Even though much of the tradition and cultural learning of the Inca Indigenous group was passed down orally and in a story-telling manner, it is inevitable to admire how much presence has been noted throughout the Machupichu or “Valle del Urubamba” in Peru and surrounding countries. Aside from other sites throughout South America, the Incas also spread across Bolivia, a nation of governmental systems like any other, intercultural communication exchange, and humanistic practices. First and foremost, within Inca territory, the coca leaf has been used for practices other than what recent humans have used it for.
“Coca leaves have (and still is) been chewed by South American” Incas, Inca descendants (Quechuans), Tiwanaku, Amyara, and other nomadic Andean cultures to satisfy a dietary allotment for calcium, iron, phosphorous, vitamin A, vitamin B, and vitamin E (Cocaine Rehab Treatment, 2010). Regarding with great respect and aside from dietary allowances, the Cocaine Rehab Treatment (2010) says that the Incas used the coca leaf for cultural practices such as magical ceremonies, initiation rites, divination and fertility rituals, and to heal physical and psychological woes other than altitude sickness. Regional citizens within Bolivian territory and those surrounding the geographical area still use coca paste as a currency exchange or as a trade value. Moreover, according to Cocaine Rehab Treatment (2010) Spanish conquistadors who conquered the Inca Empire in 1572 initially outlawed coca leaves however; after initiating native labor and slavery, the judgment over coca leaves drastically changed. Because silver-mine work is extremely arduous “and taking coca reduces appetite and increases physical stamina,” a great surge in coca-use was in demand for both cultural groups the conquistadors and the Incas.
Moving away from the Inca cultural tradition that have been present almost 2000 BC and moving forward 2,000 AC to Bolivia, a country of intercultural relevance neighboring countries among the entire American continent. Within the same continent, the United States of America traditionally believe in a respectively different cultural pattern other than the Inca tradition. On March 3, 2010 the ‘Assistant Administrator for Intelligence Drug Enforcement Administration’ (Anthony P. Placido) gave a statement on transnational drug enterprises, threats to global stability and U.S. policy responses. “Drug trafficking and abuse exacts a significant toll on the American public. More than 31,000 Americans – or approximately ten times the number of people killed on September 11, 2001, die each year as a direct result of drug abuse. Approximately seven million people who are classified as dependent on, or addicted to, controlled substances squander their productive potential. Many of these addicts abuse or neglect their children and commit a variety of crimes under the influence of, or in an attempt to obtain, illicit drugs. Tens of millions more suffer from this erstwhile “victimless” crime, as law-abiding citizens are forced to share the roads with drugged drivers, pay to clean up toxic waste from clandestine laboratories, rehabilitate addicts, and put together the pieces of shattered lives.” Placido also states that to calculate the actual cost and impact of how much transnational drug crime plays in corrupting government institutions, undermining public confidence in the rule of law, fostering violence, fueling regional instability, and funding terrorism.
Inevitably, the cultural core of Bolivia descends from indigenous backgrounds, mainly the Inca culture due to its extensive history. According to BBC News (2011) Evo Morales “an Aymara Indian, became the first president to come from the country’s indigenous majority.” After Evo Morales was chosen as Bolivia’s president through a democratic election in 2005 and decided to decriminalize coca plant and the consumption of it in its natural state in 2008, the Bush Administration sanctioned Bolivia in different areas of foreign policy. According to Jean Friedman-Rudovsky at TIME.com, the reason Evo Morales detached Bolivian policy from continuing to fight the same fight the United States on the War On Drugs was national security concerns. Morales claimed the United States were plotting against the country and in retrospect said, “We have the obligation to defend the dignity and the sovereignty of the Bolivian people. . . there have been DEA agents who, carrying out espionage, financed rogue groups with the intention of taking the lives of [Bolivian government] officials, though not the President’s.” Thereafter, the Bush Administration announced the upcoming suspension of legislation that has since 1991 offered Andean nation trade benefits in exchange for drug-war cooperation. That legislation currently allows about $150 million in Bolivian goods, primarily textiles, to enter the U.S. tariff-free – exports that help sustain about 20,000 Bolivian jobs.” Even though the senior State Department Official says these accusations are absurd and false, there is a cultural barrier of uncertainty that began to separate both nations which according to the same State Department Official have had a “35-year track record of working effectively and professionally with our Bolivian partners” (Friedman-Rudovsky, 2008) Hence, it is quite difficult to grasp that between a long history of effectively working together, a cultural difference is directly affecting foreign policy and international commerce.
As mentioned earlier, the conquistadors were groups of people who were used to ordering and managing but never those who would do the hard work. On the other hand, the natives were slaved and used to work potentially dangerous and extremely difficult types of jobs. Even though the Incas already had a history with the coca leaf, so did the Americans with alcohol and tobacco as much as the Conquistadors. In relative perspective, every cultural group seems to have particular substances to utilize when it relates to cultural practices. For instance, the Incas used coca leaf for rituals the Incas considered sacred; the American people celebrate with alcohol, a refined substance that is also a great player in the deaths of many Americans every year.
Communication plays a very big role in each country, it is a matter of information and where it goes to. For instance, Mattia Cabitza at guardian.co.uk says Bolivia illegal coca becomes compost rather than cocaine. Further, “every year Bolivia confiscates almost 700 tons of illegal coca . . . government coca director, Luis Cutipa, believes that turning this excess into fertilizer will deprive criminals of their raw material for making cocaine, much of which goes to Brazil and on to Europe.” On the other hand, U.S. officials do not tend to acknowledge the cultural background of the Incas and only dictate according to a reactive mind set in regard to the drug crisis in the United States.
Communication devices include press conferences, telecommunications technology, wireless communications, voice recording, videotaping, picture cameras, and mass media vias. The devices work perfectly for both instances, when Evo Morales declared Bolivia would no longer be part of the War On Drugs and when the Bush Administration sanctioned Bolivia. In other instances, like that of knowing how bad coca is turning into an eco-friendly matter, helps communicate to masses a little cultural perspective and how Bolivia is reacting to cocaine. Thanks to these communication devices all humans can understand if Bolivia is in fact contributing to the drug trafficking or if it is truly fighting it.
I would enlist Hofstede to reduce the amount of uncertainty that has surged among these two nations and those surrounding them. According to Myron & Koester (2010), cultures are different to a certain extremity to which ambiguity is preferable and tolerable to coping with any substantive change among cultural lines. “Thus, all cultures differ in their perceived need to be changeable and adaptable. Hofstede refers to these variations as the uncertainty avoidance dimension,” the so-called extremity signals the culture as threatened by ambiguous, unclear, unsettled, and thereafter tries to avoid those dimensions by establishing more structure within that culture. Therefore, it is very easy to see how much uncertainty exists not only within the American culture but within the Bolivian culture. Bolivia has the capacity and ability to fight drug trafficking all on its own however, it is a benefit to the American culture that another country in the South American sub-continent fights the same War On Drugs. On the other hand, if Bolivia sees that the United States do not understand the cultural patterns that have played in that part of the world for over 4,500 years then, it will react in that manner. Particularly speaking about a president whose cultural background derives from those rituals and practices, in either way, Hofstede would consider a Cultural State Intermediary. An individual agency who would work independently in a transnational setting and subsidized by all of those who are willing to join. The point of the agency is to carry a balanced cultural resolution when foreign policy and international commerce begins to be affected by poor intercultural communication. In this case, uncertainty is reduced to a very low and potentially effective way or cooperating in between nations.
References
Lustig, M. W. & Koester, J. (2010). Intercultural competence: Interpersonal communication across cultures (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
N.A. (2010). History of the Coca Plant. Retrieved September 22, 2011 from http://www.cocainerehabtreatment.com/history-of-the-coca-plant.
Cabitza, Mattia. (2011). Bolivia’s illegal coca becomes compost rather than cocaine. Retrieved September 22, 2011 from http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/30/bolivia-illegal-coca-compost-cocaine
Placido, P., Anthony. (2010) Transnational Drug Enterprises (Part II): Threats to Global Stability And U.S. Policy Responses. Retrieved September 22, 2011 from http://www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/cngrtest/ct030310.pdf
Friedman-Rudovsky, Jean. (2008) Why Bolivia Quit the U.S. War On Drugs. Retrieved September 22, 2011 from http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1856153,00.html
BBC News (2011) Profile: Bolivia’s President Evo Morales. Retrieved September 22, 2011 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12166905
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