Bolivian president gives UN chief coca birthday cake

[spacejunk]

Bolivian president gives UN chief coca birthday cake

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has received an unusual treat for his 70th birthday, with the president of Bolivia presenting him with a cake made with coca leaves.

The UN chief was in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, for a meeting of the G77 group of countries to discuss measures for reducing poverty.

Coca is used to make cocaine but Bolivian president Evo Morales, a former coca farmer, has long defended its legal use as an "ancestral rite" for tea, sweets and medicines.

Mr Morales has gone so far as to pull coca leaves out of a small plastic bag during a UN anti-drug meeting in Vienna in 2012 and chew on a wad of them.

People in the Andean region also traditionally chew on coca leaf as a source of energy or as an antidote to altitude sickness.

"The Bolivian people will never forget your visit," Mr Morales told Mr Ban on Friday in front of hundreds gathered for the presentation of the cake and a traditional Bolivian jacket.

Mr Ban was effusive in his thanks but stopped short of publicly taking a bite of the "torta de coca" or of endorsing Mr Morales' position on the controversial leaf.

"The Bolivian people have a big, broad heart ... and great wisdom," Mr Ban said. "You have lived for thousands of years in harmony with nature."

The UN Convention on Narcotic Drugs banned coca leaf in 1961 along with cocaine, heroin, opium and morphine, and in 2012 Bolivia withdrew from the convention to protest the criminalisation of the chewing of coca leaves.

Subsequently the UN granted Bolivia a special dispensation recognizing the traditional practice as legal in Bolivia and Bolivia was re-admitted to the convention.

The country's condition for rejoining met resistance from 15 countries including the United States and the rest of the G8 group of industrial nations, but in order to block Bolivia's re-admission, a full third of its signatories - or 63 countries - needed to object.

Bolivia is the world's biggest cocaine producer after Peru and Colombia.

Reuters

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-...es-un-chief-coca-birthday-cake/5524100?pfm=ms

Not taking a bite is rather impolite, I would have thought?

 

[Septonn]

Nice move.
Wouldn't be surprised if many high ranking UN diplomats enjoy a line or two every now and then. Some years ago they checked the toilets in the European Parliament for drugs, appeared that over 90% of them were contaminated

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

^No, I don't think so. Coca is not cocaine by any means.

Why not support the poor farmer? It's honestly a less addictive coffee.

 

['medicine cabinet']

Yea I'd think that would be in rather poor taste to not have a bite at least
But then the media would be moon eats cocaine cake! Since you know coca is cocaine lol. I bet it was a good cake. I would have had some. I see chewing coca leaves about the same as betel must or coffee and roasted espresso beans. Its just a cultural energy booseter...we down tons and tons of caffeine what's the night deal? Oh that's right just because you can make cocaine from coca leaves if you have a small mountain of them.

 

[herbavore]

Drank coca tea for months in South America--no noticeable stimulant effect whatsoever for me--just a good, clean herbal taste and a comfort in cold weather. It is as much a part of the culture as green tea in Asia or black tea in England. There is ritual, familiarity and tradition along with the health benefits of regulating glucose, enhancing metabolism and is also rich in antioxidants.

Ponder for a moment the bizarre juxtaposition of diet coke in Amerika and coca leaf tea in South America. Coca leaves have been considered a divine plant for millennia because of their life-giving qualities of energy and nutrition--no advertising needed. What is really our national drink in Amerika? Soda, or as they are quaintly called, "soft drinks". (Source) One is made from a bunch of chemicals and the other is a damn plant. I couldn't bring any mate de coca home with me but I was certainly offered 4 different kinds of chemical "beverages as soon as I got on the plane.