Bolivia halts U.S. agents' anti-drug operations

Patrick J. McDonnell reports:

Bolivian President Evo Morales suspended operations by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration on Saturday after accusing the agency of aiding "criminal groups" that oppose his rule.

Morales' move was the latest sign of the deterioration in relations between his leftist government and Washington.

"There were DEA agents who worked to conduct political espionage and to fund criminal groups so they could launch attacks on the lives of authorities, if not the president," Morales told reporters during a visit to the Chapare region, a major production zone for coca plants, from which cocaine is extracted. "We are obligated to defend Bolivian sovereignty."

Bolivia is the world's third-largest producer of cocaine, after Colombia and Peru. A sizable DEA contingent has been working on interdiction in Bolivia for decades.

A senior U.S. State Department official called Morales' accusation "false and absurd."

"Should U.S. cooperation be ended, more narcotics will be produced and shipped from Bolivia," said the official, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.

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-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Comments

[southoc]

The governments are too corrupt to fight it. It is a way of life.

[milagros]

Bolivia did the right thing. The DEA was meddling, and Bolivia can handle anti-drug enforcement through cooperation with other nations, as Venezuela has in recent years. US allegations that these countries are failing to fight drugs are just totally wrong. Bolivia's efforts to seize cocaine and reduce coca cultivation have gone up under President Morales, and probably will continue to do so.

[Joe Cool]

It is interesting to note that "Chavez" is a puppet of "Castro" and Morales is a puppet of "Chavez" I wonder how much money Morales is receiving from the Bolivian Drug Cartel?