Hugo Chavez hearts coca

Evo Morales was originally a coca farmer and began his political career unionizing other coca farmers.

The distinction between coca and cocaine is an important one. These two leaders identify themselves with the indigenous peoples of their respective countries; and the indigenous of Bolivia, at least, have an extensive history of using the leaf. The industrial manufacture of cocaine, on the other hand, degrades the local biosphere, both by subjecting soils to hazardous chemicals and then creating a lot of toxic waste in the refinement process. All this happening on land which used to belong to...you guessed it...the indigenous peoples who have a long history of coca use, indigenous peoples who also happen to provide most of the labor in both the farms and the refineries but who do not see the profits from the movement of cocaine worldwide.

So when Chavez says "Coca isn't cocaine," he isn't just referring to the intensity or unique timbre of a coca plant vs. cocaine chemical high. Nor is he just talking about the moral consequences of the personal use of a plant vs. a chemical drug. He's talking about history, biology, economics, religion.