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Bolivian Vice President David Choquehuanca and President Luis Arce chew coca leaves during the celebration of the "acullico" tradition, where coca leaves are shared and alternative products made with coca are shown, in La Paz, Bolivia January 11, 2023.
Forget “Cocaine Bear,” here comes cocaine beer
Bolivia is diversifying its coca leaf products – from soaps and shampoos to a buzzy new beer. La Paz’s El Viejo Roble Distillery has launched a coca-infused brew set to hit the market at only $2 a bottle. It will be added to the list of its other coca-flavored drinks, including rum and vodka.
When can you try it? Getting this beer to global markets may prove challenging. Although coca-leaf products are legal and crucial to the Bolivian economy, these products are not in many other countries owing to their UN narcotic classification. Still, Bolivia is trying: It has initiated the coca review process to repeal its drug status with the support of fellow cocaine-leading countries Colombia and Mexico.
The WHO began its critical review of the leaf last fall – the first of many stages in the decriminalization process. These findings are key to Bolivia, as coca leaves hold great importance among Bolivians, both spiritually among Indigenous communities, and economically by supporting over 70,000 cocaleros (coca growers) and bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars of the country’s annual GDP.
Their research must be submitted by October, and the UN Convention on Narcotic Drugs will vote next year. We’ll be watching to see whether we can toast their decision with this new coca brew.
How to solve Colombia's cocaine problem
According to a 2022 White House report, during the pandemic, coca cultivation and production in Colombia reached a record 245,000 hectares and 1,010 metric tons. In an exclusive interview with GZERO World, Colombia's new president, Gustavo Petro, said that enough is enough.
“It's shameful that just because we are the producers of the coca leaf or cocaine we’ve believed that we must silence ourselves and accept the policies of world powers in this regard, even though they are totally wrong. This must end.”
Key to curbing Colombia’s drug problem, Petro explains, is reassessing the Colombia-US relationship.
The Biden administration has already signaled to Petro that they know the War on Drugs has failed. But both nations, Petro argues, must stop viewing the jungle as “the enemy.” Only then can there be progress.
Watch the GZERO World episode: Gustavo Petro: the guerilla-turned-president who wants to "develop capitalism"
From stunted capitalism to economic growth in Colombia
During his victory speech last June, Colombia’s new president, and the country’s first leftist leader in modern history, said that it was time to “develop capitalism.” In an exclusive interview with Ian Bremmer for GZERO World, President Gustavo Petro explains what he meant.
“I mean to say that capitalism has not developed in Colombia. The productive capacity that it generates, which is indubitable throughout human history, has been quite rickety in my country.”
Petro tells Ian how he intends to expand Colombia’s productive capacity, and why the nation’s teeming biodiversity is central to that mission. And why a new kind of capitalism can diminish coca production in the process.
Watch the GZERO World episode: Gustavo Petro: the guerilla-turned-president who wants to "develop capitalism"
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