U.S. moves to suspend trade benefits for Bolivia

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

U.S. moves to suspend trade benefits for Bolivia
Fri Sep 26, 2008 2:44pm EDT
By Doug Palmer

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush is moving to suspend longtime U.S. trade benefits for Bolivia because of that country's failure to cooperate in drug-fighting efforts in the past year, the top U.S. trade official said on Friday.

The move reflects the increasingly strained relations between the United States and Bolivia under the leadership of Bolivian President Evo Morales.

"The Morales administration's recent actions related to narcotics cooperation are not those of a partner and are not consistent with the rules of these programs," U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said in a statement.

Earlier this month, Morales expelled the U.S. ambassador after accusing Washington of fomenting violence against him in Bolivia.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE48P7LK20080926

[dipsydoodle]

1. They're bound to be upset

at not being forced to buy the USA's subsidised farm products etc. :sarcasm:

[billyoc]

2. Trade benefits! We tried to privatize their effing RAIN CLOUDS!

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/bolivia/thestory.html

:rofl:

[High Plains]

3. Morales brought peace to the coca fields.

US government efforts to totally eradicate the coca crop under previous Bolivian governments led to constant conflict as coca growers fought for the right to grow their traditional crop. Morales allows some peasants to grow small patches of coca, and this is what has the US pissed off. Undoubtedly, some of that coca leaks into the black market and turns into cocaine, but the Morales government has made strong interdiction efforts against the cocaine trade as part of its policy of "zero cocaine, but not zero coca."

By the way, it is US allies Colombia and Peru who are the world's leading coca producers. Bolivia is in third place.

Decertification of Bolivia didn't look to be in the cards until this recent diplomatic spat where Morales threw out the interfering US Ambassador Goldbert. This is why nobody gives a shit about Washington's certification of their co-operation in US drug war aims: They know it is hopelessly politicized. Who gets decertified: Bolivia, Burma, and Venezuela. Who doesn't get decertified: Afghanistan (world's runaway number one opium producer), Colombia (world's number one cocaine producer), Mexico (main conduit for drugs into the US). Hmmm, do we see a pattern here?

[sce56]

6. Yep the NeoCons belive in GOD that is Guns Oil & Drugs

[fascisthunter]

4. Lol... what a Bunch of Whiners... "We didn't Get Our Way!"

vindictive spoiled brats who never grew up.

[Tempest]

5. But union leader murders in Columbia gets trade fast-tracked

Bush is an evil, evil man.

[EFerrari]

7. What about the American War on Indigenous People?