Jimmy Carter reported to accept coca invitation from Evo Morales

By A.M. Mora y Leon

Globovision of Caracas reports news that we hope is inaccurate, and which will be denied by former President Carter. The Venezuelan television network states that he has accepted an invitation to participate in the cultivation of coca with left wing Bolivian president Evo Morales, who grows it in Boliva.

In translation, Globovision's report includes:

In La Paz this Saturday, former U.S. President and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Jimmy Carter accepted an invitation from Bolivian ruler and coca grower Evo Morales to harvest coca leaves on the Andean ruler's rural property in the El Chapare region (Central Bolivia).

"I hope that my next visit I will be able to go to El Chapare, where he (Morales) is going to take me to harvest coca leaves," thus affirmed the former head of state, with the help of an interpreter, during a press conference together with the Bolivian head of state, after a private meeting at the Government Palace.

Morales, leader of the coca harvesters of Bolivia, first fielded the invitation, amidst smiles and a pleasant press statement, assuring that there has been a long friendship with the Nobel Peace Laureate, who even invited him once to harvest peanuts on his lands near Atlanta (Georgia, Southeast U.S.). ...

The former U.S. head of state, already into his presentation, accepted the invitation.

"Given that President Morales has been to my property, and evidently has harvested some peanuts, I hope that on my next visit I can go to El Chapare, where he is going to take me to harvest some coca leaves," responded Carter, which also drew a smirk of happiness from Morales.

If true, this report takes former President Carter into entirely new territory: active support of the production of the ingredient for crack and powder cocaine.

Confusingly, the Globovision headline reads: "Former U.S. President Carter accepts invitation to plant coca in Bolivia"

Is it plant or harvest? We don't know.

And we hope that this is a hoax from Venezuela. There should be television coverage of the La Paz event, so this incident bears further investigation. If true, this represents a historic low for an ex-president.