Vol. 72/No. 38      September 29, 2008

A week later Washington placed Bolivia on its list of major “drug transit and producing countries.” The U.S. embassy in La Paz also sent home all non-emergency personnel and encouraged U.S. citizens to leave the country.

A meeting of the four-month-old Union of South American Countries condemned any coup attempt against the Bolivian government and said it would investigate the killing of some 30 peasant supporters of Morales in Bolivia’s Pando region.

The order to expel U.S. ambassador Philip Goldberg came after accusations that the U.S. embassy used its “antidrug” programs and “intelligence” contacts from the previous regime to encourage opposition to the Morales government. The U.S. suspended its Peace Corps program in Bolivia, evacuating its 115 volunteers to Peru. The embassy has also arranged fights for U.S. citizens wanting to leave Bolivia, reported the French press agency AFP.

Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez expelled the U.S. ambassador in Caracas in a show of solidarity with Morales. The government of Honduras delayed recognition of the arriving U.S. ambassador to that country for a week.

The campaign to destabilize the Bolivian government has been led by the governors of the provinces of Santa Cruz, Tarija, Beni, and Pando. These provinces contain much of Bolivia’s oil and natural gas reserves and produce much of the country’s food. They are dominated by wealthy landowners and capitalists who violently oppose the government’s modest land reform and the use of revenues from the sale of natural gas for social programs.

The opposition is demanding autonomy from the central government. In August they failed in an effort to recall Morales.

This time around they set up roadblocks in the four provinces, causing fuel and food shortages. They also destroyed or set fire to about 30 public buildings, according to Reuters.

The Bolivian government declared martial law September 12 in Pando province and dispatched troops there who retook the airport and other facilities in Cobija, the provincial capital.

Morales was elected president in 2005 after a wave of protests by workers and peasants starting in 2003 toppled two previous U.S.-backed presidents. The majority of the country’s population are of Quechua or Aymara indigenous origin. Morales is the first Aymara president of Bolivia.  
 
 
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