Bolivia denies expulsion of USAID revenge tactic

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Xinhua

Bolivia denies expulsion of USAID revenge tactic
www.chinaview.cn 2008-06-27 10:32:24

LIMA, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The Bolivian government denied Thursday that Bolivian coca growers' decision to expel the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is a revenge tactic, news reaching here said.

The coca growers in Chapare Province of Bolivia's Cochabamba province said Wednesday they will expel USAID from Bolivian territory.

Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca told the press that USAID is not the first institution that were asked to leave the country and there is no need to worry about.

"I haven't got precise information on the work USAID is performing in Chapare. It is said they were helping groups that are against the changing process, but that will be clarified later," Choquehuanca said.




Read more: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-06/27/content_8448689.htm

[Caradoc]

1. Is it just me...

...or does U.S. Foreign Policy in Central and South America smack of racism, as in 'you're not smart enough to make your own decisions?' I'd think it a reason to celebrate for both the U.S. and Bolivia...U.S. taxpayers won't have to dish out money for something that Bolivia has decided it doesn't want, and Bolivia has the strength to say 'no thanks' to foreign aid it feels it doesn't need. Win-Win I'd call it.

The more a nation can stand on its own two feet and make its own decisions, the better it is for global peace and commerce. Why should people be forced to emigrate to a 'better' life...why can't we help them have a 'better' life in their own country? Of course, the first step towards that is to keep your nose out of their business.

[Caradoc]

2. PS...

...'Latin America' is in itself a racist term as it excludes the vast majority of indigenous people. Might as well say 'Conquered America'.

[High Plains]

3. This is the union that Morales used to lead.

He just resigned that post recently, I think.

The growers are complaining that USAID is trying to subvert the Morales government by working with his political opponents. The Chapare is in one of those provinces where the rightist secessionists are stirring up shit.

They say they will take development assistance from Hugo Chavez, instead, thank you very much.

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/541/bolivia_chapare_coca_growers_reject_USAID_venezuela

Latin America: Bolivia's Chapare Coca Growers Tell USAID to Get Lost, Say They Will Seek Funding from Venezuela
Articlefrom Drug War Chronicle, Issue #541, 6/27/08

Coca grower union leaders in Bolivia's Chapare region said Wednesday they will suspend development projects funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and instead look to Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez for help. They accused USAID of using its assistance to undermine Bolivian President Evo Morales, a former coca grower union leader who is an ally of Chávez, Washington's bête noire in Latin America.

CAPTION: Bolivian congressman Asterio Romero spoke with Drug War Chronicle in person in March 2007

"We want USAID to go. If USAID leaves, we will have aid from Venezuela, which is unconditioned and in solidarity," Chapare coca leader Julio Salazar told the Associated Press in a telephone interview.

Venezuela already provides financial assistance to Bolivia. Chávez has also invested in the Andean nation's effort to create an industry around coca products, providing support in the building of coca-processing facilities.

Asterio Romero, vice president of Chapare's main coca-growing group, told the AP growers on Tuesday agreed to cancel the USAID's operations in the region and gave it until Thursday to leave.

The coca grower action has apparently taken both governments by surprise. The US Embassy in La Paz refused comment, saying it had not been officially informed of the coca growers' decision. Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca said Tuesday he was not familiar with the decision, but that his government wants to make US aid "more transparent."

President Morales has accused USAID of financing his political opponents. Among them are wealthy landowners from the country's eastern provinces who are seeking greater autonomy or secession.

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[Peace Patriot]

4. You can just imagine what the Bushites are doing with your tax dollars in South America.

The U.S. "war on drugs," never well intended...under Bushites? $5.5 BILLION in military aid to Colombia, where they chainsaw union leaders and throw their body parts into mass graves. Colombia has one of the worst human rights records on earth, has INCREASED cocaine production with U.S./Bush aid, and is a hotbed of fascist plotting against the Bolivarian democracies (Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia). USAID-NED money (more of our tax dollars), never well intended (propaganda machine initiated by Reagan, who was meanwhile supporting the slaughter of TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND Mayan villagers in Guatemala, and an illegal war on Nicaragua)...under Bushites? ALL our money is going into funding, organizing and more than likely arming fascist groups, to overthrow, in particular, the leftist governments in the countries with the oil (Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia), by subversion, destabilization, and, in all three cases, fascist secessionist plots (to split off the oil provinces into fascist mini-states in control of the oil--and, in the case of Bolivia, natural gas and oil).

The Bushites have been out to destroy democracy in South America, and grab the oil. THAT is what the billions of our tax dollars are being used for. And it is as bad, as ugly, as murderous and as greedy and corrupt as you can imagine the Bushites to be. Thank God the South Americans are fighting back! And they are going to win, too, because there is no stronger medicine against global corporate predators than democracy. We are seeing an astonishing, peaceful, democratic revolution taking place throughout South America--with leftist governments elected in Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, Nicaragua, of all places--just recently--Paraguay. The holdouts are the corrupt "free tradists" in Peru, and the fascist thugs running Colombia. The leftists are leading the continent toward a South American "Common Market." The foundation of it, UNASUR, was laid a few weeks ago. In addition, Brazil proposed a common defense--and both of these things--the South American "Common Market" and common defense--do NOT include the U.S.

Frankly, I think this is one of the reasons that our corporate rulers will permit Barack Obama to win--they need a friendlier face on U.S. foreign policy in South America, for more effective "divide and conquer," and to regain some control of the situation, if they can--particularly the oil. The Bush Junta's devious policies have all failed. The South Americans have basically kicked the U.S.-dominated World Bank out of the region, and are, one after the other, rejecting U.S.-dominated "free trade" (i.e., monopolistic trade). Particularly evil orporations like Exxon Mobil, Bechtel and Dyncorp (military) are not welcome. Ecuador and Paraguay want the U.S. military bases out of their countries. That's why Obama was talking about Peace Corps volunteers, in his speech to the Miami anti-Castro mafia, about a month ago--and more U.S. consulates in "forgotten places." The U.S., and all of its dirty rotten Bushite policies, and its dirty rotten corporate predators, are being evicted from South America.

Don't rule out serious, Bushite-instigated trouble in South America before November. Their secessionist plot is well advanced in Bolivia. And the psyops and disinformation about Venezuela and Ecuador have become very intense--much like the preliminaries to the invasion of Iraq. And the Bushites have reconstituted the 4th Fleet (nuclear fleet) which will be roaming off the coast of Venezuela (and the Venezuelan oil state of Zulia--a hotbed of fascist plotting) by mid-summer. That is WHY Brazil proposed a common defense. South America has no enemies--except the Bush Junta.