Bolivia gives details of CIA activity

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Daily News

Thursday, 26 February 2009
Bolivia gives details of CIA activity

Bolivia: Bolivian President Evo Morales gave details about an alleged CIA role in a corruption scandal affecting the country’s main firm.

According to Morales, the CIA infiltrated state-run oil firm Yacimientos Petrol¡feros Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) through YPFB’s Marketing Director Rodrigo Carrasco, who took part in more than fifteen training courses in the United States. Carrasco was trained by the CIA as a covert agent to establish a corruption network, said Morales in Lauka N, Cochabamba, at a ceremony to launch Kausachum Coca community radio.

According to a file read by Morales by the said radio station, Carrasco attended courses in several US facilities that train experts in intelligence, security, communication and even political issues. These facilities include the School of the Americas, the mission of which I do not have to explain to Bolivians, he said, referring to the site where Latin American dictators were trained, which was re-baptized in 2001.

In Morales’ opinion, from his position as CIA agent, Carrasco accomplished multiple missions in regional countries including Argentina, Brazil and Chile, as well as in Iraq, under the guise of a hydrocarbon security expert.

Read more: http://www.dailynews.lk/2009/02/26/wld01.asp

[getthefacts]

1. I thought we were through

messing in Latin American affairs. Oh, why I'm so naive...?

[Judi Lynn]

3. Pretty sure this guy is leftover bidness from George W. Bush's meddling in Bolivia. n/t

[Duer 157099]

2. Reminds me of that scene in "Missing"

where this putative "naval engineer" was planning to go to Bolivia for "business" -- and the main character questions what in the world a naval engineer would be doing in a land-locked country.

Well, of course we know the answer.

[rabs]

7. Actually, Bolivia does have a navy. Just doesn't have an ocean, yet.. .

Here's a good overview.

http://uk.truveo.com/Land-locked-Bolivian-Navy-14-Apr-08/id/3824672851


btw, the Peruvians like to joke that Peru got the "titi" and Bolivia got the "caca." :rofl:

[NM Independent]

4. We really need to stop screwing around in Latin and South America.

It is NOT right.

I wonder if Obama (seriously? Obama isn't in the spell checker either?) can stop it.

[blm]

5. all he has to do is open the books on BCCI - that will reveal IranContra, CIA drugrunning, S&Ls,

and Iraqgate matters so the public could FINALLY understand what BushInc has done in their name (including in South America) - and how they got away with it all these years, too.

[ProudDad]

8. According to Adm. Blair

we'll continue screwing around with South America, especially Venezuela, once the oil prices get back up.

[dixiegrrrrl]

6. Lots of rocks being lifted of late

lots of slithery things being exposed, being called out.

Don'tcha just love it?

[Judi Lynn]

9. The United States and Bolivia: A New Beginning?

Posted February 25, 2009 | 06:17 PM (EST)
The United States and Bolivia: A New Beginning?

With the Obama administration's policy towards Venezuela pretty much decided, and the embargo on Cuba considered untouchable because no one is willing to risk losing support among Cuban Americans in the swing state of Florida, that leaves Bolivia as a left government in the region where the hostility of the Bush administration could be quickly reversed.

However there are a number of outstanding issues between the two countries. The United States and Bolivia currently do not have ambassadors. Bolivia expelled the U.S. ambassador on September 10, on the grounds that he (and Washington) were intervening in Bolivia's internal affairs. Among other offenses, the U.S. embassy was caught trying to use Peace Corps volunteers and a Fulbright scholar for spying; U.S. ambassador Phillip Goldberg had met privately with opposition leaders at a time when elements of the opposition were engaged in destabilizing violence; and the U.S. seemed to lend tacit support to the Bolivian opposition by not condemning this violence or even offering condolences when dozens of government supporters were massacred in Pando on September 11.

The Bush administration responded to the expulsion of the U.S. ambassador by expelling Bolivian ambassador Gustavo Guzmán. But there are also other important issues for Bolivia. On September 26, the Bush administration suspended Bolivia's trade preferences under the ATPDEA (Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act). The official reason was that Bolivia had not been co-operating sufficiently in the war on drugs. But according to the UN's 2008 report, Bolivia's coca cultivation had increased by just 5%, compared to a 27% increase in Colombia, the biggest beneficiary of U.S aid in the region.

The Bolivians are eager to begin a new chapter of improved relations with Washington. To demonstrate this willingness, the Bolivian government refrained from filing a complaint at the World Trade Organization (WTO) against the United States for the suspension of its trade preferences. Their legal case is quite solid; under WTO rules, countries are allowed to establish rules for preferential access to their markets, but the rules must be applied equally to all countries receiving the preferences. But before filing a complaint at the WTO, Bolivia wanted to see if the new administration is interested in improving relations.

Then there is another holdover from the Bush administration: Bolivia's new constitution declares that health care (along with water and other necessities) is a human right and cannot be privatized. In keeping with their constitutional law, Bolivia asked the WTO for permission to withdraw the previous government's commitment to open up its hospitals and health care sector to foreign corporations. According to the WTO's procedural rules, if there are no objections to such a request within 45 days, it is approved. The European Union, home to some of the big health care corporations that might have an interest in the issue, responded that it had no objections. On January 5, the last day of the waiting period, the Bush administration objected.

More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-weisbrot/the-united-states-and-bol_b_170006.html