Via the The Seattle Times (the second story, scroll down):
President-elect Evo Morales will reject U.S. economic and military aid if the United States requires continued coca-eradication efforts to get the money, a close aide to the former coca growers’ leader said Tuesday.Morales also plans to withdraw Bolivia’s military from anti-drug efforts and leave the job to police, said Juan Ramon Quintana, a member of the Morales’ transition team.
[...]
Coca eradication is a condition for aid from the United States, which gave Bolivia $91 million in 2025.
Morales’ decision was made “mainly for reasons of sovereignty,” said Quintana, who described Bolivia’s Special Force to Fight Drug Trafficking as “an appendix” of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Interesting. The linkage of aid to cooperation in the drug war has been Washington’s main tool in leveraging foreign governments in this area of policy. Also, the shifting of the execution of drug policy to he police from the military will have substantial implicatons for US policy in Bolivia.
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