[R-G] Bolivia Declassified: USAID Responds to Freedom of Information Act Request

[Anthony Fenton]

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1866/1/

Bolivia Declassified: USAID Responds to Freedom of Information Act  
Request
Written by Jeremy Bigwood
Tuesday, 19 May 2009

Image
Graffiti: USAID Out of El Alto. Photo: B. Dangl
Over the past few years the government of Bolivia has been complaining  
that various entities of the US government have been meddling in its  
internal affairs.  While this issue is still a point of tension  
between the two countries, it came to head during September of last  
year when Bolivia expelled the US Ambassador and the US responded in  
kind.

One of Bolivia’s consistent accusations is that the US government has  
been fueling a separatist movement in its eastern departments.  While  
the mainstream media in the United States has been dismissive of these  
claims, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)  
has recently released a response to a Freedom of Information Act  
(FOIA) request which appears to support many of them as we shall see  
below.

While USAID has done some excellent work in developing Bolivia’s roads  
and other worthy projects, it clearly also promotes some lesser-known  
political agendas.  One of the more novel of these, according to the  
documents, is to "counter attacks on the USG (including USAID) from  
senior levels of the GOB (Government of Bolivia)."  This is hardly the  
work of a development agency.

Regarding the Bolivian government claims that the US government is  
promoting a autonomous separatist movements in the departments, the  
documents state "USAID was the first donor to provide support to  
democratically elected departmental governments…" and "The program  
strengthens Bolivia’s decentralized democracy and local regional  
governments…" and "furthermore, USAID programs work closely with over  
160 municipalities…"  No wonder the Bolivian government – which was  
democratically-elected – feels that it is being undermined.

USAID, the State Department and the National Endowment for Democracy  
(NED) often promote their agendas through local non-governmental  
organizations (NGOs)  –some of them created in the first place through  
US government funding.  How much funding?  The documents state: "USAID  
manages about $85 million annually." Its "programs are implemented  
through different means," especially "via non-governmental  
organizations." How many NGOs does USAID fund?   "The program provides  
support to a network of about 100 Bolivian NGOs…"  NGO funding is  
funneled through several "pass-through" entities, thus making  
detection of the recipients almost impossible.  These "pass-throughs"  
include: Checchi and Company Consulting, Inc, Chemonics International  
Inc, Partners of the Americas and the standard bearers of US political  
culture: the International Republican Institute and the National  
Democratic Institute.

I can only applaud the USAID FOIA office for releasing these documents  
- a major step towards needed transparency.  I hope that this  
transparency continues so that the democratically-elected government  
of Bolivia, its citizens – as well as those of the United States - can  
accurately assess the bilateral relationship for themselves and make  
any necessary adjustments.

The recently declassified documents are available here in English.
http://www.jeremybigwood.net/BO/2008-USAID/

They are available here in Spanish.
http://www.jeremybigwood.net/BO/2008-BO-USAID-esp.htm

A good analysis of these documents can be found at Telesur.

http://telesurtv.net/noticias/entrev-reportajes/index.php?ckl=268 Eva  
Golinger:
EE.UU. realiza invasión silenciosa a través de la USAID