On January 5, 8.7 tons of cocaine were seized in Oruro department, a region in the Altiplano in western Bolivia “Largest anti-drug operation in Bolivian history”. The drug, disguised in wooden panels, was intended for the European market. The value of the acquisition exceeded $520 million (478 million euros).

Six months earlier, in May 2023, Bolivian Interior Minister Eduardo del Castillo, then 34 years old, dressed in camouflage and a bulletproof vest, called“historical” another trawl in the Cochabamba region, in the center of the country. There, 27 cocaine paste factories and seven refinery laboratories had just been dismantled by the special anti-drug trafficking unit (special fight against drug trafficking ; FELCN).

These operations are mediated by the government of Luis Arce (left), in power since November 2020The aim is to convince public opinion of its effectiveness against drug trafficking. Total in 2023 Almost 33 tons of cocaine have been seized (compared to 20.3 in 2022) and more than 1,800 factories have been destroyed since 2020. However, these numbers reveal an alarming reality for Bolivia: the drug in circulation is exploding. “We are flooded with cocaine”, concludes Gabriela Reyes, drug trafficking expert and former director of the Bolivian Observatory for Citizen Security and Drug Control. Experts estimate that only 10% of medications in circulation are affected by seizures.

Bolivia has long been a producer only of coca leaves, consumed for medicinal or traditional purposes, ranking third behind Colombia and Peru. But in recent years the country has become one of the largest producers of cocaine.

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In La Paz, in the heart of the largest covered coca leaf market, producers from the Yungas, a traditional producing region northeast of La Paz, are ruling out any confusion. “Grapes are not wine, it takes a chemical process to transform them. It’s the same with Cola,” annoys one of them, Oscar Mercado, who is drying his leaves on the ground. “All our production is for personal consumption »these small producers affirm.

In Bolivia, the cultivation of coca leaves is permitted on 22,000 hectares. But the planted areas are much larger. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, they cover about 30,000 hectares in the country. Other analysts assume 45,000 hectares.

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