The following paragraph exemplifies Farah’s tone throughout the piece:

 
What is interesting in the dynamic […] is that conflict eruptions seem to coincide with deep crises facing the Morales government. For example, the expulsion of the DEA and accusations of U.S. government conspiring came just after two sisters of Margarita Terán, one of Morales' closest confidants and MAS founder, were arrested in possession of 147 kilos of cocaine in the Chapare, along with several hundred thousand dollars in cash. Amid the scandal, exacerbated by the fact that Terán had chaired the committee in the constituent assembly that wrote the articles pertaining to coca, a series of senior government officials vowed to apply the law regardless of the identity of the accused ("caiga quien caiga.") Yet the two sisters were freed on bail, in highly irregular circumstances, just two months later and all charges were dismissed.

(p. 38)

 
Comments:

1.      Although Farah claims the events coincided, police arrested the Terán sisters on September 24, 2008 and Morales announced the expulsion on November 1, five weeks later.

2.      Farah refers to Margarita Terán as “one of Morales’s close confidants.” In fact, she did play an important role in the Women’s coca growers’ federations from 2000-2005. And Morales dated Terán briefly in 2004. Since his 2005 election, she  has not been part of his inner circle, and holds no position in the Morales administration.

3.      Legal investigations have not implicated Margarita Terán personally in her siblings’ drug trafficking activities.

4.      Furthermore, he names Terán a “MAS founder.” When MAS was founded in 1995, she was eleven years old.

5.      Téran chaired the coca commission of the Constitutional Assembly as a representative of the MBL, a party allied with, but not part of MAS. The work of this commission did not address drug trafficking. The only article it produced dealt with the traditional use of the coca leaf.[i] After concluding her term in the Assembly, Terán held no other government or MAS position.

6.      Although the investigative judge in the case ruled to release the sisters, the district court annulled the decision six days later.[ii] On May 20, 2009 the Sacaba district court released Elba Terán and her husband on bail. Then, on June 5 the appellant court ruled that the guarantees presented were falsified and insufficient and the couple returned to jail.[iii] All three currently reside in the Sacaba jail.[iv]

7.      As a result of the Teráns’ arrest, the San Isidro community where they formerly resided in the Chapare officially expelled them, and the Bolivian government expropriated their land and eradicated their cato of coca.

[i] Artículo 384. “The State protects native and ancestral coca as cultural patrimony, a renewable natural resource, and an element of social cohesion; in its natural state it is not a narcotic the revaluing, production, sale and industrialization will be regulated by law.“
Asamblea Constituyente de Bolivia, Nueva Constitución Política de Bolivia. 0ctober 2008.

[ii] “Juez ordena retorno de las hermanas Terán a la cárcel.” La Razón 6 Jan 2009.

[iii] “El "Clan Terán" vuelve tras las rejas” Correo del Sur. 6. June 2009.

[iv] “Hermanas Terán fueron expulsadas de San Isidro.” La Razón 23 Oct. 2008.