1. As Morales returned to his district recently, he was not at all embarrassed to be photographed caressing the coca bushes that grow on his property. 2. Hundreds of government troops dug up coca bushes while in adjacent fields just a shout away hundreds more peasants picked their coca bushes just as fast as they could. 3. In fact, as Morales returned to his district recently, he was not at all embarrassed to be photographed caressing the coca bushes that grow on his property. 4. But a DEA agent said drug producers often replant the hardy coca bushes in the same area after the herbicide washes away. 5. But most farmers have not received any aid, and many have nursed their fumigated fields back into acres of robust coca bushes. 6. Many migrant workers have lost their jobs stripping the shiny green leaves off coca bushes and hauling them to processing labs hidden in the jungle. 7. On a recent cool morning, he stood amid chest-high coca bushes and smiled. 8. Products such as milk or bananas cannot compete with the more lucrative coca bushes. 9. Wrapped in the embroidered tapestries were flowers, llama fat, quinua grain, and leaves of the coca bush, the sacred plant of the Incas. |
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