Jobless Bolivia Miners Threaten to Grow Coca
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From Reuters
LA PAZ, Bolivia — Miners laid off in a major restructuring of Bolivia’s tin mining industry threatened Thursday to start growing coca to make a living if the government does not find them jobs. Coca is the raw material for cocaine.
“The miners who yesterday produced tin will now produce coca,” Augusto Leon, leader of the laid-off workers, told a news conference. Bolivia is a major grower of coca, with enough of it estimated to be under cultivation to supply up to half of the world’s cocaine market.
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