The University of Maine DigitalCommons@UMaine School of Economics Faculty Scholarship School of Economics 2-1991 Bolivia: The olitP ics of Cocaine Melvin Burke University of Maine Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/eco_facpub Part of the Food and Drug Law Commons, and the Latin American Studies Commons Repository Citation Burke, Melvin, "Bolivia: The oP litics of Cocaine" (1991). School of Economics Faculty Scholarship. 9. https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/eco_facpub/9 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in School of Economics Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. = "Despite a marsive infusion oj monty and manpower, no one can seriously claim that the war on drugs in Bolivia is being won. » Bolivia: The Politics of Cocaine By MELVIN BURKE Professor of Economics, University of Maine OLIVIA'S sad and turbulent history continues The deteriorating economic situation - com . to repeat itself. The coca boom of today has bined with pressure from the international com Breplaced the tin boom of the last century, munity - forced the Bolivian military to return to its which in turn supplanted the exploitation of silver barracks in October, 1982.2 Hernan Siles Zuazo and other precious metals during the colonial and his Democratic and Popular Unity (UDP) period. And as in the past, Bolivia's export-based coalition, which had won the 1980 election, then economy continues to depend on foreigners for assumed power.