Monthly Archives: May 2019

Coca leaves in the 21st century. Recall that soon after Evo Morales was elected as the country’s first indigenous president, Bolivia adopted a new Constitution in 2009. This is Article 384: The State shall protect native and ancestral coca as …

Sixteenth century lobbyists. The so-called coca problem was formally addressed in the Councils of Lima in 1552 and 1569. Two groups pressed for either the complete elimination or at least the limitation of coca use in the First Council of …

The Coca Museum. I’d first read about the Coca Museum at Atlasobscura which it describes as follows: “In some ways, the Museo de la Coca is an anti-defamation organization, although definitely the most bizarre of any similar group.” (I’m uncertain …

Mi Teleférico. After our visit to the witches market, we spent much of the rest of the day soaring over La Paz and into and out of El Alto on the wings of the area’s mass transit system Mi Teleférico. …

Bolivia’s first indigenous president. As for Evo Morales, he was elected to his first five-year term in 2006 and, among his early acts as president, was convening a constitutional convention. That convention drafted a new constitution that was ratified in …