysis takes a subnational approach distinct from earlier US-centred and cross-national approaches to Latin American drug policy. The main argument finds that CYCN was more successful in non-traditional coca areas because it was supported by strong coca growers’ organisations that united behind CYCN to successfully control coca production, while reducing violence and social unrest. Conversely, in traditional areas cocalero (coca producer) organisations evoked Law 1008 to resist CYCN reforms that expanded government control and gave non-traditional cocaleros access to legal coca production. Ultimately, the repeal of Law 1008 in 2017 ended legal protections for traditional cocaleros, thus igniting an organised resistance led by traditional cocalero organisations in the months before the disputed 2019 election that resulted in Morales’ forced resignation. Footnote 7 The subnational perspective guiding this research departs from conventional approaches in drug-policy research that view coca-growing regions as homogeneous at either the national or regional level. Such approaches primarily focus on US influence Footnote 12 and cross-national policy comparisons, Footnote 13 but pay less attention to local variation. Studies of the US influence on drug policies in Latin America tend to cluster in two groups. One group highlights how the US-led ‘War on Drugs’ harms development, while the other group uses cross-national research to underscore the novelty of Bolivia's rejection of US policies compared to Peru and Colombia, the other major coca/cocaine producers. This article draws on these perspectives to focus on how US influence shaped early drug policy in Bolivia, which later prompted distinct reactions from traditional and non-traditional cocaleros to CYCN reforms.

Hudson, Rex A.; Hanratty, Dennis M., eds. (1989). "Country studies - Bolivia". Washington: GPO. Archived from the original on 2003-05-05 . Retrieved 2 March 2020.Andrónico revela que tras 2019 muchos le dijeron 'tenemos que levantar las armas' "[Andrónico Reveals That After 2019 Many Told Him That "We Have to Raise Arms"]. Página Siete (in Spanish). La Paz. 9 April 2023. Archived from the original on 10 April 2023 . Retrieved 10 April 2023. The final promulgation of Law 906, enacted in March 2017, strongly conformed to the Chapare version, thereby illustrating the Six Federations’ strong political influence on the Morales government. The promulgated General Law equalised the status of all coca growers and initially granted Chapare's proposed expansion to 20,000 hectares. However, that limit was later increased to 22,000 hectares, distributing 14,300 to La Paz regions and 7,700 to Chapare. The latter was in response to protests by non-traditional Yungas growers, represented by COFECAY, who argued that the new law disproportionately favoured Chapare. Footnote 141 The expansion accounted for the number of registered growers, but it was controversial because earlier studies estimated domestic demand for coca leaf in Bolivia at 14,700 hectares, considerably less than the 22,000 hectares permitted under the new law. Footnote 142 a b Zapata, Verónica (10 January 2020). "Conozca el joven que lidera la resistencia en Bolivia: Andronico Rodríguez"[Meet the Youth Leading the Resistance in Bolivia: Andronico Rodríguez]. Motor Económico (in Spanish). Buenos Aires. Archived from the original on 11 January 2020 . Retrieved 29 August 2022.

When I was traveling in South America, visiting Bolivia and surrounding countries, I was deeply influenced by how prevalent the coca leaf was in the local culture,” commented Ralph. “Further research led me to many historic references of its use in tonics and beverages in Europe and America, and ultimately inspired me to create Cocalero, our own celebration of the coca leaf.” Rodríguez es el nuevo presidente del Senado y tomó juramento a nueva directiva"[Rodríguez Is the New President of the Senate and Swore In a New Directorate]. Los Tiempos (in Spanish). Cochabamba. Agencia de Noticias Fides. 4 November 2020. Archived from the original on 30 August 2022 . Retrieved 30 August 2022. Chuquimia, Marco Antonio (16 January 2020). "Pacto de Unidad se decide por Choquehuanca y Rodríguez como los candidatos del MAS"[Pact of Unity Decides on Choquehuanca and Rodríguez As the MAS's Candidates]. El Deber (in Spanish). Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Archived from the original on 30 August 2022 . Retrieved 30 August 2022. MAS gana en Cochabamba con el 57,52% de votos"[MAS Wins in Cochabamba with 57.52% of the Vote]. El País (in Spanish). Tarija. Agencia Boliviana de Información. 22 October 2019. Archived from the original on 30 August 2022 . Retrieved 30 August 2022. Rojas, Fernanda (18 October 2019). Written at La Paz. " 'Andy', el joven protegido de Evo Morales que aspira a convertirse en su sucesor"["Andy", the Young Protégé of Evo Morales Who Aspires to Become His Successor]. La Tercera (in Spanish). Santiago. Archived from the original on 23 December 2019 . Retrieved 29 August 2022.Aún sin Evo Morales, su partido lidera los sondeos para las elecciones presidenciales en Bolivia"[Even Without Evo Morales, His Party Leads the Polls for the Presidential Elections in Bolivia]. Clarín (in Spanish). Buenos Aires. 22 December 2019. Archived from the original on 9 August 2021 . Retrieved 30 August 2022.