Bolivia to produce toothpaste made of coca leaves
Friday, July 8th 2022 - 09:05 UTC
The Bolivian government Tuesday announced the creation of the state-run Empresa Pública Productiva de Industrialización to start the production of a new brand of toothpaste made from coca leaves to fulfill the Constitutional mandate to capitalize on a native and ancestral natural resource, which is the cultural heritage of the country.
Minister of Productive Development and Plural Economy Néstor Huanca Tuesday said the Industrialization of the Bolivian Coca Leaf under the brand Kokabol involved a US$ 9 million investment. The main plant will be located in the municipality of Sacaba, in the department of Cochabamba.
Huanca explained that the toothpaste is expected to generate added value for the benefit of the Bolivian population. Kokabol will process coca leaves to take advantage of their nutritional and medicinal properties, Juanca also explained.
President Luis Arce Catacora said last week that the creation of the company sought to “develop the basic chemical industry of the coca leaf” and “transform and commercialize products derived from it.” The head of state also pointed out that Kokabol will carry out “research and productive technological development of the coca leaf and medicinal plants for their industrialization” as part of the country's import substitution policy.
More:
https://en.mercopress.com/2022/07/08/bolivia-to-produce-toothpaste-made-of-coca-leaves
~ ~ ~
You may remember the gift Evo Morales gave Condoleeza Rice when she was the Secretary of State:
- click for image -
https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-1240w,f_auto,q_auto:best/msnbc/Components/Photos/060311/060311_rice_hmed_9a.jpg
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, left, plays with an Andean musical instrument called a charango, which she received Saturday from Bolivian President Evo Morales, right, during a meeting at the Senate building in Valparaiso, Chile, shortly before the inauguration ceremony of Chile's President-elect Michelle Bachelet.Juan Mabromata / AFP - Getty Images
Morales, Rice discuss Bolivia’s drug fight
March 11, 2006, 10:40 AM CST / Source: Reuters
Bolivia’s new president, Evo Morales, discussed his country’s fight against illegal drugs Saturday with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and then gave her a guitar decorated with coca leaves.
The leftist leader of the world’s third-biggest cocaine producer, who went into politics as the head of Bolivia’s coca growers group, greeted Rice warmly in their first meeting since he took office in January.
During his campaigning, Morales tagged himself a “nightmare” for Washington but a State Department official who attended the meeting described the atmosphere as friendly.
New Bolivian President Evo Morales, who has called himself a “nightmare” for Washington, put aside public differences with the United States Saturday and held his first meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
More:
https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna10958636
= new reply since forum marked as read
