War on Drugs - Take Two

I just read this article on new farming incentives offered by the Bolivian president, Evo Morales, to his farmers:

The unlikely advocate for change is the Bolivian president, Evo Morales, who as leader of a powerful coca growers' union fought U.S. crop-substitution programs for two decades. But rising grain prices and food shortages have made Morales reconsider, and he is now asking coca farmers to supplement their crops with rice and corn as a way of holding down coca production while helping to feed the poorest country in South America.

It still takes a lot more effort to grow rice/corn/etc. than coca (which, it seems from the article, grows with little effort in northern South America). However, thanks to the new incentives put into place by Morales in parts of Bolivia, many farmers seem to be converting part of their coca fields to rice and corn fields willingly.
Sort of interesting that the rise in food and gas prices is causing the change that the US has been trying to force on cocaine production for so many years. It shows that while food and gas prices' increase has hurt everyone, there are some (presumably) positive side effects to the crisis.
But, of course, the best part of the article was Morales's indignantly revolutionary cry, "Viva coca! Death to the Yankees!". I guess Morales wants to clearly separate his program for replacing part of the coca production in Bolivia from the US-endorsed program to replace all coca production with stuff like bananas (whose price is also increasing, apparently). Surprising what decades of meddling with a continent can do to one's reputation...

[via IHT]