DEMILITARIZING CONFLICT: COLONIALITY OF POWER AND ANTI-DRUG POLICIES IN CHAPARE

Abstract

This article examines the State’s role in the “war on drugs” in Cochabamba (Chapare), Bolivia, through a decolonial lens, emphasizing the coloniality of power. Using a qualitative exploratory design and a case study approach, it investigates how anti‑drug policies and policing practices reproduce racial and social hierarchies, criminalize indigenous knowledge and livelihoods, and sustain states of exception that violate rights. The study combines critical bibliographic review, documentary analysis (Ley 1008, Plan Dignidad) and interpretive reading of accounts on state actions, prioritizing local and subaltern perspectives. It proposes decolonial public policies oriented to demilitarization, legal recognition of traditional coca use, intercultural public health and harm reduction programs, sustainable economic alternatives, and permanent participatory oversight mechanisms. The article contends that these measures both diminish immediate violence and shift decision‑making centers, weakening states of exception and establishing institutional safeguards for protection and reparation of historically marginalized populations.