From Allies to Enforcers: Coca Farmers' Struggle

The people who fought the War on Drugs eventually became the ones enforcing it.

In Bolivia’s Chapare region, coca farmers spent decades fighting US intervention.

Their union leader, Evo Morales, became president and promised to protect them.

But the vibe shifted fast. Instead of total freedom, the unions started

policing their own neighbors to limit coca production. Farmers who used to make good money

in the cocaine trade suddenly faced fines and crop destruction from their own friends. They call it a dictatorship,

not because they can't vote, but because their leaders stopped listening to the

people who put them in power.