Synopsis

ORO VERDE - Green Gold , a film by Christian C. Keil, Sarah Jung and René Peralta D.

"ORO VERDE - Green Gold" shows the complex meaning of the coca plant for the majority of the indigenous population in Bolivia. On the countryside, in the mines and also in the city, one can see people chewing coca leaves. For the Andean peoples coca is not a drug but nutrition, medicine, a religious item and a symbol of their culture.
Within the international community and mainly from the US perspective, it is looked upon differently, considering coca to be just the raw material for cocaine production. As a consequence, the leaf itself remains on the international list of prohibited substances since 1961.
Due to the international pressure, the Bolivian army started forced eradication of coca plants in the Chapare region. At the same time, alternative development programs have been created to support the peasants to stop coca cultivation. Herein the European Union plays a positive role.
Although the Chapare today is the most developed rural area in Bolivia, the larger part of the population is unsatisfied. Eighty per cent of the peasant farmers are members of the coca peasants' union, which still opposing the eradication of their plants and rejecting many of the development programs.
The hard line and uncompromising drug policy of the USA finally resulted in strengthening solidarity within and resistance of the coca peasants' union. Today, Evo Morales, the union leader of the coca peasants, is the most powerful opposition politician in the country; fighting for the international recognition that coca is not cocaine. At the same time he canalizes the demands of the underprivileged population for more political sovereignty and participation. The actual internal political situation remains tense and unstable.

The basis of the film is the diverse positions of the interview partners. The different opinions complement and contradict each other, creating a colourful picture, as an attempt to capture the complexity of reality. Throughout the film, detail information can be identified which reflect other conflicts of world politics.

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