Bolivia accuses U.S. of funding opposition

[Marcus Marulus]

Bolivia accuses U.S. of funding opposition

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) -- The Bolivian government stepped up its criticism of U.S. aid this week as a top Cabinet official alleged that Washington is supporting opposition to President Evo Morales' sweeping leftist reforms.


Bolivian leader Evo Morales, left, and U.S. envoy Philip Goldberg inaugurate a U.S.-backed project in May.

Presidential Minister Juan Ramon Quintana comments came Wednesday, just days after Vice President Alvaro Garcia accused the United States of funding publications, trips and seminars to help Morales' opponents
"The Bolivian people have decided to undertake a process of profound change," Quintana said. "But these changes are being harassed and interfered with by the effects of U.S. assistance."

Quintana added that "if U.S. cooperation does not conform to the policies of the Bolivian state, the door is open" for it to leave the country.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Tom Casey told reporters that "there is absolutely no truth to any allegation that the U.S. is using its aid funds to try and influence the political process or in any way undermine the government there."

Bolivia receives about $120 million in annual aid from the United States, but Morales warned this week that "radical decisions" would be taken against foreign embassies that meddle in Bolivian politics.

Morales has moved to nationalize Bolivia's oil and gas industry and is seeking a new constitution that would grant greater power to the impoverished Andean nation's Indian majority.

While the president's support remains high among the largely indigenous population of the poorer western highlands, many European-descended and mestizo residents of the more prosperous lowland east have bitterly opposed his reforms.

Quintana named several government ministers from previous conservative administrations allegedly on the payrolls of democracy initiatives subcontracted by the U.S. Agency for International Development to Chemonics International Inc., a global consulting firm.

The United States previously has used its Bolivian aid to oppose Morales and his Movement Toward Socialism party, or MAS.

A declassified 2002 cable from the U.S. Embassy in La Paz described a USAID-sponsored "political party reform project" to "help build moderate, pro-democracy political parties that can serve as a counterweight to the radical MAS or its successors."

The U.S. Embassy in La Paz declined this week to comment on the memo.

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