U.S. Ties to Bolivian Opposition "Shrouded in Secrecy"

[nosmokes]

I know the phoney baloney patriotic corral carpet we were sold in school about America fighting for freedom and democracy all over the world is just another capitalist lie force fed to us so we'll ( hopefully) become willing supplicant worker bees and not cause any problems for the 'system' like thinking for ourselves or asking questions or any of that ugly stuff. But I don't ever recall our empirical desires being this overt. Maybe it's just the clumsy and inept handling by the current misdministration or a FU attitude that it has towards the rest of the world? We're not doing ourselves any favors, particularly in this current economic state.
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original-ips

POLITICS: U.S. Ties to Bolivian Opposition "Shrouded in Secrecy"

By Haider Rizvi

NEW YORK, Sep18 (IPS) - Who in Bolivia is receiving millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars? That is what many Latin America policy analysts in Washington want to know.

"Washington has decided to keep its ties to Bolivia's opposition shrouded in secrecy," said Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Centre for Economic and Policy Research, an independent think tank.

In interviews with IPS, Weisbrot and other critics of U.S. foreign policy towards Latin America and the Andean region voiced deep concern over the George W. Bush administration's reluctance to disclose details regarding the amount of U.S. funding and its recipients in Bolivia.

"The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is doing in Bolivia what it was doing in Venezuela...aiding the opposition," said independent researcher and writer Jeremy Bigwood, who specialises in Latin American affairs.

For example, a July 2002 declassified message from the U.S. embassy in Bolivia to Washington said, "A planned USAID political party reform project aims at implementing an existing Bolivian law that would...over the long run, help build moderate, pro-democracy political parties that can serve as a counterweight to the radical MAS or its successors."

Bigwood has made several attempts to obtain detailed information about the nature of current U.S. spending in Bolivia, without success. He says he has filed five separate petitions under the Freedom of Information Act since 2005.

However, one FOIA request he filed revealed that the quasi-governmental National Endowment for Democracy had funded programmes that brought 13 young "emerging leaders" from Bolivia to Washington between 2002 and 2004 to strengthen their right-wing political parties.

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complete article here

[EFerrari]

1. NED and their spawn, USAID -- your tax dollars at work

funding white separatists to undermine the Morales government in favor of BushCo cronies. BushCo was recruiting spies in the Peace Corps and among visiting scholars from the effen Embassy.

Who stood up for Morales first? Chavez, and he's now been followed by a majority of Latin American leaders.

BushCo is going to leave a huge mess in Latin America for Obama. Maybe that's his aim.

[nosmokes]

4. Yeah, I still don't understand how *every* MSM talking head journo can call

Chavez a dictator when he's been elected twice in elections certed as free and fair which is more than you can say for the asshat that was appointed to the oval office here.

[EFerrari]

5. We are immune from cognitive dissonance. Our State Department

did everything in its power to delegitimize the last referendum -- until Chavez lost.

It was a dirty, illegal and unmonitored vote and they spread that in our whore media -- until it went their way! Then, it was fine!

lol

[Robbien]

2. Bookmarked. This article is a must read for those

who are still in denial about US involvement in covert activities in Latin America.

[malaise]

3. The usual suspects

Start with the Chamber of Commerce, a Catholic bishop or two, a few US trained academics, at least one newspaper editor and TV station owner and a few politicians who are willing to provide arms to let people start killing themselves.

The script never changes.

[starroute]

6. Here's some information from a year ago

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/2600

September 12th 2007

But Venezuela is not the only target of US subversion and intervention via USAID and its millions of dollars poured into funding opposition movements. In March 2004, USAID opened up another Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) in Bolivia, to supposedly help “reduce tensions in zones of social conflict and help the country with preparations for electoral events”. In this case, USAID contracted the US company Casals & Associates, Inc. (C&A) to manage the more than $13.3 million that they had already granted to 379 organisations, political parties and projects in Bolivia. C&A plays the role in Bolivia which the DAI does in Venezuela, and just like the DAI, C&A is a company with large contracts with the Defence Department, the US Army, US Navy, the Energy Department, Broadcasting Board of Governance, the Voice of America, the Office for Transmissions (of propaganda) to Cuba, the Interior Security Department, the State Department and many more. Up until today, C&A has worked on executing interventionist programs for the different Washington agencies, in more than 40 countries across the world, including Albania, Armenia, Bolivia, Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Madagascar, Malawi, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and Paraguay.

In Bolivia, USAID-OTI has focussed its efforts on combating and influencing the Constituent Assembly and the separatism of the regions rich in natural resources, such as Santa Cruz and Cochabamba. The majority of the $13.3 million has been given to organisations and programs working towards “reinforcing regional governments”, with the intention of weakening the national government of Evo Morales; “creating links between indigenous groups and democratic structures”, “offering economic opportunities and communitarian development”; “civic education for emergent leaders”; and “the spreading of information”. The noble themes of these programs indicate that Washington is seeking to suffocate the national power of Evo Morales in Bolivia, penetrate and infiltrate the indigenous communities, which constitute the majority of the country, promote the capitalist model, and have influence over the mass media, promoting pro-US, pro-capitalist and anti-socialist propaganda.

The USAID-OTI program in Bolivia is openly supporting the autonomy of certain regions, such as Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando and Tarija, and therefore promoting separatism and the destabilisation of the country and the government of Evo Morales. The National Endowment for Democracy (NED), another one of Washington’s financial organs, which promotes subversion and intervention in more than 70 countries across the world, including Venezuela, is also funding groups in regions such as Santa Cruz, which fight for separatism. The current US ambassador in Bolivia, Philip Goldberg, is an expert in issues of separatism, having been the head of the US mission in ex-Yugoslavia that was divided into two countries: Bosnia and Serbia, with US “help”.