Monday, January 23, 2006

By MIGUEL PEREZ
STAFF WRITER



They are descendants of the Inca Empire, a people tied to their native soil by traditions that date back centuries. Yet many Bolivian-Americans may soon be torn between their old homeland and their new home.

The election of socialist Evo Morales, who became Bolivia's president Sunday, could put them in a precarious position, especially when he talks of the "North American Empire" from which he says Bolivia needs to be liberated.

Morales got elected by pledging to nationalize Bolivia's vast natural gas resources and decriminalize the cultivation of coca, the plant used to produce cocaine. A former coca farmer and leader of the coca growers association, he has vowed to halt the U.S.-backed coca eradication campaign in Bolivia.

Morales has aligned himself with anti-American leaders, such as Cuba's Fidel Castro and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez. He has also predicted he'll be "a nightmare" for Washington.

This gives some New Jersey Bolivians pause. They fear the stereotype that Colombians have faced for years - that they are all drug dealers - could be strengthened.

"He was the leader of the coca growers," said Miguel Ascuas, a Bolivian-American from Bayonne. "Imagine the message that sends to the rest of the world."

Supporters say Morales is only seeking to promote legal markets for the coca leaf, which has other uses - medicinal, nutritional and cultural - in Bolivia. They say he is committed to fighting drug trafficking and aren't fazed by concerns that his policies could end up increasing cocaine production and consumption by lowering its price in the United States and elsewhere.

Whatever other people decide to do with the coca leaf is not Bolivia's problem, they insist.

"What Evo Morales is saying is that the coca has to be respected as a leaf, not as a drug," said Francisco Camargo of Jersey City, president of the Center of Bolivian Residents of New Jersey.

"That means that there will still be a war against drug dealers, but not against coca," said Rigoberto Aranda, vice president of the group, created two years ago to unite what organizers believe are 20,000 Bolivians dispersed throughout the state.
BOLIVIANS IN N.J.

The 2000 census counted 1,750 people of Bolivian descent in New Jersey, with the majority in Hudson, Bergen and Passaic counties. However, the Center of Bolivian Residents in New Jersey believes that undocumented residents push the total to 20,000. Local numbers, by county:

Hudson: 450

Bergen: 340

Passaic: 310

Morris: 40

To Ascuas, such an attitude indicates denial by many of his fellow Bolivian-Americans about the negative impact a leftist pro-coca president can have on their community here.

"They say Morales is going to keep producing coca, but not for cocaine," he said. "But how is he going to control that?"

Ascuas believes Bolivians "will be disillusioned with Morales" the same way many Venezuelan-Americans were when Hugo Chavez first took office, only to begin modeling his government after Castro's totalitarian regime.

It's already happening, he said. Although Morales campaigned as a moderate, ever since his Dec. 18 victory, "he has come out clearly on the left by immediately visiting Cuba and Venezuela," Ascuas said.

"It's pathetic! I talk to my brothers in Bolivia every two days, and the people there are already realizing they made a mistake," he added.

Although the U.S. State Department referred to Morales as an "illegal-coca agitator" in a report last year, a department spokeswoman publicly congratulated him and the Bolivian people for running a democratic election.

At a Jan. 4 briefing, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters that the U.S. government will calibrate its relationship with Bolivia based on the policies Morales decides to pursue.

"We have, in the past, enjoyed good counter-narcotics cooperation with the government of Bolivia," McCormack said. "We would hope that continues."

Another State Department spokesman told The Record this week that the U.S. position hasn't changed.

This is the first time since democracy was restored in Bolivia in 1982 that a presidential candidate has won by a clear majority. Morales, one of eight candidates, received 54 percent of the vote, becoming the first indigenous president in Bolivia's 180-year history.

In previous elections, when no candidate tallied more than 50 percent, the winner was determined by the Congress. Strange alliances often settled on the candidate who finished second.

"This time what we heard was the voice of the people, voters who were tired of all those alliances," said Daniel Flores, 35, of Passaic, who came here from Bolivia eight months ago.

Nevertheless, Flores is ambivalent about Morales.

"Those who stand to gain the most are the poorest people, and those are the ones who came out in favor of Evo," Flores said. "But the coca plant is a very controversial issue. We know that while it has many vitamins and other positive attributes that can be used to help society, it can also be exploited to destroy it."

In the end, the conflict could turn Bolivia and the United States into adversaries. "Things could definitely get more difficult for Bolivians who live here," Flores said.

Whether Flores remains here or returns to Bolivia depends on whether the Morales government succumbs to pressures from Castro and Chavez. If Flores stays, he'll remain part of a Bolivian community that is relatively small, compared with other Hispanic groups.

Because they are scattered throughout the state, Bolivians say they are nearly invisible. Yet they have become very noticeable at various Hispanic parades, thanks to their tradition of organizing folkloric dance groups featuring dozens of youngsters wearing elaborate and colorful costumes.

For the past two years, the Center of Bolivian Residents has coordinated the only Bolivian parade in the Northeast - in downtown Jersey City, on the Sunday closest to Aug. 6, which is Bolivian Independence Day.

The dance troupes, representing the different regions and diverse traditions of Bolivia, are a way to showcase pride in their culture.

Many Bolivian-Americans say Morales has given them a new reason to boast.

"For us, it is a source of pride that an indigenous farmer has risen to the presidency for the first time," Aranda said. "But that change came about because of U.S. policies, because young people began to question how long they were going to be humiliated by a foreign government."

Rey Tapia, who was born in New Jersey and went to high school in Bolivia, said Morales has awakened a new sense of pride in his generation.

"He has always fought against American policy, which has always been humiliating and against Bolivian sovereignty, a policy which has imposed laws that go against Bolivian traditions, like the eradication of the coca, which has existed for thousands of years," Tapia said. "And that has given many young people pride in being Bolivian."

When he lived there, Tapia said, young Bolivians rejected their indigenous traditions.

"Chewing coca leaves was something that only the Bolivian Indians would do," he said. "But now you go there and you see young people chewing coca and participating in indigenous traditions."

Morales supporters accuse the U.S. government of a long history of mistreating and exploiting their people. They say Washington has coerced the Bolivian government into forcing the farmers to seek alternative crops, but only with minimal assistance.

Such talk infuriates Morales' opponents.

"There are a lot of Bolivians here who are always criticizing the American government," Ascuas said. "They say that this country wants to run Bolivia and the rest of the world. They are always uttering absurdities, and that makes my blood boil.

"I tell them: 'Just a moment. Why do you talk that way about the Americans? If you are against this country, what the hell are you doing here?'Ÿ"

E-mail: perez@northjersey.com

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