Bolivian government expels USAID as relations with U.S. hit new low.
| Autor | Gaudin, Andres |
| Cargo | United States Agency for International Development |
After a long process of misunderstandings and deteriorating dialogue that had reduced bilateral diplomatic relations to their bare minimum, on May 1, during the International Workers' Day celebration, Bolivian President Evo Morales announced that the government was expelling the US Agency for International Development (USAID) mission.
Two weeks earlier, on April 18, the president had said that he would have to seriously analyze USAID's presence in the country as well as "the US Embassy's presence, because relations with the US are desirable but not at the cost of allowing the intolerable interference of its agents in the country's internal affairs."
To date, the only US reaction has been from a State Department spokesperson who expressed regret at the Bolivian decision, but US President Barack Obama has given no official response. The classic retaliations have so far not happened this time.
While the critical phase of bilateral relations had begun in September 2008, when Bolivia declared Philip Goldberg, the last US ambassador to Bolivia, persona non grata (NotiSur, Sept. 19, 2008), and two months later ordered the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to cease activities in the country (NotiSur, Jan. 16, 2009), what precipitated the most recent action were some remarks by US Secretary of State John Kerry. During a hearing before the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US House of Representatives, Kerry described Latin America as "our backyard," a choice of words coined during the administration of President Theodore Roosevelt and his "Big Stick" policies. In the region, the phrase brings to mind those times in the 20th century when US military interventions were rife. Morales said that the US secretary of state's remarks were "a provocation, one more form of the US establishment's disrespect and hatred for Latin America."
The most recent Workers' Day celebration in Bolivia was atypical. Since 2006, President Morales has taken advantage of the massive concentration of factory workers, miners, teachers, other employees, and indigenous to announce the newest nationalizations that have been the hallmark of his administration. In the public celebration that year, the government announced "the end of the looting by multinational businesses and the beginning of a process of recovery of the country's natural resources." He thus made known the government's decision to renationalize the petroleum sector, exploited by a handful of US and European...
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