“Coca” Judge Of Bolivia Defends His ‘Divination’ Technique
In Bolivia the use of coca, the raw material for cocaine, is considered to be an integral part of the native Andeans with uses as a herbal medicine and a mild stimulant. It is also considered as a sacrament in religious and shamanic rituals; and now thanks to Judge Gualberto Cusi a way to decide guilt or innocence.
Cusi came to the bench after it was decided that judges could be elected by public vote for the first time and it was during an interview with the judge that his use of coca leaves came to light, and as expected created a bit of a political firestorm.
In the interview Cusi said that he “consulted” the coca leaves when faced with very difficult judicial decisions but he said later in an effort to qualify his statement that he relied on the leaves for spiritual guidance but didn’t let them determine the outcome of cases.
This needless to say got a reaction from opposition politicians like Roy Moroni
“I think justice has hit rock-bottom, it is shameful and he should quit,” opposition congressman Roy Moroni told El Deber newspaper.
“We can’t put our trust in people who determine the liberty of individuals by reading coca,” he added.
via BBC
This give new meaning to making enlightened decisions eh
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Steven Hodson Steven has been around the tech world long enough to see most of the stuff we think of cool happen before which leads to a certain bit of cynicism that has contributed to him being known as the cranky old fart of the Internet. Besides sharing some of the goodness that he finds with you here at 42x you can also find him curating some digital goodness at Winextra (tech type stuff) and Rotten Gumdrops (for your daily dose of WTF).
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