September 12, 1984

The soldiers rolling past in troop trucks barely noticed Bacilia Flores, sweeping coca leaves here beside the ''cocaine highway.'' But because of them, she cannot sell her crop. The Bolivian Army has occupied the Chapare region, where nearly a third of the world's coca leaf grows, and the soldiers have driven the cocaine traffickers away. As a result, tens of thousands of campesinos like Mrs. Flores are near revolt. The Bolivian economy is in deep trouble, too, because cocaine had become the most important commodity of foreign exchange. After the army occupation, the Bolivian peso's value fell in one day to 30 percent of its value the day before.

A Washington dispatch on Friday about Walter F. Mondale's campaign strategy misreported remarks by Robert S. Strauss, former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, at a breakfast meeting with reporters. As reported, he said that the Mondale campaign had got off to a ''rocky start'' and that some Mondale aides were isolated from segments of the party. But he did not say his appointment to lead a campaign advisory group of senior Democratic leaders amounted to an acknowledgment of these faults by the Mondale campaign.

Secretary of State George P. Shultz announced today that the United States was ready to admit the thousands of Vietnamese children fathered by Americans as well as 10,000 former and current Vietnamese political prisoners from ''re-education'' camps. He appealed to Hanoi to live up to a promise to let them go. Vietnam's Prime Minister, Pham Van Dong, said in May that Hanoi would be willing to send all the so- called Amerasian children as well as the inmates of the ''re-education'' camps to the United States. He said there were 15,000 such children. Many of them are ostracized in Vietnamese society because of their skin color. Vietnamese officials have said there were about 10,000 prisoners in the ''re-education'' camps.

Nabisco Brands Inc., in the largest move thus far by a leading advertiser into cable television ownership, has agreed to buy a 20 percent interest in ESPN, the cable sports network. For its stake in the network, a subsidiary of ABC Video Enterprises, Nabisco will pay $60 million in cash, ESPN announced yesterday. Don Ohlmeyer and John Martin, the two top executives of the Ohlmeyer Communications Companies, will represent Nabisco on the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network's board of directors. Mr. Ohlmeyer and Mr. Martin have long been leading figures in televised sports programming and production. ''Nabisco Brands, rather than being just a passive advertiser, has taken an active involvement in a media vehicle that will seriously affect all advertising in the future,'' Mr. Ohlmeyer said yesterday.

YOUR tan is beginning to fade and the sun, wind and water seem to have dried out your skin and hair. So your interest in cosmetics as a means of recapturing that summer glow and restoring vitality to the surfaces you show to the world is no surprise. But how do you choose from among the staggering array of products that promise a fresh, new look? Is a $50 investment in a whole line of cosmetics really necessary, as suggested by the counselor behind the sales counter? Do you need creams enriched by hormones, proteins, RNA or collagen? Should you switch to ''natural'' cosmetics laced with avocados, cucumbers and other delectable fare? What meaningful differences are there among all the products? With some 25,000 cosmetic products on the market, it is no wonder that many women and men are confused. Yet choosing the right ones can make a significant difference to your pocketbook as well as to your skin. As Dr. Frederic Haberman, a dermatologist in New York and New Jersey, and Denise Fortino note in their book, ''Your Skin'' (Playboy paperback, $3.50), ''The wrong choice of cosmetic products can aggravate oily, dry or sensitive skin.''