Mary Anastasia O'Grady, a Wall Street Journal writer and outspoken critic of the drug war, writes about Evo Morales, the new President of Bolivia:
Evo Morales is an anti-American extremist who wants to turn Bolivia into another Venezuela. That naturally alarms Washington, but not enough to halt its war on drugs, which is aiding the president -- and leader of Bolivia's coca-growing peasant movement -- in his bid to become a dictator.
In a recent interview with the Bolivian Catholic radio station Fides, Mr. Morales explained that in 2003, when he was at a conference in Havana, Fidel Castro told him "not to stage an armed uprising" but to "make transformations, democratic revolutions, what [Venezuelan President Hugo] Chavez is doing."
There are a lot of questions about what Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales are doing with their electoral majorities. For some, they are doing what they have to in order to keep America from interfering with their democratic process. For others, they are dismantling democratic institutions in order to become unchecked dictators like Castro.
The process Fidel advised requires the slow dismantling of institutions that act as checks on the executive while maintaining the guise of democracy. This calls for healthy poll numbers even while the rule of law is being trampled. Mr. Chavez had oil revenues to keep the masses happy while he put a noose around democracy.
Senator Harry Reid echoed these concerns this week, and drew a sharp response from Chavez. Chavez, who just began a second term in Venezuela, is vowing to change the country's constitution in order to allow him to run again in 2013, and has been given "special powers" for the next 18-months in order to implement his strongly socialist agenda. Regardless of whether you believe that Chavez is well-intentioned, it's very clear that he's trying to redefine his government in ways to give him greater power in much the same way that "El Diablo" has.
But Evo isn't so fortunate and he can't push through a constitutional coup without popular backing. So to generate support he has relied heavily on his defense of coca growers against a U.S. policy that presses countries in Latin America to destroy their crops.
Since his inauguration last January Mr. Morales has been dutifully complying with the Cuban dictator's instructions. He has purged the military leadership, broken contracts with energy investors to signal his control over the sector, and pushed through an election for a constituent assembly that is charged with rewriting the highest law of the land.
So far so good. But the assembly election didn't turn out the way he had hoped. In the event, Mr. Morales's Movement Toward Socialism ( MAS ) party won only 53% of the seats. Since the law requires a two-thirds majority to approve the new document, the president's party is looking at compromise with his political opponents in the drafting process.
Apparently this is the sort of thing Fidel did not counsel. So now the Morales government is insisting that ratification of the new constitution should require only a simple majority vote in the assembly or a simple majority in a national referendum.
To win on this point, Mr. Morales will have to run roughshod over the law and he has already begun. Over the Christmas holiday he unilaterally named four new justices to the Supreme Court's 12-seat bench. The president says these are legal recess appointments, but the opposition is crying foul because the MAS-controlled congress never initiated the nomination process that would have safeguarded the independence of the court. Bolivian democrats are worried that Mr. Morales will also try to alter the makeup of the constitutional court and the electoral council to favor his own objectives.
For a more thorough summary of what's happened in Evo Morales' first year as Bolivia's President, click here to read University of Buffalo Professor Newton Garver's piece at CounterPunch. Despite O'Grady's depiction, Morales can hardly be accused of doing anything to undermine Bolivia's democracy. For some though (including the Wall Street Journal editorial board), trying to implement socialist reforms is inherently anti-democratic, even if those reforms have the strong support of the majority. As Garver explained, the more right-wing eastern parts of the country are unhappy and are trying to gain more autonomy to avoid being part of Morales' reforms. But Morales has been able to hold his ground, and has shown that he's capable of standing firm in the face of turmoil. As a result, American business interests are now worried that he'll be able to start making the sweeping socialist changes already underway in Venezuela. To them, whether or not something is "democratic" has nothing to do with what the people of Venezuela or Bolivia want, it has to do with what they see as being the most prosperous avenue for the country to travel down.
O'Grady continues...
The center of the opposition movement is based in the energy-rich, agricultural lowlands of the eastern part of the country, where there is a long history of agitation in favor of more decentralized government. The Morales presidency, with its promise to expropriate and redistribute land, its heavy-handed intervention in the natural gas sector, and now its attempt at a constitutional coup, has heightened that sentiment and provoked a strong backlash against La Paz. In July, when Bolivians voted on the constitutional assembly, they also answered another ballot question regarding departmental (state) autonomy. In Santa Cruz, Pando, Beni and Tarija, autonomy won hands down.
More recently the east took to the streets. On Dec. 15 the opposition organized a "townhall meeting" in Bolivia's largest city, Santa Cruz, to rally against Mr. Morales's power grab. Pro-Morales supporters blockaded a highway outside of the city so that buses carrying protestors could not get through. As many as 60 people were injured and most of the buses had to turn back. But the rally was a success. An estimated 800,000 people congregated under the city's Christ the Redeemer statue to demand that a new constitution be ratified only with a two-thirds vote in the assembly, and that the call for autonomy be respected.
However, according to Garver's recounting, O'Grady's depiction of the Constitutional crisis is very misleading. The Morales government never tried to undermine the two-thirds vote. What happened was that the opposition insisted that each individual change to the constitution should have to get two-thirds approval, while Morales insisted that all the changes together need a single two-thirds vote. Morales' MAS party actually relented to the opposition's demands.
Mr. Morales, who badly needs to maintain the appearance of public support so that the international community tolerates his takeover, had to be embarrassed by this outpouring of democratic opposition. He is trying to spin the constitutional crisis as a confrontation between races and economic classes. But he has to worry about places like the poor and largely indigenous city of El Alto, just above La Paz, where there is evidence to suggest that many who voted for him are unhappy with his unlawful intervention in the constitutional process and growing impatient with his failure to deliver on economic promises.
This is where U.S. drug policy comes in. Railing against the Yankees who want to destroy peasant income has proven extremely effective in keeping the Morales base -- the country's indigenous coca growers who brought him to power -- energized and his numbers afloat.
He reaffirmed this last month. As his opposition swelled he suddenly announced that he would authorize a near doubling of the number of hectares that may legally produce coca. Then last week he inaugurated a coca industrialization plant in the province of Cochabamba, financed by his government along with Cuba and Venezuela. According to press reports, Mr. Morales told the Cochabamba crowd that coca "never killed anyone" and that the U.S. "should have a law to do away with drug addicts."
Mr. Morales shouldn't wish too hard for that. If Washington policy makers ever decide to tackle the demand for cocaine and stop blaming supply, Mr. Morales's political career would be in jeopardy.
And this is where O'Grady and I see some things the same way on the drug war, although we certainly don't arrive there for the same reasons. America's drug war is clearly a big part of why Morales has risen to power. Coca farming is a centuries old tradition in Bolivia, and our drug policies that curtail that basic economic activity in a futile attempt to keep Americans from being able to buy cocaine leads to those cute soundbites that Morales uses to rally his base. If American politicians and business interests want a government in La Paz that trusts American-style capitalism more, O'Grady is absolutely right that ending the war on coca farming would be a huge step in the right direction.
However, the drug war is only one element of the distrust that's driving much of Latin America hard to the left these days. Venezuela's distrust is rooted more in the belief that American-style capitalism only benefits the wealthy. Years of widespread poverty in Venezuela have reinforced this belief, leading to popular support for a President who's currently nationalizing a number of private industries (a move that few economists believe to be prudent for helping to combat Venezuela's poverty).
The drug war fails because it's based upon the faulty assumption that government has the ability to coerce individual free will and that doing so can be beneficial to society as a whole. Governments that attempt to impose a particular morality on its citizenry will eventually be rejected because, with all else equal, the forces to coerce free will are at a competitive disadvantage with the forces that derive from free will. This is human nature, and the results have been expressed in numerous revolutions and uprisings throughout history. With the drug war, this failure has turned into a vicious cycle because free will for certain people can eventually turn into a self-destructive compulsion. This feeds into the false belief that we must, through government of course, pre-empt the possibility altogether.
But while drug use is a very clear individual expression of morality, other notions of morality involve how individuals expect society as a whole to function, and it's not as easy to determine when government is failing by trying to coerce free will. The basic left-right balance in politics is rooted in two opposing notions of morality over how each of us view the role of government in a society. While some believe that a democratic government should play little or no role in overseeing market forces, others believe that a democratic government is obligated to provide safety nets and eliminate risks. While many people equate the latter morality with drug prohibition, there's a big difference between making rules in a marketplace and attempting to coerce individual free will. In other words, there's a difference between making it illegal to use drugs and making smart rules about how drugs are sold. The fact that we don't understand the folly of the former makes it more difficult to discover the best ways to do the latter. As a result, left-leaning morality is still seen by many in this country as being a threat to individual freedom, when in reality, many other people see left-leaning morality as being a pathway to more individual freedom.
In Latin America, left-leaning morality runs strong. People in South America clearly don't trust American capitalism to the extent that most Americans do, and they want to have more power to set the rules over what industry (usually foreign industry) can do in their countries. The Wall Street Journal editorial board finds that particular morality invalid, a naive opposition to doing things the right way. In many ways, it mirrors the attitude that many drug warriors have towards drug use. It's ok to dictate morality because we're protecting those people from themselves. In the end, though, the backlash wins unless it becomes self-destructive. Cuba and North Korea are good examples of how left-leaning morality can become self-destructive.
The most important element in avoiding this outcome is to stay committed to supporting democratic institutions regardless of our views on economics. If Chavez or Morales begin to fail their people, it should be up to the people of those countries to decide the direction their country should go. If the people of Venezuela and Bolivia lose their voice, American progressives should take action, even if it means that we have to stand next to American corporate interests to do so.
O'Grady is right to be concerned that the drug war is playing a role in turning people off to America's more right-leaning morality, but she should also be aware that by de-legitimizing Latin American unease with American influence in their economic affairs, she's following the same path that drug warriors have taken in their futile efforts to destroy the coca harvests in the hills of Bolivia.
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Over the past two weeks...
Major News
Opinions and Blogposts
- The Drug War Chronicle keeps us up-to-date on medical marijuana bills across the country.
- Orlando Patterson writes in the New York Times about the how Jamaica is just one of many examples of how the war on drugs is an unwinnable war. Meteor Blades add some thoughts, along with Sean Robertson in another diary.
- Anne Applebaum writes at Slate about why we should license the opium production in Afghanistan the same way we did in Turkey in the 1970s.
- Radley Balko writes about Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) and the weight their message carries in support of drug law reform. One LEAP member, Peter J. Christ, says it's time to end the war on drugs.
- The New York Times writes that the 2010 census should end the practice of counting prisoners as residents of the location they're incarcerated.
- David Borden questions why the mayor of Newark, NJ is planning to use the same tactics to combat growing crime that failed miserably in Baltimore.
- The Drug Policy Alliance is looking to the Democrats to make some progress in scaling back the biggest messes of the drug war.
- Former Scottish Health Minister Susan Deacon writes in the Sunday Herald that it's time for Scottish politicians to put aside the heated rhetoric and start dealing responsibly with drugs.
- Loretta Nall discusses the recent talk in Birmingham, AL about ramping up draw law enforcement in order to fight the city's rising crime rate. She also writes in support of Sue Bell Cobb, the Alabame Supreme Court Justice who wants drug courts in every county.
- Alex Coolman has more winnable issues in 2007.
- Scott Morgan writes about the mess in Tijuana, where the local police were forced to turn in their weapons so that the military can determine whether any were used in recent crimes.
- The November Coalition has an example of a letter that can be sent to request the release of Tyrone Brown, a man serving a life sentence in Texas for failing a drug test while on probation.
- Jack Shafer writes at Slate about the recent reports of marijuana plants with supernatural characteristics.
- Julian Sanchez writes about how new technology is slowly eroding our privacy rights supposedly guaranteed under the 4th Amendment.
- Vicky Lopez Lukis writes in the Palm Beach Post about the necessity of helping ex-inmates return successful into society.
- Libby Spencer wonders if history is repeating itself when it comes to the uptick in heroin coming from a country where we are involved in a war.
- Gwynne Dyer writes about the futility of the war on drugs in The Sault Star.
- Radley Balko points to a case where the FDA got in the way of a California family in need of an unusual form of medical treatment.
- Libby Spencer writes about how we have a very distorted view of who's a stereotypical drug user in this country. Libby also writes about North Dakota's new hemp law.
- Jim at Vice Squad discusses the effect that higher taxes have on smokers' habits.
- Jordan Smith at the Austin Chronicle recounts the biggest stories of 2006.
- Iowa student Tristan Abbott wonders whether the war on drugs will do more damage in lives lost or freedoms surrendered.
- Bill McClellan at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes about a Circuit Court Judge who's doubting the war on drugs.
- Kos diarist Afrointelligent writes about mandatory minimum sentences.
- Matthew Yglesias posted about the drug war and misfired on a few points. Pete responded, as did I.
- Despite claims about the dangers of drug law enforcement, the Drug War Chronicle found that more police officers died from directing traffic last year than from arresting people for drugs.
- The Colorado Springs Gazette says it's time for a new strategy in the drug war.
- Christopher Hitchens rants about the war on drugs and other forms of nanny state stupidity.
- Helene Mulholland appears to have a little too much faith in the UK's approach to stopping meth abuse.
Regional news - U.S. and Canada
- California Governor Schwarzenegger is spending more money on prisons and less money on the state's successful Prop 36 Drug Treatment mandate. Alex Coolman has more.
- Alison Hewitt writes about how California cities and towns are dealing with medical marijuana dispensaries.
- A recent California 5th District Court ruling says that it is not an abuse of discretion for a court to declare non-medical marijuana use a violation while still allowing medical use.
- A senior editor at PC World magazine was killed in his Pittsburg, CA home, and it's likely that the robbers were trying to steal his son's supplies of medical marijuana.
- The San Francisco Examiner writes about Stephanie Landa, the 60-year-old medical marijuana patient who just began a 41 month prison sentence. Attorney Allison Margolin encourages everyone to write to Landa here.
- A San Fancisco company is producing something called Meth Coffee, but it does not actually contain meth.
- San Jose area police claim they've busted the local "Costco of meth".
- A Santa Clarita, California city council member is wary of a new medical marijuana dispensary opening in nearby Castaic.
- The Los Angeles Daily News writes about how the original critics of California's Prop 215 medical marijuana law were wrong about everything.
- The man who ran Claremont, California's lone medical marijuana dispensary was fined $121 for operating without a license.
- Hawaii is seeing a decrease in meth coming into the islands, but an increase in cocaine.
- Over a ton of marijuana was discovered on an Arizona indian reservation.
- Nevada leads the country in meth use.
- The Utah Joint Methamphetamine Task Force is counting on Utahans to help them succeed in ridding the state of meth.
- A New Mexico teacher who helped a student avoid getting busted for marijuana was sentenced to probation after the student's mother alerted police.
- A couple from Fort Collins, Colorado is pleading not guilty to marijuana distribution charges, saying that they should be protected by Colorado's medical marijuana laws.
- A North Dakota woman and her newborn baby tested positive for marijuana.
- Wichita, Kansas is so overwhelmed with drug cases that they've decided to make low-level possession cases misdemeanors rather than felonies.
- Chris Bernard writes that Texas still does not have legal needle exchanges, contrary to media reports that all states do.
- A woman in Texas was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for mailing 78 pounds of marijuana to herself.
- A San Antonio police officer is accused of taking a bag of cocaine from a crime scene.
- New Orleans, as well as Newark, NJ, is announcing a major crackdown on drug gangs to combat a skyrocketing crime rate.
- A Milwaukee man was coerced into turning over his $100,000 Mercedes in order to avoid a drug possession charge.
- The FBI raided the home of a Chicago Alderman with alleged links to the city's prominent drug gangs and may have discovered a small amount of cocaine.
- Bond was set at $275,000 for a Cook County, IL prison guard who bought a large amount of cocaine from a paid informant.
- A bill was introduced in Indiana to create a meth offender registry.
- Kathy Kennedy corrects the record on medical marijuana after some misinformation was presented by Dr. Anas Al-Janadi in Michigan.
- The woman from northern Michigan whose cocaine use resulting in her baby's death through breast-feeding, will be charged with attempted manslaughter and her other child will be removed.
- Police in suburban Detroit are finding a lot of marijuana grow houses.
- Police in rural Kentucky rounded up five suspects accused of operating a backwoods meth lab.
- A northern Mississippi jailer was fired after an investigation into drug sales at the prison.
- In the case of Cory Maye, Radley Balko looks at the forensic pathologist who testified during the case, making it clear once again that the state of Mississippi has serious problems with its court system. Cory Maye's justice fund is out of money and could use some donations.
- In Alabama, the people most surprised by the reports of large drops in teen drug use appear to be teenagers.
- Florida police officers roughed up two innocent people after confusing their car for another that they'd been following which supposedly had a large stash of marijuana.
- An Orlando man was in court this week challenging the asset forfeiture tactics of the Bradenton, FL police.
- The trial of an Orlando prison guard who is accused of organizing a large cocaine deal started this week.
- The trail of a Georgia businessman accused of running a large marijuana distribution ring has been delayed because they're still examining the evidence in the case.
- A Virginia legislator wants to impose taxes on illegal drugs so that the state can collect extra money from those arrested.
- Greg L at the Black Velvet Bruce Li blog has more background on the case in Manassas Park where corrupt local officials have been harassing a pool hall owner named David Ruttenberg. Here's the link to the allegedly falsified police report. Radley Balko has some surveillance footage of other attempts to entrap Mr. Ruttenberg.
- The DUI laws in Ocean City, MD appear not to apply to politicians who vote for tougher DUI laws.
- A crack dealer in Wilmington, Delaware was given a 20-year mandatory minimum sentence.
- Princeton University hosted a photo-documentary by Arthur Robinson Williams called "Unacceptable Losses," about victims of the drug war.
- A former Newark, NJ police officer was sentenced to seven years in prison for selling cocaine.
- Justin Holmes, an outspoken campus marijuana activist at SUNY New Paltz who won the election for Student Body President, but then found himself a target of the school administrators, successfully won reinstatement to the school through a judge.
- A Long Island jail guard is accused of smuggling marijuana into the jail to give to a prisoner.
- Vermont legislators are considering expanding the state's medical marijuana law to allow for patients of glaucoma and several other ailments to the list of approved ailments for medical marijuana use.
- A bill to decriminalize the use of marijuana is on the agenda in the New Hampshire legislature. Massachusetts too.
- Bangor, Maine has made it illegal to smoke cigarettes in a car with children in it.
- A recent survey showed that a majority of Canadians oppose the Harper government's attempts to get tough on drugs. The Drug War Chronicle has more on what's happening in Canada.
- An Ontario study claims that drivers who tested positive for cannabis had a 29 percent higher risk of causing a fatal crash than those not testing positive. Pete Guither was able to get some information from the researcher whose results differ greatly from other studies on this subject.
- The Ontario Labour Relations Board ruled that a Toronto construction manager violated the privacy of two of his workers when he tried to videotape them in their truck during lunch in order to catch them smoking marijuana.
- Toronto police are working out a deal with a whistleblower who the police also want to file internal charges against, likely making it impossible for there to be a public airing of the corruption in the city's police force.
- Tracey Hayes writes about both the success and the controversy of Vancouver's safe injection site.
Regional news - International
Fun stuff