United States pressure on Bolivia to eradicate coca, the raw material for cocaine, has resulted in serious human rights abuses and social turmoil, particularly in the semi-tropical Chapare region of the country, according to a new report released Friday by the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA).

Counterdrug security forces trained, equipped, and financed entirely by the U.S. have arbitrarily detained, beaten, tortured, and even killed coca-growers, called cocaleros, who have protested the eradication campaign.

Since last September, 10 coca growers have been killed and at least 350 more have been injured or detained in the Chapare region, according to the report, 'Coca and Conflict in the Chapare.'

"It is inexcusable that the U.S. government continues to fund units of security forces in Bolivia where there is clear evidence that those units are abusing their own citizens," said Bill Spencer, WOLA's executive director.

The study was released amid reports that former President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada has struck an alliance with another former president, Jaime Paz Zamora, in advance of a meeting this week by the recently elected National Congress to choose a new head of state.

Sanchez was the winner in June's presidential elections with 22.5 percent of the vote, while Paz Zamora came in at fourth place. But, together, their two parties hold a majority in the Congress which is expected to elect Sanchez.

Second and third place in the presidential poll, however, went to two populist candidates whose success reflected the disillusionment and anger felt by large segments of the population over economic policies pursued by the government which aimed at opening up the country's vulnerable domestic markets.

Evo Morales, an Aymara Indian and former cocalero who finished second place with 21 percent of the vote, spoke out so strongly against Washington's role in financing coca eradication efforts that the U.S. ambassador to Bolivia, Manuel Rocha, warned the electorate just four days before the election that Washington would cut aid "if you elect those who want Bolivia to become a major cocaine exporter again."

The warning, however, backfired, according to analysts in Washington and La Paz, by increasing popular support for Morales whose party, 'Movement Toward Socialism,' will form the second-largest block in Congress when it meets this week.

"The strong showing for Morales indicates widespread discontent with U.S. drug policy and its reverberations throughout Bolivian society and the economy," according to the report, which was written by Kathry Ledebur of the Andean Information Network.

Under the presidencies of Paz Zamora and Sanchez in the 1980's, and until 1997, Bolivia, once the world's biggest producer of raw coca, made only fitful progress in eradicating coca production with millions of dollars in U.S. support.

Under their successor, Hugo Banzer, however, Bolivia initiated "Plan Dignidad," described in the report as "all-out, no-holds-barred approach to eradication" that was so successful that U.S. officials cited the country as a model for drug eradication throughout the Andes.

It was also supposed to be complemented by an alternative development program but, as noted by a recent report from the U.S. General Accounting Office, the aggressiveness and speed with which Plan Dignidad was carried out "created gaps between eradication and alternative development assistance that can leave peasant farmers without livelihoods." Bolivia is Latin America's second poorest country, behind Haiti.

"This notable lag has greatly exacerbated the extreme poverty in the region and led to soaring malnutrition, heightening tensions in the region and provoking conflict," according to the report.

Protests and crackdowns by U.S.-financed forces--often referred to by Chapare's residents as "America's mercenaries"--escalated dramatically last fall, resulting in the deaths of half a dozen cocaleros and the killings, presumably by cocaleros, of four security officers. Morales was expelled from Congress in January, but as events escalated out of control, the government made a series of concessions in early February to restore peace to the region.

While the situation has remained relatively peaceful through the election period, WOLA and other analysts fear that Washington will apply fresh pressure on the new government to resume aggressive eradication efforts, including the deployment of U.S.-financed forces, featured in Plan Dignidad.

The report--which notes that under U.S. law, no unit of foreign security forces may receive U.S. funds if there is credible evidence that it has committed serious rights abuses--calls on Washington to reassess its strategy.

For the U.S., according to the report, "success is measured in terms of coca eradicated and not by the well-being of the Bolivian people. Repeated cycles of protest, repression and temporary conciliation will continue indefinitely until lasting, concrete, and peaceful solutions can be reached."

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