February 9, 2007 - Los Angeles Times (US) Chavez Will Fund Factories To Make Legal Coca Products By Chris Kraul, LA Times

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CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has found a novel way to dispense foreign aid: by promising to underwrite coca production in Bolivia.

Officials here confirmed Wednesday that Venezuela will buy whatever legal products Bolivia can make from coca leaf, as part of that southern Andean nation's attempt to wean farmers from the cocaine industry.

Chavez's promise could finance the production of some 4,000 tons of coca leaf in Bolivia, Venezuelan officials say.

Possible coca-based products include soap, bread, herbal teas, toothpaste, unspecified medicines and cooking oils. No dollar amount for Venezuela's support has been announced. Three factories are under construction in Bolivia with Venezuelan financial and Cuban technical support, and production could begin this summer.

First announced last month by Venezuela's ambassador in Bolivia, Julio Montes, the deal is being finalized this week in Caracas during meetings of the two countries' foreign ministers.

The pledge is the latest in a series of foreign aid promises in Latin America as Chavez tries to expand his influence and promote his "Bolivarean Revolution."

Chavez's promise is a big step in Bolivian President Evo Morales' efforts to legitimize the production of coca leaves, a crop Morales once grew.

The announcement came as the United States government is scaling back its anti-drug enforcement funding to Andean nations, including Bolivia and Ecuador.

Chavez has long supported Morales' efforts to find commercial markets for coca-based products. Indigenous communities in Colombia and Peru, who claim the leaf is sacred, have attempted to promote commercial, noncocaine uses of coca in soft drinks, cookies and anti-arthritic ointments. Botanists have extolled the nutrients that the leaf contains.

The coca deal will do nothing to lessen the continued hostility of the Bush administration toward the Chavez regime. That hostility was evident at a Wednesday congressional hearing when U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said democracy and human rights were under attack in Venezuela.

"I do believe that the president of Venezuela is really, really destroying his own country, economically, politically," Rice told lawmakers.

But the Venezuelan and Bolivian governments made it clear U.S. objections will not affect their plans. Appearing on Tuesday before reporters with Bolivian foreign minister David Choquehuanca, Venezuelan chancellor Nicolas Maduro said the two nations were working on projects to "value and dignify the coca leaf."

Coca Bread, Coca Soap

Possible coca-based products include soap, bread, herbal teas, toothpaste, unspecified medicines and cooking oils.

Three factories are under construction in Bolivia with Venezuelan financial and Cuban technical support, and production could begin this summer.

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