[R-G] New Discoveries Reveal US Intervention in Bolivia

[Anthony Fenton]

New Discoveries Reveal US Intervention in Bolivia
Written by Jeremy Bigwood
Tuesday, 14 October 2008
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1522/1/

Photo: ABI
J. Bigwood (ABI)
As a photo and investigative journalist for more than two decades, I  
often come across revealing government documents and information  
through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Mandatory  
Declassification Review (MDR) requests. These requests declassify and  
allow me access to documents from various entities of the US government.

I made my first request of US government documents about Bolivia in  
1997 and since then have made subsequent requests for information,  
ranging from American embassy communiques in La Paz to USAID grant  
requests. The information below reveals a clear policy of US  
intervention and meddling in Bolivia´s internal affairs. Almost all  
the time, this has been done without the knowledge and at the expense  
of the American taxpayer.

    1. The first document, from 2001 is written before a visit by then  
President Quiroga, to the US, in which the US Embassy states that they  
didn´t believe he had acted strongly enough against the MAS party, led  
by Evo Morales. In talking points prepared by the US embassy in La Paz  
to be used by US Secretary Beers during his meeting with the  
President, the US government suggests he say, “We were quite concerned  
by the agreement in November to halt eradication…. We believe that a  
continued strong response could have weakened the political base of  
Evo Morales even further.” View the full document here.

    2. In 2002, the American embassy qualifies Evo Morales as an  
“illegal coca agitator” and admits that cocaine production in Bolivia  
is insignificant for the US. More importantly though, the embassy  
details a USAID “Political Party Reform Project” that should  
specifically “serve as a counterweight to the radical MAS or its  
successors.” View the full document here.

    3. In 2004, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) funds the  
Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce organization, CAINCO, through CIPE  
(Center for International Private Enterprise) to alter an existing  
Bolivian law and “gain popular support for their policy  
recommendations”. This clearly shows that US funding was spent to  
alter internal legislation and in this case, it also shows a historic  
relationship between US funding institutions and the Santa Cruz  
opposition. View the full document here.

    4. Many organizations funded by NED show a clear political bias.  
One, the IIPS or Institute of Pedagogical & Social Investigation,  
refers to Evo Morales and the MAS in their grant request and project  
summary as an “anti-democratic, radical opposition” that doesn’t  
represent the majority. Of the three program objectives listed, the  
last is telling. The NED grant awarded to them will help, “efficient  
and effective social monitoring.” View the full document here.

    5. By 2006, it is evident that the National Democratic Institute  
(NDI) and USAID are openly working to promote events centered around  
regional autonomy and decentralization. “…NDl adapted the community  
forum model piloted in this program to conduct a Santa Cruz dialogue  
event through its USAID funded political party program to facilitate  
an open discussion about regional autonomy and decentralization.” View  
the full document here.

    6. The most telling documents from my point of view, are a series  
of e-mails from within USAID-Bolivia last year. They detail the  
forming relationship between the U.S. government (specifically  
Ambassador Philip Goldberg and the US embassy in La Paz) and  
indigenous groups in the Chapare and Media Luna departments to create  
a common USAID-guided front against Evo Morales and the MAS. In  
discussing who to invite to a lunch between indigenous leaders and US  
Ambassador Philip Goldberg in 2007, USAID staff write that the litmus  
test for being invited is, “a su situacion real frente el gobierno del  
MAS, etc. ademas son aliados nuestros.” The staff members goes on to  
discuss the indigenous organizations that USAID programs fund and how  
their principal demand is to “fortalecer sus organizaciones de base  
para hacerle frente al MAS:” In order to facilitate communications,  
one of the USAID officers recommends “immediate assistance” by sending  
them radios. Shades of Vietnam and the US assistance to the Hmong  
tribesmen, which only guaranteed the destruction of their way of life.  
View the full document here.

    7. Among my many Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests on  
Bolivia, I have made five such requests to USAID since 2005 to  
determine exactly what they are doing there. So far, USAID has not  
responded to my requests, I can only conclude, because they wish to  
keep their activities there clandestine. USAID denied any response to  
my latest request about their activities in Bolivia during the last  
year (2008) by stating that “the few people who are still there will  
not be able to conduct a search of the documents you request” because  
of the “political crisis” in the country. This is simply not the case:  
as anyone who drives by the USAID building knows, for the parking lot  
is still full and there are hundreds of employees still working there.  
View October 2008 photos of USAID-Bolivia's full parking lot taken by  
me and the full document requests and responses here from September  
14, 2008, September 19, and September 28.

To summarize, I believe that these documents provide clear proof that  
the US government, through its various entities - especially USAID -  
have been, and continue to conspire against the legal and  
democratically elected government of Bolivia. In coming weeks, I will  
reveal more of the documents that I have uncovered in my ongoing  
investigation and research on website: Bolivia Matters.


Jeremy Bigwood is a Washington, D.C.-based investigative journalist  
and photographer. For more, please visit his personal website: http://www.bigwood.biz/ 
.