Traditional Culture

BBC reports on how Bolivia and Peru are defending the right of indigenous peoples to to continue in their cultivation of the coca plant. The leaves have been used by indigenous peoples in South America for medicinal and religious purposes for centuries. Countries such as Bolivia and Peru are under pressure from the UN to curtail all cultivation of the coca plant. The BBC reports that Peru and Bolivia are lobbying for changes to UN conventions on narcotics and controlled substances.

Peru said a balance was needed between allowing cultivation for traditional uses while preventing it for cocaine production.

"One of the principles of humanitarian law is the respect of traditional customs, recognised by the national constitution," said Jose Belaunde, Peru's foreign relations minister.

"The United Nations lacks respect for the indigenous people of Peru and Bolivia who have used the coca leaf since forever," said Peruvian Congresswoman Maria Sumire.

"For indigenous people, coca is a sacred leaf that is part of their cultural identity," she said.

The UN is pushing for tighter controls on the use of the coca leaf:

The International Narcotics Control Board released an annual report on Wednesday that reminded the two governments that use and possession of coca leaves, the main ingredient in cocaine, were limited to medical and scientific purposes.

The two countries should "abolish or prohibit activities... such as coca leaf chewing and the manufacture of coca tea", the report said.

People in the Andes use coca leaves to alleviate hunger and tiredness, for medicinal purposes and in religious rituals.

UN conventions list coca as a dangerous controlled substance, along with cocaine and opium.

For more on the subject, these two books examine the history and the anthropology of the use of the coca leaf in Bolivia and Peru: Coca Prohibition in Peru: The Historical Debates by Joseph Gagliano and The Coca Boom and Rural Social Change in Bolivia by Harry Sanabria.