On December 18, 2005, Evo Morales was elected President of Bolivia. For the first time in history, an Indian reached a position of power in the country. The planters in the Chapare region have consolidated a sound organisation in support of planting coca leaf, a sacred plant of great cultural and economic relevance. Today, the coca planters participate actively in the national political arena, where the values of traditional native culture and contemporary social movements converge.