To the attention of Marco Pannella and Olivier Dupuis

Brussels, 29th of August, 1995

On July 17th, you co-signed a letter to the president of Bolivia, Mr. Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, expressing your concern with the increasing violence against cocaproducing farmers in Bolivia in general and the detention of their main leaders in particular.

I am happy to inform you that all arrested peasant leaders have been set free, on July 29th, without, any charges being made against them. Nevertheless, there is enough reason to believe that the situation can again become tensed in the near future. Violent connotations between police forces and peasants are happening almost every week in the main cocaproducing area in Bolivia, the Chapare. Already three peasants have died in those incidents.

At the same, time, the situation in the coca producing regions in Bolivia's neighbouring countries, Peru and Colombia, is becoming more serious as well. In Peru, due to the inability of the government to produce a realistic alternative to the cocapeasants, mass coca cultivation is expanding towards the Amazon jungle. In Colombia, the authorities have reintroduced aerial spraying of herbicide to destroy the cocaplant, thus provoking social confrontations that may cause a new wave of violence in this country.

We would like to remind you that a number of Andean organizations, among them the Andean Council of Coca Producers, have elaborated a set of proposals in order to contribute to a peaceful solution in the Andean war on drugs. One of the objectives of the, COCA'95 campaign, an initiative of 16 European NGO's co-financed by the European Commission, is to introduce this proposal in the European debate on drugs and development.

Member organizations of this campaign are involved in the organization of the forthcoming visit to Europe of various representatives of the involved regions. Apart from giving a clear first-hand testimony of the situation, they will be able to further develop their proposals for a solution to this problem,

On two occasions, between September 13 and 15, and on September 25 and 26th, a delegation from Peru will visit Brussels, formed by Genaro Cahuana Serna and Ricardo Soberón García. Cahuana Serna is the Vice-president of the Andean Council of Coca Producers, the umbrella organizations of all major federations of coca peasants in Bolivia, Colombia and Peru. Soberón Garcia is a lawyer, member of the Andean Commission of Jurists, and advisor to the Andean Council.

On October l9th, two visitors from Colombia will be, in Brussels, namely Ricardo Vargas, director of CINEP (Centro de Investigación y Educación Popular) and specialist in the so-called 'alternative development' programmes aimed at producing an alternative source of income to the coca peasants. He will be accompanied by a Colombian development worker, related to the Church, who is active in one of the main cocaproducing regions in the country.

If you are interested to meet any of the above-mentioned persons or want to know more about the proposals that have been referredto, please, contact the COCA'95 coordination centre in Brussels.

Sincerely yours,

on behalf of the COCA'95 campaign,

Joseph Oomen

P.S. Thanks once again for all your help. We also talked about the possibility of arranging something together in September, with the assistence of the Peruvian delegates. In the coming days. I will contact you to see what is possible.