Bolivia hardens tone on cocaine 'mega labs', signaling crackdown

By Monica Machicao
September 2, 20236:36 AM CDT Updated 2 hours ago

LA PAZ, Sept 2 (Reuters) - In a break with the past, Bolivia's government has acknowledged that the country is becoming a production hub for cocaine rather than a mere transport hub and grower of raw coca leaves.

Along with Colombia and Peru, Bolivia is widely recognized as a leading world producer of coca, the raw ingredient for cocaine, but the government has long maintained production of consumption-ready cocaine was limited.

In a shift of tone this week, the government said it had destroyed a large number of laboratories, mostly in the tropical Chapare region, one of the main coca growing areas and a stronghold of former leftist President Evo Morales.

"In 2023 alone, our administration has destroyed more than 27 mega laboratories (there) for the crystallization of cocaine hydrochloride," Minister of Government Eduardo del Castillo told reporters, referring to the salt or powdered form of the drug.

"They are trying to turn our nation from being a drug transit country to a drug-producing country," he added and presented a drug trafficking map of some 1,804 drug factory busts since 2020, the "vast majority" in Chapare, he said.

More:
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/bolivia-hardens-tone-cocaine-mega-labs-signaling-crackdown-2023-09-02/