Bolivian president gives U.N. chief coca birthday cake
Bolivian president gives U.N. chief coca birthday cake
Reuters
June 14, 2014, 7:00 am
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Reuters
US-BOLIVIA-UN-COCACAKE:Bolivian president gives U.N. chief coca birthday cake
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon blows the candles on a cake during
a celebration for his 70th birthday at an event organized by Bolivia's President Evo
Morales in El Torno, near Santa Cruz de la Sierra, June 13, 2014.
REUTERS/David Mercado[/font]
By Hugh Bronstein
SANTA CRUZ Bolivia (Reuters) - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon got an unusual treat for his 70th birthday on Friday when the president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, presented him with a cake made with coca leaves.
The UN chief was in Santa Cruz, Bolivia for a meeting this weekend of the G77 group of countries to discuss measures for reducing poverty.
Coca is used to make cocaine but host Morales, a former coca farmer, has long defended its legal use as an "ancestral rite" for tea, sweets and medicines, going 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," Morales told Ban on Friday in front of hundreds gathered for the presentation of the cake and a traditional Bolivian jacket.
More:
https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/offbeat/a/24237465/
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UN Chief Celebrates 70th Birthday With Bolivian Folk Dance
World | Agence France-Presse | Updated: June 14, 2014 02:48 IST
Sanat Cruz De La Sierra, Bolivia: UN chief Ban Ki-moon celebrated his 70th birthday on Friday in an indigenous community in Bolivia, on the eve of a G77 leaders summit this weekend.
Wearing a straw hat, a necklace of flowers and a big grin, Ban joined in a folk dance with men and women from the Santa Rita community in Bolivia's eastern Concepcion region.
And in the neighboring village of El Torno, Ban was presented with a birthday cake made from coca leaves as school children sang him "happy birthday."
The UN secretary-general arrived earlier in the department of Santa Cruz on Bolivian President Evo Morales's airplane. The two were among a number of world leaders who attended the World Cup opening ceremonies in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
More:
http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/un-chief-celebrates-70th-birthday-with-bolivian-folk-dance-541202?curl=1402706649
this week. 
