Bolivia Declares U.S.
Diplomat Undesirable
Person
LIMA - Bolivian
President Evo Morales
declared U.S. embassy
official Vincent Cooper
an "undesirable person"
Monday, citing charges
that Cooper was trying
to organize a spy ring,
according to news
reaching here.
"This man has not only
violated the rights of
his own citizens, but is
also violating,
offending and attacking
a nation like Bolivia,"
Morales said during a
speech to start the
academic year at a
school for sergeants in
the Bolivian province of
Cochabamba.
Morales said Cooper had
asked scholarship
holders and Peace Corps
volunteers to spy on
Cubans and Venezuelans
living in Bolivia.
"From the moment that
this mistake was
discovered, he became an
undesirable person for
Bolivia and for the
Bolivian government," he
said.
Fulbright Foundation
scholar Alexander Van
Schaick told Bolivian
Foreign Minister David
Choquehuanca and a U.S.
broadcaster that during
a November meeting at
the U.S. embassy, he had
been asked to become a
spy.
"They told me to give
them the names,
addresses and activities
of any doctor or worker
from Venezuela or Cuba
that crosses my path
during my stay here,"
Van Shaick said.
The U.S. embassy in the
Bolivian capital La Paz
said that a member of
its security staff had
met U.S. volunteers and
made what it described
as "an inappropriate
suggestion." It added
that more senior staff
had immediately
corrected the official.
Bolivia's armed forces
have the obligation to
safeguard the nation's
integrity and image and
also the nation's
dignity, Morales said,
adding that Bolivia
would continue its
foreign relations but
was strongly opposed to
those nations that use
students and volunteers
as spies.
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