Rice, Morales discuss drug war

VALPARAISO, Chile – Cooperation against illegal drugs was one theme of a cordial first meeting between the top American diplomat and the flamboyant coca growers union boss who is Bolivia’s new democratically elected president, but Bolivian leader Evo Morales used the session to send another message to Washington.

Morales gave Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice a traditional Bolivian Indian musical instrument called a charango that resembles a ukulele and is usually made from animal hide.

This one, however, was covered with bright green coca leaves.

Coca is the raw material for cocaine but also has traditional uses in Bolivia, where the leaf is brewed as tea, chewed and incorporated into ceremonies.

The gift was a reminder that coca and coca farming are legal in Bolivia, South America’s poorest nation.

Rice gamely strummed the instrument for a moment and posed with it for a Chilean television camera. U.S. officials were checking with Customs, but it’s not clear whether Rice can legally bring the instrument into the United States.

Rice and Morales were among dozens of leaders in this sunny port city for the historic inauguration of Chile’s first woman president, socialist pediatrician Michelle Bachelet.

Rice and Bachelet met for the first time before the ceremony, but her get-acquainted session with Morales proved more interesting.

Morales campaigned with an anti-American edge, and has differed publicly with U.S. officials since taking office as Bolivia’s first Indian president in January. Last week he protested the withdrawal of counterterrorism aid in a standoff over the selection of one of his anti-terrorism commanders.

Morales, who once promised to be “Washington’s nightmare,” led the often-violent struggle against U.S.-backed coca eradication efforts over the past decade, and has promised to retool Bolivian coca policy.

The two discussed anti-drug cooperation and trade, U.S. officials said afterward.

Morales has asked the United States to reconsider a proposed cut in anti-drug aid to Bolivia. President Bush’s latest budget request would reduce anti-narcotics funding to Bolivia to $67 million from $80 million.

He also wants the U.S. to enter into a “true” pact to fight drugs but has vowed his goal will be “zero cocaine,” not “zero coca.”