Bolivian President Rules
Out Severing Diplomatic
Ties With Any Country
Bolivian President Evo
Morales said Friday that
his country will not
break off ties with any
nation.
The statement came after
tension flared up
between Bolivia and the
United States earlier
this week, when local
government in Bolivia's
central Chapare region
expelled a U.S. aid
agency, accusing it of
supporting the
opposition parties.
"Bolivia will never
break off ties with any
country. And if they
want to leave, it is
their own business,"
Morales said at a press
conference in the
governmental
headquarters in La Paz,
administrative capital
of Bolivia.
Morales expressed his
support for the
expulsion of the U.S.
Agency for International
Development (USAID),
saying it was a
"dignified and sovereign
action."
Morales also said
Bolivia welcomes all
transparent
international aid with
open arms, but rejects
any thing which is
disguised as aid but is
actually aimed at
exerting political
influence over the Latin
American country.
Morales' support for the
expulsion of the USAID
irritated the United
States, which considers
Morales' declaration as
"inappropriate,
unfriendly and
regrettable," Bolivian
local media reported.
Ties between the two
countries had been
strained even before the
expulsion.
On June 10, Washington
released a document,
saying it had granted
political asylum to
former Bolivian Defense
Minister Carlos Sanchez
Berzain, who may face
charges for his role in
a 2003 military
crackdown that led to
the deaths of some 60
civilian protesters in
Bolivia.
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