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Article: EDITORIAL: Bolivian Aymara Leader Challenges United States.
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
- Article date:
- July 19, 2002
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Indian Country Today, Oneida, N.Y. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Jul. 19--To the Indian peoples of the Andes, coca is a sacred medicine. This is ostensibly true in Bolivia, where coca tea is highly recommended to provide energy at high altitudes. The coca plant is not "a drug," is not synthetic, is not "cocaine." The Quechua and Aymara and other Native nations use coca in ceremony. It is good for women especially, for headaches and menstrual pain. Coca, in Bolivia, is not regarded by the Indian campesinos as something evil, not in the way Drug War advocates would have us think.
U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia V. Manuel Rocha found that out in ...