[A-List] BOLIVIA: US Aids Opposition

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

<http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=21534&sectionid=3510207>
Bolivian documents on US interference
Sun, 02 Sep 2007 10:23:34
Source: Agencies

The Bolivian government has declared it has documents that prove the
US illegally interferes in the country's domestic affairs.

Vice-President Eduardo Garcia announced that in the near future,
Bolivia will present to the US Congress documents which show the US
government and Embassy in Bolivia are providing aid to groups linked
to opponents of President Evo Morales.

He accused the United States of instigating instability in the country
and trying to weaken the central Bolivian government.

The Bolivian government has recently arrested several American
citizens accused of importing illegal weapons into Bolivia, stating
the US government has paid $140 million to Morales' opponents.

MHR/JG/BGH

<http://newsfromrussia.com/world/americas/31-08-2007/96567-bolivia-0>
Bolivia says Washington meddles in its internal affairs
Front page / World / Americas
31.08.2007 	Source: Pravda.Ru 	

"Doors are open for the US to leave", said a top official in President
Evo Morales administration.

As regional tension grows threating the country's national integrity,
Bolivia accused the United States on Wednesday of meddling in the
process of changes being boosted by the Evo Morales government, and
demanded that cooperation must adjust to local standards.

At a press conference, Bolivia's Minister of the Presidency, Juan
Ramon Quintana, showed evidence of US interference, saying that
Washington's economic assistance is handled discretionally and that
the "doors are open" for the US to leave if it does not adjust to
local politics.

According to the Bolivian minister, of the 130 million dollars that
Bolivia received this year, 81 million dollars are "freely available"
to the US Embassy in La Paz and the US Agency for International
Development (USAID). Therefore, he said, 70 percent of that aid is
used discretionally, without government control.

With the above in mind, Quintana's speech sounded as a reply to the
offensive of the opposition against Morales. The minister disclosed
the names of people and institutions that receive large sums of money
from USAID by concept of consultancy work. His comments came just days
after Vice President Alvaro Garcia accused Washington of funding
"publications, trips, and seminars" to help Morales' opponents.

The minister questioned the transparency of US collaboration and said
that from now on, the US Embassy must comply with Bolivian laws and
rules or leave the country. He made it clear that the government's
stance is not aimed at breaking relations with the United States or
the collaboration that the country receives, but it is an invitation
to Washington to adjust to the norms and guidelines of the Bolivian
State.

In Washington, State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey told
reporters that "there is absolutely no truth to any allegation that
the U.S. is using its aid funds to try and influence the political
process or in any way undermine the government there."

Quintana's statement, comes as a Constituent assembly aimed to rewrite
the country's constitution is in a stalemate after more than one year
of meetings. At the same time, oil-rich lowland provinces have stepped
up their pressure over the central government to obtain more automony
and threat with secession if their demands are not fulfiled.

Earlier this week, civic leaders of the rebel provinces went on
lock-out to protest allegedly increasingly Morales' authoritarism.
Judges from all over the nation went also on strike on Thursday to
protest lack of respect to republican principles.

Bolivia receives about US$120 million (€88 million) in annual aid from
the United States, but Morales warned this week that "radical
decisions" would be taken against foreign embassies that meddle in
Bolivian politics.

Hernan Etchaleco
Pravda.ru

<http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/30/america/LA-GEN-Bolivia-US-Aid.php>
Bolivia accuses US aid of supporting opposition

The Associated Press
Wednesday, August 29, 2007

LA PAZ, Bolivia: The government stepped up its criticism of U.S. aid,
with a top Cabinet official alleging the U.S. government is supporting
opposition to President Evo Morales' sweeping leftist reforms.

Presidential Minister Juan Ramon Quintana's comments Wednesday came
just days after Vice President Alvaro Garcia accused Washington of
funding "publications, trips, and seminars" to help Morales' opponents

"The Bolivian people have decided to undertake a process of profound
change," Quintana said. "But these changes are being harassed and
interfered with by the effects of U.S. assistance."

Quintana added that "if U.S. cooperation does not conform to the
policies of the Bolivian state, the door is open" for it to leave the
country.

In Washington, State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey told
reporters that "there is absolutely no truth to any allegation that
the U.S. is using its aid funds to try and influence the political
process or in any way undermine the government there."

On Sunday, Garcia called for a law giving the Bolivian government
control over all foreign aid programs, charging the U.S. funds are
helping Morales' opposition develop its "ideological and political
resistance."

Bolivia receives about US$120 million (€88 million) in annual aid from
the United States, but Morales warned this week that "radical
decisions" would be taken against foreign embassies that meddle in
Bolivian politics.

Morales has moved to nationalize Bolivia's oil and gas industry,
proposed a land reform and is seeking a new constitution that would
grant greater power to the impoverished Andean nation's Indian
majority.

While the president's support remains high among the largely
indigenous population of the poorer western highlands, many
European-descended and mestizo residents of the more prosperous
lowland east have bitterly opposed his reforms. A prominent eastern
mayor even suggested Tuesday that Bolivia should split into two
separate countries.

Quintana named several government ministers from previous conservative
administrations allegedly on the payrolls of democracy initiatives
subcontracted by the U.S. Agency for International Development to
Chemonics International Inc., a global consulting firm.

David Snider, a USAID spokesman in Washington, said Bolivian
assistance is not directed toward any political ends.

"We don't choose sides," he told The Associated Press.

The United States has used its Bolivian aid to oppose Morales and his
Movement Toward Socialism party, or MAS, in the past.

A declassified 2002 cable from the U.S. Embassy in La Paz described a
USAID-sponsored "political party reform project" to "help build
moderate, pro-democracy political parties that can serve as a
counterweight to the radical MAS or its successors."

The U.S. Embassy in La Paz declined this week to comment on the memo.


-- 
Yoshie