This should be fun -- a leftist who opposes the war on drugs takes over in the land of cocaine.

Quote :

"Evo Morales, a former coca farmer who has promised to torpedo US anti-drug efforts and be a "nightmare" for Washington, is poised to become Bolivia's first indigenous president in a surprisingly strong electoral showing. Media tabulations of official results showed the leftist Morales with as much as 51 per cent of Sunday's vote, with his nearest rival, the US-educated former president Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga, on 31 per cent to 34 per cent. "

12/19/2005 10:28:56 AM

CHEAP COKE FOR EVERYONE!

pretty soon it'll be cheaper to smoke crack than cigarettes

12/19/2005 10:31:52 AM

Coke party @ my place.

12/19/2005 11:14:04 AM

just got a fresh shipment from Evo Morales?

12/19/2005 11:14:42 AM

12/19/2005 11:36:39 AM

He supports the legalization of cultivating and chewing the coca leaf, which the native populations there have been doing since, well, since forever. It's about as close to cocaine as espresso is.

12/19/2005 11:50:29 AM

He's an ally of Hugo Chavez

Where oh where is Pat Robertson?

12/19/2005 12:21:42 PM

it's a little closer than espresso, but it's not cocaine. cocaine is purified from coca, and chewing it isn't like purifying it then snorting it into your freaking sinuses

but yeah, this guy will be deposed by military coups backed by the cia within 6 months

12/19/2005 12:51:03 PM

school of the americas like whoa

12/19/2005 12:53:44 PM

fyi: he's the first fully native american president in the western hemisphere

HOW DARE THEY DEMOCRATICALLY ELECT A PRESIDENT. THE ONLY COUNTRY THAT GETS PRAISED FOR THAT NOW IS IRAQ AND YOU KNOW IT.

[Edited on December 19, 2005 at 2:00 PM. Reason : .]

12/19/2005 1:59:52 PM

their democratic election would be fine as long as they're a friend and ally of the United States.

12/19/2005 2:00:52 PM

yea

it's only democracy if they kiss america's ass!

12/19/2005 2:01:58 PM

god help the world if youre serious

12/19/2005 2:04:30 PM

because Democracy and America are synonmous. Just like all things American: baseball FUCK YEA comic books FUCK YEA slavery FUCK YEA sushi FUCK YEA bed bath and beyond FUCK YEA

[Edited on December 19, 2005 at 2:12 PM. Reason : .]

12/19/2005 2:09:02 PM

are you really having a hard time figuring that out? gg.

[Edited on December 19, 2005 at 2:09 PM. Reason : ^^]

12/19/2005 2:09:10 PM

well...there are plenty of people out there who'd say that an be serious. dont act like there isnt.

12/19/2005 2:16:33 PM

My favorite part of all this are the media reports of a "new leftwing trend in Latin America."

I hardly consider anything thats been happening for the past century "new" but I suppose reporters can't be bothered with history.

12/19/2005 2:38:02 PM

There is absolutely no reason to pay any attention to any Bolivian President.

That country has had more presidents than it has had years of independence. I shit you not -- check out the World Factbook. Looking at the numbers, he'll be out of office by October 2006, and that's without any CIA help at all.

[Edited on December 19, 2005 at 5:06 PM. Reason : ]

12/19/2005 5:00:29 PM

The reason to pay attention is that he is a populist -- willing to appease the people, who aparently happen to hate the US. IIRC, he's also politically allied with Chavez, a douche of the highest caliber.

12/19/2005 6:32:46 PM

I wonder though how this is going to affect his nation's stability. A lenient coca policy is only going to draw nearly every cocaine producing cartel into his country (your market forces at work). If they end up becoming a major cocaine exporter, it's going to create a LOT of trouble for them in the long run, potentially impacting their economy as nations tighten imports from their country to control the flow of narcotics.

As for Bolivia's gas reserves... I don't think it's going to be a huge impact. As long as it hits the market and lowers the market commodity prices, it's not going to be a big impact for us.

He's democratically elected though. Let him do his song and dance as long as he doesn't do what Chavez is doing and start rigging the constitution to keep him in office.

12/19/2005 6:47:22 PM

^^None of that matters. He's not going to be around long enough to do anything, including please the people, piss off the US, or get into bed with Chavez.

Even though I was mistaken earlier -- Bolivia has had more coups (over 200) than years of independence but "only" 83 presidents since 1825 -- the dude's time is short.

12/19/2005 7:23:53 PM

lets let him combine these two traits and nationalize the production and distribution of cocaine, stick with it long enough and that would probably bankrupt the cartels and organizations like FARC

12/19/2005 8:36:11 PM

12/19/2005 9:42:40 PM

holy shit, nationalized coke? i mean, its a good idea to control it, and a shit ton could be made off of it. hell, they should just nationalize it, deal it to drug cartels like gangbusters, and make enough money to provide everyone with free education and healthcare for life, like Bahrain and the UAE do with oil.

hey, its not a bad idea as long as you dont see it as criminal. not that i use it...

12/19/2005 9:52:40 PM

also no matter how shitty your actual economic policies are you get to declare an economic miracle overnight just from including those numbers in your GDP

some of these small latin american economies would double or triple in size just from counting drugs in their figures

12/19/2005 10:09:39 PM

^ See: Columbia

12/19/2005 10:42:38 PM