On September 26, coca growers attempting to settle illegally in the Isiboro-Securé Park and indigenous Yuracaré inhabitants clashed in a violent conflict, leading to the gunshot death of at least one person and the injury of several others.  The clash highlights the complex situation surrounding national parks in the Chapare coca-growing region. In many cases the Bolivian press has misrepresented or misunderstood the complex dynamics in these protected areas.

For example, the Villa Tunari municipal government recently announced plans to construct a new road through part of the Machía Park, which houses tropical animals rescued from captivity. It remains unclear whether the plans to build a road through part of Machía Park are linked to the new highway financed by Brazil through the Isiboro-Securé Park to Beni. Clearly, any road construction in this tropical region will produce notable adverse environmental impact, although Bolivian authorities have complied so far with required environmental protection stipulations. The mainstream Bolivian press has sought to erroneously link both initiatives to an alleged MAS government coca-growing or cocaine-producing agenda within protected areas.

Some key points to understand unique Chapare park dynamics:

• The boundaries of these parks are not clearly defined, further contributing to constant conflict.

• Distinct indigenous groups in Bolivia have different concerns which are often at odds and lead to conflict. A uniform “indigenous bloc” does not exist. Contrary to the U.S. or European concept of national parks, Bolivian reserves (including Carrasco, Isiboro and Madidi) are home to inhabitants, whose residency often predates the territories’ designation as park land, and who continue to carry out subsistence activities.

• Diverse political factors are at play.  Most private news sources in Bolivia are owned by conservative businessmen, and the coverage articles covering these situations frequently distorts complex dynamics.

Isiboro-Securé Park

The MAS government is currently stuck between a rock and a hard place, under pressure to eradicate coca in national parks, including Isiboro, and maintain crucial voter support among the coca-growers’ federations of the Chapare. However, MAS has taken a relatively diplomatic stance in their response to the violent incidents of last Saturday.

• Accounts in the Bolivia press tend to oversimplify the conflict, presenting it as indigenous people protecting their territory from usurpation and resisting coca production. The local Coca-Growers Federations’ leadership vehemently rejects these actions and does not support or promote coca production within prohibited areas in national parks. The incident is an unsurprising development after several decades of conflict between highland indigenous migrants who have become coca growers and Yuracaré indigenous people who “originally” inhabited these territories. Continued cohabitation and competition for land and resources provokes ongoing friction between these  groups.  The Morales administration publically recognized that the settlers invaded the indigenous reserve to illegally plant coca and sent a contingency of police into the remote region.

• The timing of the clash does suggest several politically-motivated hypotheses:

1.    That political opposition to MAS sought to aggravate the existing conflict. This would serve to erode MAS’s reputation, forcing them to choose to support one of the two indigenous groups in conflict, thus losing the support of the other. Speculation exists that the severe beating of MAS opponent Marcial Fabricano in the region by non-coca grower indigenous groups several months ago may have exacerbated the present conflict.

2.    That the Morales administration will use the incident to justify planned forced coca eradication in the park, in spite of the friction it will create with its coca grower support base. Drug Czar Felipe Cáceres announced, “Joint Task Force Brigades will preserve all the protected areas and comply with their mission to eradicate illegal coca planted in the Isiboro-Sécure and Carrasco [Parks] where an estimated 2,000 hectares of illegal coca exist.” (ABI 9/28/09.)  After a lull, conflict in the region will most likely continue.

• MAS’s stance allows them to continue plans to construct a new road between Villa Tunari and  San Ignacio de Moxos through the Isiboro Park. The Brazilian government has provided substantial credit for the project. Although some Bolivian mainstream articles and editorials allege that the highway will facilitate drug trafficking and transportation of coca and from remote areas currently isolated without bridges or roads, these products are in fact easy to haul without such infrastructure. The road would ultimately be much more useful to transport fruit and other income-generating products that are heavier, more cumbersome and perishable. The road construction would also facilitate the entry of eradication and interdiction forces, a much more probable Morales administration agenda.  Furthermore, in spite of high environmental costs, the road would not exclusively benefit cocaleros, and would provide an important connection to the Beni department and eventually to Brazil to facilitate exports.

Machía Park and Animal Reserve

Although some Bolivian papers indentify highway construction through Machía Park in Villa Tunari as another example of coca-grower infringement upon park land, the political battle over Machía represents a distinct, unrelated dispute with a long, complicated history.  Clearly, animal rescue and rehabilitation efforts carried out by Inti Wara Yassi within the park are important, but the situation is complex.

1.    A decade-old conflict continues to simmer between the Villa Tunari municipal government, the traditional tourism middle-class industry representatives in town, and the Inti Wara Yassi NGO over who controls the earnings from Machía Park and the alleged poor image that the “volunteers” who work there create in town.

2.    The the municipality of Villa Tunari owns the rights to the park, and receives the entrance fees collected from visitors.

3.    However, Inti Wara Yassi ultimately has a more profitable role in the business, collecting money from photos taken in the park, receiving donations and the money paid by “volunteers” who apply to work there. “Volunteers” number around 20 individuals at any given time, and are charged a fee of up to $10 per day to work in the park.

4.    With the earnings from the park, a few years ago the NGO purchased a much larger piece of land in the Santa Cruz department, which is more remote and provides better conditions for the animals “rescued” by the project. In other words, animals displaced by the road construction would have another safe haven, although the new location would be much less profitable for the NGO managers who would not earn as much from tourism traffic, and would likely receive fewer volunteers in a more isolated locale.

5.    Furthermore, the central location of the park near Villa Tunari has led to various problems. A number of years ago a puma escaped and attacked a small child, causing serious injury. Although the NGO covered the necessary medical treatment, the incident provoked significant friction in the community. In fact, due to its urban proximity, many of the recently rescued animals must spend most of their time in cages or leashed.