Andean Information Network

· International drug control policy should place higher priority on promoting a stable, civilian government in Bolivia than on meeting coca eradication goals.

· The U.S. government should publicly support dialogue between the Bolivian government and coca growers as a way to avert further violence and address social concerns.

· The U.S. should support and promote the undertaking of an independent study of the size of the legal, traditional coca market in Bolivia.

Human Rights and Impunity

· Viable judicial instruments need greater funding to prosecute human rights violators, and to bring an end to the impunity enjoyed by anti-narcotic officers.

· The U.S. Congress should retain its hold on any remaining military and police aid until presented with compelling evidence that the military and police are cooperating with civilian human rights investigations and prosecutions.

· The U.S. Congress should sharpen the legislative conditions that must be met for aid to be disbursed by specifying that the Secretary of State must determine that the Bolivian military and police are cooperating fully with civilian investigations and prosecutions of alleged violations of human rights.

· The U.S. Congress should implement the Leahy amendments, suspending funding to those units who commit abuses when responsible members are not sanctioned, as U.S. law dictates.

· The U.S. State Department and embassy should take steps to evaluate the effectiveness of Bolivian legal investigations into abuses committed by U.S.-funded security forces in Bolivia, and use those evaluations to determine the distribution of funding.

Bolivian Sovereignty

· The U.S. government should respect Bolivian sovereignty by giving the Bolivian government freedom to negotiate the terms under which any future coca eradication will be carried out and to reform anti-drug legislation as deemed appropriate or necessary by Bolivian actors.

· The U.S. government should temporarily waive coca eradication targets, in order to give the Bolivian government room to negotiate with the various social sectors to find their own mutually agreeable solutions. Alternative Development

· The U.S. government should provide significantly more economic assistance to Bolivia for development efforts, and do so without linking it to anti-drug objectives.

· Alternative development programs should prioritize sustainable human development and poverty alleviation, which will in turn reduce dependence on the cultivation of coca.

· While the initial focus should be on immediate expressed needs, long-term strategies should promote education and training, crop diversification, and off-farm opportunities, all with a focus on long-term sustainability. .

· USAID should engage with the predominately democratic local organizations and governments, moving away from opposition to the economic development approach of these groups, and towards seeking points of commonality to increase effectiveness and reduce costs.

· The U.S. government must follow through with new proposals (announced in April 2004) to support and expand initiatives that work through municipalities in the Yungas and the Chapare, as these represent a potential major reorientation in U.S. alternative development policy, are consistent with Bolivian municipal law, and recognize the legitimacy of the coca growers’ elected representatives.

* In collaboration with the Washington Office on Latin American and other advocacy and human rights organizations, the Andean Information Network has developed these recommendations for changes in U.S. and international policy to help alleviate the harmful impact of the War on Drugs in Bolivia.