- Cocalero
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Cocaleros are the coca leaf growers of Peru and Bolivia. Evo Morales, who became president of Bolivia in 2006, is a leader of the cocalero movement in that country.
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Cocalero movement
In Bolivia, the cocalero movement primarily consists of organizations of coca farmers in the Yungas of La Paz department and the Chapare of Cochabamba (also referred to as the Tropic of Cochabamba). The main organizations are the Council of Campesino Federations of the Yungas (Spanish: Consejo de Federaciones Campesinas de Los Yungas, COFECAY) and the Six Federations of the Tropic of Cochabamba (Spanish: Seis Federaciones del Trópico de Cochabamba, often the "Six Federations").[1] The Yungas is a traditional coca growing region since at least the period of the Inca empire, while most growers in the Chapare are recent migrants since the 1970s and 1980s.
Morales claimed his "life-defining epiphany" came in 1978 when, as a member of the army, he took part in a military action against coca growers' march. "When ordered to shoot,...I saw the biggest defenders of democracy were the cocaleros."[2]
Film
Cocalero is also the title of a documentary film directed by Alejandro Landes which chronicles Evo Morales' travels through Bolivia in his political campaign to become the first president of Bolivia of indigenous descent. The film was screened at the BAFICI and shown at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival as part of the World Cinema Competition: Documentary section. Executive Producer Ellyn E. Daniels.
References
- ^ García Linera, Álvaro; Marxa Chávez León, Patricia Costas Monje (2004). Sociología de los movimientos sociales en Bolivia: Estructuras de movilización, repertorios culturales y acción política. La Paz, Bolivia: DIAKONIA, Accion Ecuménica Sueca. pp. 381–500. ISBN 999050623X.
- ^ Brian Loveman. "Addicted to Failure"
External links
Categories:- Bolivian society
- Drug culture
- Slang
- Bolivia stubs
- Peru stubs
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