BY JIMMY LANGMAN
 Special to The Herald

 LA PAZ, Bolivia -- Government officials predict that all remaining coca leaf in the
 Chaparé region of central Bolivia, long the nation's main coca growing area, will be
 completely eliminated before the end of this year.

 But as the government's historic goal of ``zero coca'' draws near, the region is still
 confronting relentless violence. Since September, nearly a dozen persons, both
 soldiers and farmers, have been killed in the Chaparé. Dozens more coca growers
 have been jailed, and protests have proliferated. Last month, the army moved
 thousands of troops into the region to temper the unrest and to ensure that a road
 linking two of Bolivia's largest cities, Santa Cruz and Cochabamba, remains open.

 The road had been rendered impassable by thousands of large rocks, logs and
 numerous other objects during nationwide protests in September and October.

 For three weeks, farmers and teachers protesting an array of issues -- from coca
 eradication to low salaries to land reform -- cut off traffic to major cities all over
 Bolivia causing food shortages and severe economic losses.

 Evo Morales, leader of the coca grower associations in the Chaparé, defiantly
 says that coca growing will continue well after the government declares the zone
 coca-free. Morales warns the conflict could ``Colombianize'' into an armed
 insurrection. But a U.S. Embassy official said in an interview that the conflict in
 the Chaparé is manageable and does not have the elements necessary to
 escalate into the type of strife that afflicts Colombia, where a rebellion has raged
 for more than 35 years years.

 A protracted conflict, armed or otherwise, is real here however, with any
 negotiation between the coca growers and government unlikely to end in
 agreement.

 Coca growers are looking past the elected government of Hugo Banzer -- who
 ruled the country as a military dictator from 1971-78 -- believing they will find a
 more sympathetic hearing when he steps down in 2002. The Banzer government
 agreed in negotiations with the cocaleros last month to cancel its plans to
 construct three military bases in the Chaparé. They also agreed to form a
 consultative commission for determining how to spend much of the potentially
 nearly $85 million allotted this year by the
 U.S. government for future alternative development programs.

 But Bolivia Information Minister Manfredo Kempff said the government will
 continue to reject their principal demand that each of the estimated 40,000
 families in the Chaparé be allowed to grow one cato of coca, or about 2.5 acres.

 ``We will help them grow pineapples, bananas, etc. -- but not coca,'' Kempff said.

 ``The coca in the Chaparé is not the kind you can chew; it is not being used for
 traditional uses like the coca in the Yungas; it is going to cocaine trafficking.''

 Coca has long been a fixture in Bolivian culture. Its first use can be traced back to
 at least 3,000 B.C. It is commonly known here as the hoja sagrada, or sacred
 leaf.

 It is used to brew a tea called mate de coca, and is believed to have properties
 that can cure numerous ailments, ranging from the stomach virus to the common
 cold.

 Some Bolivians also chew coca leaf to ward off the effects of altitude, hunger and
 cold. Such uses are all legal.

 In the northern Yungas region, 30,000 acres of coca crops are legally set aside to
 supply these traditional uses. All the rest of the coca grown in Bolivia is slated for
 permanent elimination under the ``Dignity Plan'' launched in 1998.

 Under that program, the Banzer government has vowed to eliminate every illegal
 acre of coca in the country by 2002. Last year alone, Bolivia claims to have
 reduced by 68 percent the coca of the Chaparé.

 However, eradication in the Yungas, where nearly 5,000 acres of illegal coca still
 exist, will be more difficult due to its remote location and to violent opposition in
 the area strongly backed by the national farmer unions.

 Additionally, according to figures from the U.S. Embassy, approximately 750
 acres of illegal coca still exist in other parts of the country.

 Felipe ``Mallku'' Quispé, leader of the national farmers association, the group that
 orchestrated the November road blockades month that culminated in a lopsided
 agreement in their favor, said they will not accept more coca eradication.

 ``We will implement another form of a struggle to help our brothers,'' Quispé said.

 The root of the problem, says Alberto Zapata, president of the farmers association
 of the Cochabamba region, where the Chaparé is located, is that there are no
 viable economic alternatives to coca.

 ``This country is complying with the mandate of the United States and the
 super-developed countries,'' Zapata said. ``Why can't they also build us factories
 to export value-added Chaparé products to those countries? Since that is never
 going to happen, we insist on growing coca.''