Another important dimension of the Bolivian coca-cocaine cycle is the size and significance of the population employed in this industry. While there is a great deal of disagreement about the specific size (the best estimate is somewhere between 200, 000 to 250, 000), it is evident that this population has achieved great political importance. In 1997, for example, coca growers elected two of their principal leaders to the Bolivian Chamber of Deputies. The capacity to mobilize resistance to eradication and interdiction efforts was notorious before their leaders achieved such high office.
