Robert Gates gets an earful from Evo

[rabs]

Bolivian leader lectures Gates about US behavior

By ANNE GEARAN, AP National Security Writer Anne Gearan, Ap National Security Writer – 28 mins ago

SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia – Bolivian President Evo Morales had a blunt message for the visiting U.S. Pentagon chief on Monday: Latin American nations will pick their own friends and business partners, including Iran, regardless of U.S. opinion.

The colorful leftist leader delivered an hourlong welcome to delegates at a regional defense conference that included U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Morales never mentioned Gates by name. But most of the speech, and all of the applause lines, were clearly directed at the Pentagon chief and former head of the CIA.

Bolivia is more democratic and representative than the United States, Morales said, and democracy would improve in the entire region if the United States stopped interfering. Bolivia receives $70 million in U.S. aid annually, much of it for popular nutrition and health programs.

He mentioned the spread of Iranian and Russian business and other ties in Latin America, and said it is not the U.S. place to complain.

"Bolivia under my government will have an agreement, an alliance, to anyone in the world," Morales said. "Nobody will forbid us," he said to applause.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101122/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_us_latin_america_iran

----------------

[Judi Lynn]

1. Gates cautions Latin Americans

Gates cautions Latin Americans
November 23, 2010

SANTA CRUZ (Bolivia): Latin American countries need to be cautious with Iran and its motives when negotiating development of their nuclear capacities, the US defence chief warned here on Sunday.

“I think that countries that are dealing with Iran in this arena need to be very cautious and very careful about how they interact with the Iranians in terms of what the Iranians motives might be and what they’re really trying to do,” US Defence Secretary Robert Gates told journalists ahead of a pan-American defence meeting.

Host nation Bolivia is among countries interested in developing nuclear abilities with Tehran.

“I don’t really know what the Iranians are up to, to really tell you the truth,” Gates said.

http://gulftoday.ae/portal/c0207214-ac38-4339-b671-a93a210d51f4.aspx

[Judi Lynn]

2. Bolivia rejects US warning over ties

Latest Update: Tuesday23/11/2010
November, 2010, 12:36 AM Doha Time

Bolivia rejects US warning over ties
AFP/Santa Cruz, Bolivia

Bolivian President Evo Morales offered a testy retort yesterday to visiting US defence chief Robert Gates’s warning about any nuclear dealings with Iran, saying Bolivia will ally with whomever it wants.

“Nobody will stop me” from negotiating with any country, Morales said at the opening of a biannual conference of regional defence ministers attended by Gates.

“Bolivia, under my leadership, will have agreements and alliances with everyone,” the leftist leader added. “We have the right, and we have a culture of dialogue.”

Morales, who has signed several political and economic deals with Tehran and has tense relations with Washington, announced late last month that Bolivia has plans to build a nuclear plant with Iran’s help, stressing the facility would be for peaceful purposes.

More:
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=400311&version=1&template_id=37&parent_id=17

[dipsydoodle]

3. Like he said

"it is not the U.S.'s place to complain" which in some respects means "up yours"

[Judi Lynn]

4. Morales: U.S. seeks excuse to meddle in Latin America

Morales: U.S. seeks excuse to meddle in Latin America
By David Alexander

SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia | Mon Nov 22, 2010 3:23pm EST

SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia (Reuters) - Bolivian President Evo Morales on Monday urged Latin America to reject U.S. anti-drug, anti-communist and anti-terror policies, calling them "pretexts for interventionism."

Morales, one of Latin America's most strident critics of Washington, told a defense conference attended by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates that Washington remained a threat to regional peace and stability.

"Democracy, peace and security can only be guaranteed without interventionism, without hegemony," Morales said, listing a series of charges against Washington ranging from coup-plotting to interference in the country's traditional coca leaf farming. Coca is the plant used to make cocaine.

Gates listened to Morales' comments but did not appear to react to the broadside, which underscored the Obama administration's uphill battle to put relationships with many of its southern neighbors on a better footing

More:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6AL5J520101122?rpc=401&feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&rpc=401

[Judi Lynn]

5. Bolivian president criticizes U.S. in front of Robert Gates

Bolivian president criticizes U.S. in front of Robert Gates
At a defense conference Evo Morales speaks of plots and conspiracies originating in Washington. Defense Secretary Gates shows no noticeable reaction.
By David S. Cloud, Los Angeles Times
November 23, 2010

Reporting from Santa Cruz, Bolivia —

Bolivian President Evo Morales on Monday accused the United States of undermining democratic government in Latin America in a speech about purported plots and conspiracies originating in Washington as U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates listened only a few feet away.

Gates gave no noticeable reaction as Morales opened a conference of defense ministers with a rambling, hourlong address that condemned the U.S. military, several former American ambassadors to Bolivia, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the International Monetary Fund and two members of the U.S. Congress.

All of them, Morales said, are or have been engaged in secret plans to overthrow the government in Bolivia or its Latin American neighbors. He provided few details and no evidence, though he said there were documents showing a former U.S. envoy to Bolivia had conspired with his opponents to overthrow him. "There have always been coups, but there are never any coups in the United States because there is no embassy of the United States in the United States," Morales said.

U.S. officials were expecting fiery rhetoric from Morales, who has built his popularity in part on defiance of Washington and has made similar charges in the past. But the setting — a conference dedicated to promoting cooperation among militaries in the region — made the scene especially strange.

More:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-gates-20101123,0,6629586.story