Bolivia Protects Itself By Kicking Out USAID

(The image above of U.S. imperialism is from the website Feral Scholar.)

Bolivia's president, Evo Morales, is doing something that will probably shock most Americans. He is kicking a U.S. government agency (USAID) out of that country. Morales claims the agency is trying to undermine his government. He called the agency's presence an "open provocation. . .to countries that have liberated themselves from imperialism", and said, "Surely to think that you can still manipulate us economically, politically. . .those times are past."

Spokesmen for the agency denied Morale's charges, claiming they were just there to help the people of Bolivia. That's disingenuous at best -- and probably just an outright lie. The agency admits on its website that it has a two-fold purpose -- saying it has a "history that both reflects the American people's compassion and support of human dignity as well as advances U.S. foreign policy interests."

I put those last words in bold print because I believe that is the primary purpose of the agency. It was created to advance the foreign policy interests of the United States, and has been used to do that throughout its history. The aid it provides ($26 million last year to Bolivia) is just a tool with which to accomplish the foreign policy goals of the United States.

The U.S. government has opposed President Morales since he was elected, because he is a leftist who puts the good of the Bolivian people above the interests of the United States (and its corporations). I don't doubt at all that the agency has been actively trying to undermine the democratically-elected Bolivian government.

I applaud the action of President Morales, and believe he is acting in the best interests of the Bolivian people. Far too often, U.S. "aid" comes with onerous strings attached -- strings that do more to hurt than help the people of the country receiving the "aid", and are designed only to help American corporate and government interests. Morales is simply cutting the strings of American imperialism.

U.S. Trying To Pressure Bolivia

Last month, the country of Bolivia kicked out the American ambassador, Philip Goldberg, because he was trying to interfere in the internal affairs of that country. The Bush administration was unhappy because the country had elected a leftist president who was taking steps to share the country's wealth with the poor indigenous people living there. That meant American corporations would get less of that wealth, and Bush couldn't have that.

Bush responded by kicking Bolivia's ambassador out of the United States, even though he had done nothing to harm this country. It was just to punish Bolivia for for standing up for itself. But Bolivia hasn't given in and turned the country back over to the greedy rich, so Bush is now threatening to take further action.

The Bush administration is now ready to suspend the trade benefits that Bolivia has with the United States. That move would cost as many as 20,000 jobs in Bolivia. But Bush doesn't care about the poor or the workers in Bolivia. He just wants Latin America to kiss America's butt and funnel it's wealth into American corporations.

The excuse Bush is using to suspend the trade benefits is that Bolivia won't cooperate with American drug agents or let them fly over Bolivian territory. That's a load of crap! Bolivia is trying hard to stop cocaine production, while allowing farmers to grow the coca leaf. The two are very different things, and the leaf is chewed in the country to stave off hunger, fatigue and altitude sickness.

Meanwhile, cocaine production grew by 27% last year in Columbia (more than five times as much as Bolivia), but Bush is trying to give Columbia even more trade benefits. That's because, in spite of the huge increase in cocaine production, Columbia's president will do whatever Bush wants, even if it hurts the ordinary citizens of Columbia.

It is time for the United States to back off and let the countries of Central and South America decide what is best for their citizens. Since we would never let those countries interfere in our internal affairs, why do we think we should have the right to interfere in theirs?

Once again Bush proves he doesn't really believe in democracy -- only corporate profits.

Bolivia Kicks Out U.S. Ambassador

The tiny South American country of Bolivia has just signaled that it will no longer be pushed around by the United States. This week they took radical step of declaring U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg to be "persona non grata", and asked him to leave their country. He is expected to leave within 72 hours.

Why would they do such a thing? It seems that once again the United States has been trying to interfere with the internal affairs of another country. The Bush administration doesn't seem to be able to let other countries determine their own future. They want to dictate to other countries what policies they should follow and who their leaders should be.

In this case, newly-elected President Evo Morales (pictured above) has accused the United States and Ambassador Goldberg of conspiring against Bolivia's democracy and encouraging the break-up of the country.

Morales is the first fully indigenous person to become president of Bolivia, and he was elected to the office in 2006. Since assuming office, he has nationalized the countries gas reserves. He is trying to redistribute the proceeds from this gas to help the poor and working classes of his country. He is the first Bolivian president to really try to help the country's underprivileged (most of whom are indigenous people).

Naturally the rich don't like this. They don't want to have to share the wealth. They are fomenting demonstrations and violence, and at least one pipeline has been bombed. They want to seize control of the gas-producing parts of the country and break off from the rest of Bolivia, or at least secure enough autonomy so they won't have to share gas revenues with the rest of Bolivia.

As usual, the Bush administration has sided with the rich and against the poor. To an oilman like Bush, the poor having a decent standard of living is not nearly as important as the rich being able to become even richer.

I don't blame Morales for kicking the U.S. Ambassador out of the country. It was the right thing to do, and they shouldn't allow the U.S. to send a replacement until they can be sure the U.S. will stop trying to interfere in Bolivia's internal affairs.

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In a move of solidarity with Bolivia, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela said he is recalling his ambassador from Washington and is expelling the United States Ambassador from Venezuela.

Chavez said, "He has 72 hours, from this moment, the Yankee ambassador in Caracas, to leave Venezuela. When there's a new government in the United States, we'll send an ambassador. A government that respects Latin America."