[R-G] Newly Declassified Documents Reveal More than $97 million in Funding from USAID to Separatist Projects in Bolivia

[Anthony Fenton]

NEWLY DECLASSIFIED DOCUMENTOS REVEAL MORE THAN $97 MILLION IN FUNDING  
FROM USAID TO SEPARATIST PROJECTS IN BOLIVIA
By Eva Golinger
12 May 2009


Recently declassified documents obtained by investigators Jeremy  
Bigwood and Eva Golinger reveal that the US Agency for International  
Development (USAID) has invested more than $97 million in  
“decentralization” and “regional autonomy” projects and opposition  
political parties in Bolivia since 2002. The documents, requested  
under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), evidence that USAID in  
Bolivia was the “first donor to support departmental governments” and  
“decentralization programs” in the country, proving that the US agency  
has been one of the principal funders and fomentors of the separatist  
projects promoted by regional governments in Eastern Bolivia.

DECENTRALIZATION AND SEPARATISM

The documents confirm that USAID has been managing approximately $85  
million annually in Bolivia during the past few years, divided amongst  
programs related to security, democracy, economic growth and human  
investment. The Democracy Program is focused on a series of  
priorities, the first outlined as “Decentralized democratic  
governments: departamental governments and municipalities”. One  
document, classified as “sensitive”, explains that this particular  
program began when USAID established an Office for Transition  
Initiatives (OTI) en Bolivia during 2004. The OTIs are a division of  
USAID that function as rapid response teams to political crises in  
countries strategically important to US interests. The OTI only  
address political issues, despite USAID’s principal mission dedicated  
to humanitarian aid and development assistence, and they generally  
have access to large amounts of liquid funds in order to quickly and  
efficiently achieve their objectives. The OTI operate as intelligence  
agencies due to their relative secrecy and filtering mechanism that  
involves large contracts given to US companies to operate temporary  
offices in nations where OTI requires channeling millions of dollars  
to political parties and NGOs that work in favor of Washington’s  
agenda. After the failed coup d’etat against President Chávez in April  
2002, USAID set up an OTI in Venezuela two months later, in June 2002,  
with a budget over $10 million for its first two years. Since then,  
the OTI has filtered more than $50 million through five US entities  
that set up shop in Caracas subsequently, reaching more than 450 NGOs,  
political parties and programs that support the opposition to  
President Chávez.

In the case of Bolivia, the OTI contracted the US company, Casals &  
Associates, to coordinate a program based on decentralization and  
autonomy in the region considered the “media luna” (half-moon), where  
the hard core opposition to President Evo Morales is based,  
particularly in the province of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Casals &  
Associates was also charged with conducting a series of training  
seminars and workshops to strengthen oppositional political parties  
that were working against then presidential candidate Evo Morales in  
2004 and 2005. After Morales was elected president at the end of 2005,  
OTI directed the majority of its funding and work to the separatist  
projects that later produced regional referendums on autonomy in  
Eastern Bolivia. Their principal idea is to divide Bolivia into two  
separate republics, one governed by an indigenous majority and the  
other run by European descendents and mestizos that inhabit the areas  
rich in natural resources, such as gas and water. After 2007, the OTI,  
which had an additional budget of $13.3 on top of USAID’s general  
Bolivia program funding, was absorbed into USAID/Bolivia’s Democracy  
Program, which since then has been dedicating resources to  
consolidating the separatist projects.

USAID’s work in Bolivia covers almost all sectors of political and  
economic life, penetrating Bolivian society and attempting to impose a  
US political and ideological model. The investment in  
“decentralization” includes all the support and funding needed to  
conform “autonomous” regions, from departmental planning to regional  
economic development, financial management, communications strategies,  
departmental budget structures, and territorial organization designs –  
all prepared and implemented by USAID representatives and partners in  
Bolivia.  As part of the program titled “Strengthening Democratic  
Institutions” (SDI), USAID describes its work to “enrich the dialogue  
on decentralization; improve management of departmental budgetary  
resources; and promote regional economic development.” Through this  
program, USAID has even created “territorial organization  
laboratories” to help regional governments implement their autonomy  
successfully.

In one document dated November 30, 2007, just months before the  
separatist referendums held in Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando and Tarija  
during early 2008, the Democratic Initiatives Program of OTI/USAID  
worked closely with the Prefects (regional governments) to “develop  
sub-national, de-concentrated” models of government. In those regions,  
those promoting such “sub-national, de-concentrated” models, or  
separatism, have made clear that their objective is to achieve a  
political, economic and territorial division from the national  
government of Bolivia, so they can manage and benefit solely from the  
rich resources in their regions. It’s no coincidence that the  
separatist initiatives are all concentrated in areas rich in gas,  
water and economic power. The multi-million dollar funding from USAID  
to the separatist projects in Bolivia has encouraged and supported  
destabilization activities during the past few years, including  
extreme violence and racism against Indigenous communities, terrorist  
acts and even assassination attempts against President Morales.

STRENGTHENING POLITICAL PARTIES IN THE OPPOSITION

Another principal priority of USAID in Bolivia as outlined in the  
declassified documents is the extensive funding and training of  
oppositional political parties. Through two US entities, the  
International Republican Institute (IRI) and National Democratic  
Institute (NDI), both considered international branches of the  
republican and democrat parties in the US that receive their funding  
from the Department of State and the National Endowment for Democracy  
(NED), USAID has been feeding – with funding and strategic political  
aide – political groups and leaders from the opposition in Bolivia.  
During the year 2007, $1.250.000.00 was dedicated to “training for  
members of political parties on current political and electoral  
processes, incuding the constituent assembly and the referendum on  
authomy.” The principal beneficiaries of this funding have been the  
opposition political parties Podemos, MNR, MIR and more than 100  
politically-oriented NGOs in Bolivia.

INTERVENTION IN ELECTORAL PROCESSES

An additional substantial part of USAID’s work in Bolivia has been  
devoted to intervening in electoral processes during the past few  
years. This has included forming a network of more than 3,000  
“observers”, trained by USAID grantee Partners of the Americas, a US  
corporation that also receives funding from major companies and  
entities that form part of the military-industrial complex. The  
creation of “networks” in “civil society” to monitor electoral  
processes has been a strategy utilized by Washington in countries such  
as Venezuela, Ecuador and Nicaragua, to later use such apparently  
“independent” observers in an attempt to discredit and delegitimize  
elections and denounce fraud when results are not favorable to US  
interests. In the case of Venezuela, for example, the organization  
that has implemented this strategy is Súmate, a Venezuelan NGO created  
with funding and strategic support from USAID and NED, that has  
presented itself in the public opinion as “apolitical” but in reality  
has been the principal promotor of the recall referendum in 2004  
against President Chávez and later the leader in denouncing fraud  
after every electoral process in Venezuela lost by the opposition,  
despite that such events have been certified as legitimate and “fraud- 
free” by international institutions such as the Organization of  
American States, European Community and the Carter Center. These  
“networks” function as centers for the opposition during electoral  
processes to strengthen their position in the public opinion and  
through the mass media.

PENETRATION IN INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES

USAID’s work in Bolivia is not just oriented towards strengthening the  
opposition to Evo Morales and promoting separatism, but also involves  
attempts to penetrate and infiltrate indigenous communities, seeking  
out new actors to promote Washington’s agenda that have an image more  
representative of the Bolivian indigenous majority. One declassified  
document clearly outlines the necessity to give “more support to USAID  
and Embassy indigenous interns to build and consolidate a network of  
graduates who advocate for the US Government in key areas.” The  
document further discusses the need to “strengthen democratic  
citizenship and local economic development for Bolivia’s most  
vulnerable indigenous groups.” Per USAID, “this program shows that no  
one country or government has a monopoly on helping the indigenous.  
The program shows that the US is a friend to Bolivia and the  
indigenous…”

The declassified documents in original format and with Spanish  
translation are available at: www.jeremybigwood.net/BO/2008-USAID