Cocaleros in Los Yungas. Coca leaf production. (44 images)

The Yungas have supplied the Bolivian coca market since the thirteenth century. That is why the area is considered the area of traditional crop and is contemplated as an exception to the ban on the cultivation of coca in the 1008 law.
Located in the north of La Paz and despite of its difficult access by its steep valleys and cliffs has been a major economic center for centuries for people in the area. For more than seven centuries the inhabitants of the Altiplano and warm valleys have...
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The Yungas have supplied the Bolivian coca market since the thirteenth century. That is why the area is considered the area of traditional crop and is contemplated as an exception to the ban on the cultivation of coca in the 1008 law.
Located in the north of La Paz and despite of its difficult access by its steep valleys and cliffs has been a major economic center for centuries for people in the area. For more than seven centuries the inhabitants of the Altiplano and warm valleys have come to the area to work as farm hands in the cultivation of coca.
At present it is formed by eleven regional federations devoted to the cultivation of coca. Because of the rugged territory, the coca cultivation has not undergone major changes in the process of building terraces, planting and plantation management in recent years. However the laws that banned the cultivation and reduction of coca cultivation have profoundly affected the crop size limited to 50 x 50 meters, work in the field and the social structure in village as well as the relationship between the growers.
The future of coca in the Yungas seems safe today because the government supports the production of coca for traditional use, the internal laws which ensure production and the relationship and political orientation of the growers.
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