Hightower Lowdown

Time for another Gooberhead Award, presented periodically to those in the news who have their tongues running a hundred miles an hour. . . but who forgot to put their brains in gear. Today's award is shared by the U.S. ambassador to Bolivia and his higher-ups in charge of America's screwy drug policy. What's screwy in this case is Washington's insistence that our homegrown cocaine problem would be solved if only impoverished farmers in Bolivia and elsewhere could be forced to stop growing coca. But these farmers point out that--hello!--coca is not cocaine: It's just a leaf crop they've been growing and consuming for centuries (since before there was a USofA), with the leaves themselves simply chewed by the native people as a safe and mild stimulant, much like coffee is used by us Americans every day. Chemicals manufactured in the U.S. are what turn this natural leaf into a horribly addictive and destructive powder. But rather than focus on the Latin-American and U.S. kingpins who make, distribute, finance, and profit so enormously from this processed drug, the Gooberheads in charge of drug policy and Latin- American diplomacy have been pounding on the poor coca farmers. They've sprayed poisons on hundreds of thousands of acres, destroying not only the coca crops, but also the livelihoods of peasant families. Then, when Evo Morales--the foremost advocate of these families in Bolivia--ran for president, our diplomats imperiously tried to have him expelled from the Bolivian Congress and declared that his election would be considered "a hostile act" against the U.S. by the Bolivian people! Unsurprisingly, this further fueled the people's explosive anger at our government-- yet David Greenlee, the U.S. ambassador there, blithely declared, "We think on balance that our policies . . . have been positive things for Bolivia. We don't think it is a problem." Huge numbers of Bolivians know better than Mr. Greenlee, and they’re likely to be back in the streets hollering against the heavy hand of Uncle Sam until they get some justice.