Juan Mabromata/AFP/Getty Images

Condoleezza Rice knew coca would top the agenda in her meeting with Bolivia’s new president, but she likely wasn’t expecting to get the real thing. At the end of their 25-minute meeting, President Evo Morales presented the U.S. secretary of state with an Andean guitar that bore a coca-leaf inlay.

“The gift was well received. We will just have to check with our customs to see what rules apply. We certainly hope we can bring it back (to Washington),” said a senior State Department official who attended the meeting.

Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous president, came to prominence as a leader of coca farmers who want more freedom to grow coca, which is the main ingredient in cocaine but is also used legally for traditional medicines and in teas.

The charango is as easy as any double-string guitar to play; though, I have to admit I’ve never seen one with laminated coca leaves.



  1. rus62 says:

    Eideard, I am surprise at you! You should have photoshoped “Esteban” in there with Dr. Rice (or Condi for short).

    On a serious note. It seems odd how the response is crazy when Pat Robertson makes a not so friendly comment about Pres. Chavez of Venezuela but the response is comical when the Pres. of Bolivia gives a gift adorned with a plant widely used in illegal drugs. The instrument given to Dr. Rice is not adorned by such leaf, probably due to its value in other commodities. Should our government and people take this lightly? Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps it would be best if we cut our taxpayer money to Bolivia 50 or 100%. So what if they make more cocaine. If they flood the market with it the price will go down and they won’t make much more money and Morales will just piss off the cartels who may want his head for driving the price down. Just a thought…

    Anyway, couldn’t she bring this in through the “Diplomatic Pouch”?
    I would. Then I would invite Esteban to come play it at the White House.

  2. Eideard says:

    rus62 — #1: not only NO Photoshopping, there were 3 layers of ownership to click through to get to something that could be linked. That’s why I included all 3 as credits in a caption.

    #2: The political point that Evo Morales was making is that growing coca leaves for traditional consumption is NOT illegal in Bolivia. Which is why those are real coca leaves [front and back] on the charango. Although, some articles note they are covered by one of the typical shellac formulations used on SA stringed instruments.

    #3: Given Esteban’s reputation — as musician and guitar “manufacturer” — I think he’d fit in at the White House quite well.

  3. rus62 says:

    Eideard,

    #4) Your points 1 and 3 well taken. On #2, what if we gave an Arab diplomat some Jack Daniels where it may be illegal to have possesion in his country but not in ours? Of course today that Arab may own a majority stock in a distillery here in the US.


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