Speaker 1: It's that time to put on your jersey and wave
Speaker 1: your flag. Whoever you root for.
Speaker 2: Why do I watch the work up?
Speaker 3: That's like asking me why do I breath?
Speaker 1: And it's beautiful.
Speaker 2: The guys are young and cure and fat. It's not
Speaker 2: just a game, it's your culture.
Speaker 4: Imagin with my guy.
Speaker 2: It's a connecting force.
Speaker 1: From Futuro Studios. I'm Fernande Chavari and this is American Football,
Speaker 1: a show about soccer culture in the US and it's
Speaker 1: underdog roots. Listen to American Football on the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2: Goku Kurama, I'm with my memma. Why an indigenous artist
Speaker 2: of the morin Wuna people of the Colombian Amazon. We're
Speaker 2: in his downtown Bogota apartment. It's his home, his art studio,
Speaker 2: and his maloca, his community gathering place with Mambia. Said
Speaker 2: this as he plays a percussion instrument to prepare. He
Speaker 2: tells me he's going to mambiad to take mambae before
Speaker 2: initiating our conversation about the coca leaf, the key ingredient
Speaker 2: in mambay. The coca plant sprout small, bright green leaves
Speaker 2: with delicate white flowers and bright ruby red berries. And
Speaker 2: before we go any further, just to be clear, this
Speaker 2: story is about that plant, not cacao or chocolate, and
Speaker 2: not cocaine. While the coca leaf is used to make cocaine,
Speaker 2: the plant itself is nothing like that highly addictive narcotic
Speaker 2: that can cause major health harms. Instead, the coca leaf
Speaker 2: is a mild natural stimulant that only contains one percent
Speaker 2: or less of the cocaine alkaloid, a plant with pharmaceutical potential,
Speaker 2: and the World Health Organization the WHO recently recognized that
Speaker 2: the coca leaf does not pose a major public health risk,
Speaker 2: So consuming it is not like taking a drug. It's
Speaker 2: more like having a cup of strong coffee, suppressing pain
Speaker 2: and fatigue. It's traditionally used to overcome sodoce or altitude sickness.
Speaker 2: A Colombian drug policy researcher explained it to me like this,
Speaker 2: Taking mambe or coca leaf is like riding a bike,
Speaker 2: and doing cocaine is like being on an airplane. So
Speaker 2: cocaine is a problem, the coca leaf itself is not.
Speaker 2: This is precisely why I want to tell you the
Speaker 2: lesser known story of the coca leaf, a plant that
Speaker 2: indigenous people in South America have been called debating for
Speaker 2: eight millennia. I was born here in Colombia and live
Speaker 2: here now after spending most of my life in the US.
Speaker 2: But I didn't know much about indigenous coca leaf traditions
Speaker 2: like mambae until I moved back, and as I reported
Speaker 2: this story on the coca leaf, I learned that there's
Speaker 2: a whole international movement to destigmatize and decriminalize the plant.
Speaker 2: Mambae is a green powder made with crushed and toasted
Speaker 2: coca leaf mixed with the ash of the Jedumo tree,
Speaker 2: an alkaline that activates the coca leaf's effects. For indigenous
Speaker 2: groups from the Colombian Amazon, like I, Mima's mamby is
Speaker 2: traditionally taken ritually to meditate, reflect and have important discussions.
Speaker 2: Mambe sweetens the word. Ima tells me, I'm so he
Speaker 2: is taking up his jar of mumbe. It's a green powder.
Speaker 2: It looks a lot like macha. He's taken the spoon
Speaker 2: and put the powder in his mouth, and he is
Speaker 2: now doing the work to create the ball in the
Speaker 2: side of his cheek. Respect outsiders, non indigenous folks have
Speaker 2: to approach coca leaf traditions with a lot of respect,
Speaker 2: he says, just as indigenous people already do. I think
Speaker 2: it invites you to reflect, to think about your life,
Speaker 2: he says, com.
Speaker 5: To com.
Speaker 2: About how you are, about how others are, about what
Speaker 2: you need. He adds.
Speaker 5: Sing up.
Speaker 2: This is why Mema says that he wants to spread
Speaker 2: the word that indigenous traditions like mambe are not inherently
Speaker 2: badra cosa man. And that's vital because for over half
Speaker 2: a century, outsiders international institutions have maligned the coca leaf tradition,
Speaker 2: threatening its very existence. Today's story will unpack and untangle
Speaker 2: the two, the ancestral coca leaf from the narcotic drug.
Speaker 4: From futuro media. It's Latino Usa. I'm Maria Inosa today.
Speaker 4: The coca leaf, It's history and its present. You may
Speaker 4: only associate the coca leaf with cocaine and with the
Speaker 4: decades long war on drugs declared by President Nixon way
Speaker 4: back in nineteen seventy one.
Speaker 6: It is necessary to wage a new all out offensive.
Speaker 4: President Trump recently has been stoking the flames of that war.
Speaker 6: President Trump has authorized yet another military strike against a
Speaker 6: boat allegedly carrying drugs.
Speaker 4: And now Colombian far right president elect Avelardo de Laespriella
Speaker 4: plans to support that war.
Speaker 7: The par La Mahedricinta Trinta Militariacca tola Formahabulencia.
Speaker 4: De Laespriea, who Trump endorsed and who won by a
Speaker 4: razor thin victory, has promised to eradicate coca crops in
Speaker 4: Colombia with aerial fumigation, drones and artificial intelligence. But the
Speaker 4: coca leaf in its natural form is not cocaine. In fact,
Speaker 4: there are diverse coca leaf traditions all across South America,
Speaker 4: and research suggests that the coca leaf may in fact
Speaker 4: have therapeutic benefits, and over the last few years, an
Speaker 4: international movement has been building to decriminalize the leaf and
Speaker 4: to destigmatize it. Producer Desas on the Valley is going
Speaker 4: to take the mic back for the rest of the story.
Speaker 2: Growing up in the Colombian diaspora in the US, I
Speaker 2: heard my fair share of cocaine related stereotypes and bad jokes.
Speaker 2: A middle school social studies teacher in Florida used bullets
Speaker 2: and cocaine as an emmonic device to teach Columbia's capital.
Speaker 4: B is for bullets, and for Bogoka, C is for
Speaker 4: cocaine and for Colombia.
Speaker 2: It felt like she was basically saying, remember this place
Speaker 2: and its people for this bad stuff. And look, I know.
Speaker 2: Cocaine is a substance that has caused a lot of
Speaker 2: violence and harm. It's been in the US since the
Speaker 2: late eighteen hundreds, when it was used legally, both medicinally
Speaker 2: and recreationally, until it was outlawed for recreational use in
Speaker 2: nineteen fourteen. Even today, Columbia is the world's number one
Speaker 2: exporter of cocaine, so it makes sense that the country
Speaker 2: has had this bad rep The War on Drugs conflated
Speaker 2: the coca leaf with the highly processed narcotic white powder,
Speaker 2: intensifying the stigma. But when I moved back to Bogota,
Speaker 2: I started to notice the coca leaf everywhere out in
Speaker 2: the open street vendors, sea is on at concerts and
Speaker 2: cultural events. Some non indigenous artists and academics in the
Speaker 2: city have taken up the ritual of mumbao what Amemma
Speaker 2: showed me earlier, taking mambay socially while having important discussions
Speaker 2: or while doing something creative, and the more I observe
Speaker 2: to the scene, the more I began to understand that
Speaker 2: there was so much more going on. Folks I spoke
Speaker 2: to while reporting this story told me as much. We
Speaker 2: experienced coca as a world that is full of visions
Speaker 2: and multiple cultures and ways of life. It's not just
Speaker 2: a plant. It's a marvel.
Speaker 8: But it's a secret too well kept. And I think
Speaker 8: that's what's got to change.
Speaker 2: What's with the exhibit. Natalia Chaparro is a Colombian rbilist
Speaker 2: and a small business owner.
Speaker 8: There's some of my products there on exhibition.
Speaker 2: I meet her outside an exhibition about the coca leaf
Speaker 2: at un LOSS, the University of the Andes, one of
Speaker 2: Colombia's top research universities.
Speaker 8: Yeah, so I.
Speaker 2: Spot her in a bright patterned jumpsuit just as she's
Speaker 2: packing up after an artisan market. All the vendors, including Natalia,
Speaker 2: are selling coca leaf products. Nice and were you making
Speaker 2: lattes here?
Speaker 8: Yes?
Speaker 1: For her, I'm so annoyed.
Speaker 2: Natalia's products are an example of how everyday Colombians are
Speaker 2: engaging with the coca leaf.
Speaker 9: I may have a little bit of Mumbai latlefs, let
Speaker 9: me see.
Speaker 2: And Thankfully I haven't messed out completely on one of
Speaker 2: her specialties, the Mumbe latte.
Speaker 8: So just try it and let me know what you think.
Speaker 2: It's a blend of mambe with cinnamon, cardamom, clove, and
Speaker 2: oat milk.
Speaker 9: Since we're in Colombia, I invite people, if you can
Speaker 9: choose between machia and mumbe, choose mumbe because it connects you.
Speaker 8: With your territory. When you relate to your territory.
Speaker 9: You're more proud of the place that you're coming from.
Speaker 2: Natalia tells me consuming mambe connects you to your land,
Speaker 2: to your home, and that's thanks to the coca leaf.
Speaker 8: Mumbe.
Speaker 9: When you put a little bit in your mouth, you're
Speaker 9: gonna feel your tongue a little bit numb.
Speaker 2: That's because coca leaf has anal jessic effects.
Speaker 8: It's telling us to be quiet, to listen.
Speaker 2: Studies also suggest that the coca leaf may have antioxidant
Speaker 2: and anti inflammatory properties that can help lower blood pressure.
Speaker 9: If you feel certain pain in your muscles or if
Speaker 9: you have mazed on premps.
Speaker 2: A twenty twenty study from the University of the Andes
Speaker 2: even shows that coca leaf extracts have major pharmaceutical potential
Speaker 2: for treating two types of cancers, but according to one
Speaker 2: of the authors of the study, tight regulations around the
Speaker 2: coca leaf have made even researching the plant quite difficult.
Speaker 2: After living abroad for years, Natalia started to visit Columbia more.
Speaker 2: On one trip to the north in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 8: Amids my guide.
Speaker 9: He's a Kogi, an indigenous person, and he was the
Speaker 9: first person who showed me coca.
Speaker 2: From that instance, she felt connected to the plant, and
Speaker 2: it only deepened when she moved back to Colombia and
Speaker 2: got into herbalism.
Speaker 8: And in Delaway is up but more appreciation.
Speaker 2: Rooting her practice in the plant's indigenous origins. Natalia hopes
Speaker 2: mainstream perspectives on the coca leaf will change.
Speaker 8: At some point.
Speaker 9: It will be ideal that people were really proud of coca,
Speaker 9: like they're proud of sansa arepas cafe exactly.
Speaker 2: And this isn't just a pipe dream. Governments and advocates
Speaker 2: have taken real steps to destigmatize the leaf, bringing it
Speaker 2: back to its origins.
Speaker 4: Coming up on Latino usay, what happens when the coca
Speaker 4: leaf is reevaluated on one of the world's largest international stages.
Speaker 10: There was an opportunity for them to say, we are
Speaker 10: moving away from these conclusions that we took many decades ago.
Speaker 4: And I look back on the roots of the misunderstood
Speaker 4: coca leaf, from Sike tradition to illicit substance. Stay with us,
Speaker 4: not Antonio Bardia, Mario Capistran.
Speaker 7: Yoss, the True Crime Extra Terrestress, Fantasma, Legenda's Legendarias, Toto Leando,
Speaker 7: Legendarius Studies Panula, and on the Kiracucas podcasts.
Speaker 4: Hey We're Back, Producer Tasha Sandoval has been telling us
Speaker 4: about the origins and uses of the coca leaf in Colombia.
Speaker 4: Let's get back to the story.
Speaker 2: To understand how the coca leaf became so mis understood,
Speaker 2: we have to go back to its origins when it
Speaker 2: was anything but bad. There are unique coca traditions in
Speaker 2: different regions, from northern Argentina all the way to Costa Rica.
Speaker 2: Mambe comes from the Colombian Amazon. Imema, the indigenous artist
Speaker 2: I spoke to at the top of the episode, is
Speaker 2: from there. In the highlands, indigenous folks commonly chew dry
Speaker 2: coca leaves hakujiko as it's known in Bolivia. In the
Speaker 2: Sierra Noual Santa Marta. In northern Colombia, there's the Popoto
Speaker 2: tradition where coca leaves are mixed in the mouth with
Speaker 2: saliva and another alkaline powdered seashells. Indigenous groups have venerated
Speaker 2: the coca leaf not only as nutritious and therapeutic, but
Speaker 2: also as essential and sacred, and it's been passed down
Speaker 2: from generation to generation. Then back in his boat at
Speaker 2: that apartment with his mouth full of mambe Amemma tells
Speaker 2: me he remembers learning about its importance even as a child.
Speaker 2: We would go to the garden to learn about it
Speaker 2: for the wisdom to be transmitted, he says. But then
Speaker 2: there's the coca leaf. On the international stage, the coca
Speaker 2: leaf is included in one of the strictest international narcotic
Speaker 2: drug schedules or United Nations Lingo for categories. It all
Speaker 2: began with the UNS nineteen sixty one Convention, which put
Speaker 2: the coca leaf in Schedule one. Each substance in the
Speaker 2: convention is categorized into schedules one to four.
Speaker 10: Depending on their propensity to lead to joe dependence, but
Speaker 10: also their usefulness for medical and scientific purposes.
Speaker 2: That's Marie Nuge, head of Research and Communications at the
Speaker 2: International Drug Policy Consortium. The IDPC Schedule one that is
Speaker 2: for the most dangerous substances, so that includes heroin, that
Speaker 2: includes cocaine, and it includes the coca leaf. So because
Speaker 2: the convention puts cocaine and coca leaf in the same schedule,
Speaker 2: it's regulated in the same way.
Speaker 10: In the nineteen fifties, there were basic key reports that
Speaker 10: the plant was deeply harmful for health, that it was
Speaker 10: highly addictive.
Speaker 2: These reports were used as the base of the nineteen
Speaker 2: sixty one convention and Marisa's they're deeply tainted by colonialism
Speaker 2: and racism. For example, one of those reports states.
Speaker 6: In general, coca leaf chewers present emotional dullness or apathy
Speaker 6: in difference, lack of will power and low capacity for attention.
Speaker 6: They are mistrustful, shy, unsociable, and undecided.
Speaker 2: In the decades since the nineteen sixties, there have been
Speaker 2: a few attempts at change. In the late two thousands,
Speaker 2: then Bolivian President Evo Morales, an indigenous coca grower himself,
Speaker 2: challenged the un putting a coca leaf in his mouth
Speaker 2: he said, this is what coca chewing is. Coca is
Speaker 2: Bolivia's national plant, protected as cultural heritage. Coca leaf chewing
Speaker 2: is ubiquitous there. But even that powerful scene of President
Speaker 2: Morales on the UN floor did not change the coca
Speaker 2: leaf's UN designation. So Bolivia withdrew from the convention altogether,
Speaker 2: then rejoined a couple of years later, but with a
Speaker 2: protection for traditional coca leaf chewing within the country. Since then,
Speaker 2: there's been one more attempt. Here's Marie again.
Speaker 10: At the end of twenty twenty three, Bolivia requested the
Speaker 10: Wealth House Organization to conduct a critical review of the
Speaker 10: coke leaf, and then later down the line, Columbia supported
Speaker 10: the process.
Speaker 2: The WHO spent two years researching the coca leaf in
Speaker 2: an effort to determine whether or not the UN designated
Speaker 2: the coca leaf correctly back in nineteen sixty one to
Speaker 2: recommend whether the regulations around coca leaf should change. In
Speaker 2: December of last year, the WHO announced the results of
Speaker 2: this critical review. It recommended no.
Speaker 11: Change in the scheduling of the coke leaf, essentially closing
Speaker 11: the door on legal trade and greater scientific research for now.
Speaker 11: And that is a complete missed opportunity to repair the
Speaker 11: historical errors of the best. The critical review report suggests
Speaker 11: that coca leaf can be easily converted into cocaine, increasing
Speaker 11: the risk of more drug production, but Marie and other
Speaker 11: experts take issue with this concept of ease.
Speaker 10: It is almost impossible to extract the alkaloids from the cokati.
Speaker 10: You would need hundreds of thousands of coca tea bags
Speaker 10: to extract a quilo of cocaine.
Speaker 2: It would be logistically and economically inefficient, another expert told me.
Speaker 2: Marie says descheduling the leaf would have enabled an international
Speaker 2: market for the coca leaf to develop, and this is
Speaker 2: where international regulatory decisions meet everyday reality for people on
Speaker 2: the ground. Right now, many coca farmers make their living
Speaker 2: by cultivating coca for the cocaine trade. While some experts disagree,
Speaker 2: Marie argues that if trading the coca leaf internationally had
Speaker 2: been legalized, those same farmers could have continued to cultivate
Speaker 2: the cocaine for coca leaf, chewing, coca tea, mambe, or
Speaker 2: other natural coca products instead, in turn providing.
Speaker 11: The lifelihoods to thousands, hundreds of thousands of families.
Speaker 2: The WHO report also emphasized that their conclusion does not
Speaker 2: affect traditional use, since some Andean nations already have national
Speaker 2: exemptions for this think Bolivia. But some experts say the
Speaker 2: coca leaf's international status keeps a country like Colombia from
Speaker 2: creating clear national regulations, so the coca leaf is technically
Speaker 2: in a legal gray area. In Colombia, it is both
Speaker 2: controlled globally and protected as a traditional cultural asset, and
Speaker 2: the law has not caught up with reality. Like I
Speaker 2: mentioned earlier, coca leaf use is pretty common, though it
Speaker 2: isn't officially regulated, and enforcement around it is largely inconsistent.
Speaker 2: For example, a recent case shows the compos x, legal,
Speaker 2: and social reality of the coca leaf. The Colombian State
Speaker 2: Airlines Thattena kept an indigenous passenger from boarding a flight
Speaker 2: in Putumajo in the Colombian Amazon because he was carrying mambe. Ultimately,
Speaker 2: it is indigenous people like this Sathena passenger and like
Speaker 2: Amema who have not been included in international decisions about
Speaker 2: the coca leaf, from the nineteen sixty one UN Convention
Speaker 2: to the latest WHO recommendation that once again failed to
Speaker 2: include a single indigenous person from the Andes and making
Speaker 2: its final decision, but advocates, indigenous folks and those who
Speaker 2: consider the coca leaf sacred are not giving up. They're
Speaker 2: still fighting to change the narrative that many still have
Speaker 2: about the plant.
Speaker 4: We will be right back. Hey, we're back. Here's producer
Speaker 4: Tasha Sandoval to wrap up our story about the present
Speaker 4: and the future of the coca leaf.
Speaker 2: Iimma, the indigenous artist from earlier, told me he wishes
Speaker 2: his people had been at the table for making big
Speaker 2: decisions about the coca leaf, to share their ancestral knowledge.
Speaker 5: San peguando los ueblos, some party. Detis justa not taking
Speaker 5: a scenarios. No participant, no abli, no no mam bey,
Speaker 5: no no insane, no tras mean al gore real.
Speaker 2: If his people don't participate, don't speak, don't have the
Speaker 2: chance to transmit something real dirac passive divise. Yeah, it's
Speaker 2: going to be really tough, he tells me. Meanwhile, in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty four, Immma was one of eight artists featured
Speaker 2: in Coco Worlds, an independent curatorial project and an exhibit
Speaker 2: at the United Nations Headquarters. That's right, the same institution
Speaker 2: that contributed to the stigmatization of the coca leaf around
Speaker 2: the world. So, on one hand, the WHO was in
Speaker 2: the middle of a critical review of the coca leaf,
Speaker 2: one that upheld the status quo to keep the coca
Speaker 2: leaf in one of the UN's strictest drug control schedules.
Speaker 2: But on the other hand, the UN headquarters hosted an
Speaker 2: exhibit that four grounded artwork made with and about the
Speaker 2: coca leaf, stopping till pass. Back in his apartment after
Speaker 2: Elmambeo Amima shows me what he's working Onpalito.
Speaker 5: Yes, yes, look ki plasmobo mask.
Speaker 2: He uses a mixture of sticks, seeds, and actual coca
Speaker 2: leaves and blends it into his oil paint Several of
Speaker 2: his paintings large colorful canvases hang on the walls of
Speaker 2: his apartment.
Speaker 5: The Bengal Pintando plas Mando pretorca iss com.
Speaker 2: His work is deeply rooted in resistance through time and
Speaker 2: through historical conflicts. He says the fact that his art
Speaker 2: and its message reached the u N headquarters was a
Speaker 2: symbolic win. But given that the coca leafs UN designation
Speaker 2: remains unchanged, there's still a lot of room for destigmatization.
Speaker 2: Amemma asked me hypothetically when coco was banned in the
Speaker 2: first place. Quando and who banned it? Ages miss they did,
Speaker 2: he says, answering his own question. They as an outsiders
Speaker 2: like those at the u N. It's outsiders, those who
Speaker 2: do not hold first hand wisdom about the leaf, who've
Speaker 2: determined its fate. One of my Mamma's elders used to tell.
Speaker 5: Him, what do you come bomb adams?
Speaker 2: Look at how they make bombs and weapons, and that's
Speaker 2: not prohibited.
Speaker 5: Pro propio.
Speaker 2: Or no. But this, this which is ours, which comes
Speaker 2: from the creator, isn't allowed.
Speaker 5: Most I'm beingished.
Speaker 2: Indigenous knowledge, wisdom and science needs to be accepted to immasas.
Speaker 5: I can connects, I can connect tars colt connects or hynarious.
Speaker 2: We have to connect with nature. We have to open
Speaker 2: our minds.
Speaker 5: I cachar for la manos couch presidents.
Speaker 2: At the very least listen to us, he insists. Remember
Speaker 2: we have to sweeten the word. He reminds us, I.
Speaker 5: Can trust me, t I can sign and I.
Speaker 2: Connect hilarious, and we have to share the coca leaves.
Speaker 2: Indigenous origins.
Speaker 3: He nah oh jonah dina to your name, Oh baula HeLa,
Speaker 3: Oh right, Dijona, Oh Dinah, Jonah Vacuna, hang On Oh Right, Jona,
Speaker 3: Dina Yona.
Speaker 4: This episode was produced by Tasha San Novel. It was
Speaker 4: edited by Nicole Rothwell, Fernanda Chavari and Penny le Mirez,
Speaker 4: fact Chuckie by Roxana Aguire. It was mixed by Stefane
Speaker 4: Lebo and Julia Caruso. Nancy Trujillo is our production manager.
Speaker 4: The Latino USA team also includes Rinaldo Leans, Junior, Luis Luna,
Speaker 4: Rorima Marquez, Urieta Martinelli and Adriana Rodriguez. Fernande Echavari is
Speaker 4: our managing editor. Penile Ramirez and I are executive producers.
Speaker 4: I'm your host Mariao Josan. Latino USA is part of
Speaker 4: Ihart Michael Dura Podcast Network. Executive producers that I Heart
Speaker 4: are Leo Gomez and Arlene Santana. Join us again on
Speaker 4: our next episode. In the meantime, I'll see you on
Speaker 4: all of our social media and don't forget, dear listener,
Speaker 4: to join futuro BLUs. You'll get to listen to everything
Speaker 4: ad free, and by joining you'll be supporting the kind
Speaker 4: of reporting that makes episodes like this one possible. So
Speaker 4: gerrasias a stella proxima.
Speaker 2: Choo Latino USA is made possible in part by the
Speaker 2: Ford Foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of
Speaker 2: social change worldwide the Heising Simons Foundation unlocking knowledge, opportunity
Speaker 2: and possibilities. More at hsfoundation dot org and the TAU
Speaker 2: Foundation