Bolivia halts US anti-drugs work

Bolivia halts US anti-drugs work

news.bbc.co.uk

President Evo Morales has announced he is suspending "indefinitely" the operations of the US Drug Enforcement Administration in Bolivia.

Mr Morales accused the agency of having encouraged anti-government protests in the country in September.

*snip*

In recent months, a string of tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats and agencies increased tensions between both countries...

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
www.cbsnews.com
www.time.com

Time magazine ran an article only tthree months ago (I'll link below) that stated "many feared he [Morales] would abandon the war on drugs and allow coca to proliferate, turning Bolivia into a de-facto narco-state. But after two years in office, Morales has proven to be a skilled switch- hitter: Coca cultivation is under control and drug trafficking interdiction is up. " I guess he's switched back again.

Not entirely sure if 1) Morales feels he's better situated than the US to fight the drug trade in Bolivia, 2) the US really is involved in anti-government activity there, or 3) Morales is doing what folks originally expected: "turning Bolivia into a de-facto narco-state."

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

This is part of the facade of 'separation' between two states. Soon we will be at odds with South America in general. It's all to be expected, if you subscribe to the one-worlder view.

Then, there's the embarrassing fact that the CIA (and whoever they work for) are perpetually practicing their 'craft' - we learned of the true nature of it after Viet Nam, yet it still remains unchanged. The transnational corporate regime in command of the 'political parties' somehow manages to interfere in all foreign affairs for the benefit of the IMF - the CIA seem to be omnipresent in these debacles..

Woah! I better get some sleep. I could be a long-time running from this post!

Also could be that the 'cowboy' antics of Blackwater are intolerable.

There are many reasons this could be happening.

Very interesting thread.

Really, I am not sure why we even bother with South American drug trade, when we are permitting unrestrained production of Heroin in Afghanistan.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

It is pretty clear that our major objective is not to reduce drug trafficking and / or drug addiction in the USA or the rest of the world.

With regard to Bolivia, I think Maxmars has nailed the correct answer. Our agencies have ulterior and covert reasons for what they do.

I am hoping to see some change.

CNN World also has an article up discussing this.

I guess I don't see the obvious narrative of evidence coming out clearly. The CIA certainly has a history in Bolivia, but at the same time, Bolivia has taken steps to distance itself...I don't simply mean kicking out ambassadors but, for instance, withdrawing from the School of the Americas. And some see the Bolivian regime as clamoring "for change from the neo-liberal, Western economic model to a pluri-cultural, indigenous focused regime." Yeah, so he's throwing out the imperialist yankees. And maybe or maybe not becoming a drug lord.

On the other hand, as Maxmars points out, I'm not seeing a lot of throw-out-the-imperialists rhetoric from Bolivia in terms of the IMF. This pdf file from October, for example, doesn't seem particularly socialist. (And it's interesting to note the "Governor of the Fund for BOLIVIA" uses the phrase "new international order" several times there...can't we just keep it "NWO" for simplicity's sake?)

So, like I said...i'm not so clear on a dominate narrative here, yet. Bolivia don't seem to be bucking the IMF, but perhaps only the US? Or maybe they're using the current financial crisis to reposition themselves within the IMF?

Wow, when I read this I didn't think anything of the drug trade, or anything of the like...

My first thought was "Our allies are ditching us like a bad date".

Anyone else thought about that?

reply to post by nj2day


Yeah, maybe our allies are ditching us after taking off with some free money. Maybe setting up a South American block that'll handle its own drug/oil markets without US 'help'?

Yet another link, this one a 2006 Spiegel article....good source for how money was pumped in Bolivia.

Military experts in Washington...believe that Morales, with the help of his friends, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, could destabilize the entire Andes region.

...In the 1990s, when the Andean country had become one of Latin America's biggest coca producers, the Americans experimented with a new approach to the drug war in Chapare, promising the government generous development aid in return for its agreement to eradicate the coca plantations. The aid was intended to encourage the farming of alternative products, such as pineapples, bananas, coffee and oranges...

Since then, American and European aid organizations have injected about $700 million in development aid into Chapare. But the development projects failed when it became apparent that the region's remoteness makes shipping pineapples and bananas too expensive, and that prices for the crops can't compete with coca.

So it took $700 million to realize you can't ship the proposed crops cheaply enough? Sounds more like an excuse for a huge payout to me.

And how about this pic from the article?



The actual caption is: "Spreading his enthusiasm: Morales gives US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice a guitar decorated in coca leaves."

Ok, now i really do need some sleep.