NCJ Number
134488
Journal
Hemisphere Volume: 4 Issue: 1 Dated: (Fall 1991) Pages: 14-16
Date Published
1991
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article describes and critiques Bolivia's policy, funded largely by the United States, of using the military to wage the drug war in Bolivia.
Abstract
With the U.S. Government's financial support and technical backing, the Bolivian army recently began psychological warfare operations to combat cocaine production as well as associated terrorism and subversion. This involves the use of direct persuasive messages for the Bolivian farmers involved in coca production. The purpose of the campaign is to modify the attitudes, beliefs, and emotions of the farmers by manipulating images, symbols, and information. An example of the campaign is a poster emblazoned with the message "Por Una Manana Mejor" (For a Better Tomorrow). The poster shows an unarmed Bolivian soldier guiding a Bolivian farm family down a road away from symbols of death and drugs to an idyllic farming community with a church, modern houses, and the Bolivian flag flying overhead. The underlying message is that only the military can guarantee the nation's survival against the drug trade's subversive impact. It yokes Bolivia's current rural development program to a campaign of low-intensity warfare against drug trafficking and coca production. In making drug trafficking the ultimate enemy of Bolivia's "better tomorrow," the campaign fails to address the basic causes of extreme poverty and poses the potential for militarization that will undermine Bolivia's fledgling democratic institutions.