Sovereignty vs. Prohibition in Bolivia’s Coca Wars

Bolivia has long struggled to balance the demands of the global drug control regime, which bans coca cultivation and consumption, with the plant’s deep cultural and economic importance at home. This article traces coca governance from US-backed eradication campaigns to former President Evo Morales’s “coca yes, cocaine no” policy, showing how the Chapare coca unions evolved from targets of repression into powerful political actors. Community-based coca control reduced violence and improved rural livelihoods, but now faces pressure from growing organized crime, diminished international support, and shifting domestic politics. The Bolivian case reveals both the limits of prohibition and the fragile promise of alternative approaches to governing drug crops.