Diplomatic Briefing
Your exclusive news aggregator handpicked daily!Archive for Bolivia
Newsline: Bolivia seizes weapons from US Embassy vehicle
Bolivia’s interior minister says his government has seized three shotguns, a revolver and more than 2,300 rounds of ammunition from a vehicle owned by the U.S. Embassy. The minister claims the weapons were being transported without authorization. But the U.S. Embassy says the weapons confiscated Tuesday were being transferred under an agreement with Bolivia’s police. It said in a statement that Washington routinely contracts and arms local police in foreign countries to protect its diplomats. Interior Minister Carlos Romero told reporters that the vehicle’s driver and a police officer accompanying him were detained pending investigation.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/bolivia-seizes-weapons-from-us-embassy-vehicle/2012/03/27/gIQArE4peS_story.html
Newsline: Bolivia, US restore full diplomatic ties
Boliviaand the United States agreed Monday to restore full diplomatic ties three years after the Andean nation’s leftist government expelled the U.S. ambassador and the Drug Enforcement Administration for allegedly inciting the opposition. The two nations signed a joint framework agreement inWashington,D.C.that aU.S.official familiar with the document said seeks both to mend frayed relations and return ambassadors to the respective capitals as soon as possible. The document does not touch on whether U.S. drug agents can return to the world’s No. 3 cocaine-producing nation, theU.S.official said. But it does mention that ongoing U.S. cooperation will include assistance by the U.S. Agency for International Development, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the subject’s sensitivity. Bolivian President Evo Morales has on various occasions, though without providing proof, accused USAID of inciting lowlands indigenous groups who have opposed some of his development plans. The joint statement said the agreement was signed in Washington, D.C., by Bolivian Deputy Foreign Minister Juan Carlos Alurralde and U.S. Undersecretary for Global Affairs Maria Otero. U.S. and Bolivian diplomats have been negotiating it since 2009, when Thomas Shannon was the top U.S. diplomat in the region. Morales expelled then-U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg in September 2008 for allegedly inciting pro-autonomy opposition leaders inBolivia’s eastern lowlands. Two months later, he kicked out U.S. drug agents, accusing them of similarly conspiring against his government. Washington continues to be without an ambassador in Venezuela, whose President Hugo Chavez is a close ally of Morales’ Bolivia.
US embassy cables: Conspiracy in Bolivia Exposed
Recently released United States embassy cables from Bolivia have provided additional insight to the events leading up to the September 2008 coup attempt against the Andean country’s first indigenous president. On September 9, 2008, President Evo Morales expelled then-US ambassador Philip Goldberg as evidence emerged that Goldberg and embassy officials had been meeting with several key civilian and military figures involved in an unfolding coup plot. These meetings took place in the midst of “civic strikes” and roadblocks called by the right-wing opposition prefects (governors) of the eastern states. These actions were denounced by the government as an attempted coup. Taking over government buildings and cutting off food supplies, the right-wing insurgents carried out a reign of terror on the streets, mobilising paramilitary forces. Soldiers and police officers were targets of their violence. The hope was to trigger an armed confrontation, banking on important sections of the military refusing to obey government orders. The secret US cables released by WikiLeaks show how such a scenario was already envisaged months before by the US embassy. A December 12, 2007cable assessed the situation within the military. It said that, faced with conflict, the government could “at best” rely on only “sporadic and half-hearted compliance from a minority of commanders”. Based on intelligence gathered from military officers, the cable concluded: “Although they can be expected to protect government infrastructure and transportation, most commanders are likely to sit out any violent confrontation with opposition forces.” Field commanders were “prepared to stand down and confine their troops to barracks”, even if a written order was signed by Morales. Opposition figures also told the embassy they did not “believe the ‘divided’ military would repress them”. With coup plans well underway, the article reported thatUSembassy officials met with four retired generals and a security representative from the Santa Cruz prefecture on September 2. Three days later, theUSembassy’s head of military affairs spoke with high ranking active military officials based in Santa Cruz to “plan the handing over of military units to paramilitary groups”. The aim was to “create the sensation that the government had lost control of the Armed Forces”, a scenario outlined in US embassy cables issued only months prior. Instead, the plot backfired as government supporters and loyal troops moved into action. The cables released so far reveal theUSembassy was in communcation with forces in the military working agaisnt the government.
Newsline: South Korean diplomat to Bolivia fills ‘lost decade’
Kim Hong-rak, the Korean ambassador to Bolivia, was named last year’s “diplomat of the year.” He was recognized for successfully re-establishing ties between the two countries after Korea reopened its embassy there in 2008. The embassy had been one of 14 that the central government closed down to save money after the onset of the Asian financial crisis. The Korean Embassy in Bolivia was one of the five embassies reopened in 2008. The 59-year-old Kim, who recently visited Korea to meet with entrepreneurs and attend meetings with Korean diplomats working abroad, is considered an expert in Spanish and Latin American affairs.
Newsline: Coca-chewing protest outside US embassy
Indigenous activists in Bolivia have been holding a mass coca-chewing protest as part of campaign to end an international ban on the practice. Hundreds of people chewed the leaf outside the US embassy in La Paz and in other cities across the country. Bolivia wants to amend a UN drugs treaty that bans chewing coca, which is an ancient tradition in the Andes. But the US has said it will veto the amendment because coca is also the raw material for making cocaine. The protesters outside the US embassy also displayed products made from coca, including soft drinks, toothpaste, sweets and ointments. They were supporting a Bolivian government campaign to amend the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs to remove language that bans the chewing of coca leaf. The convention stipulates that coca-chewing be eliminated within 25 years of the convention coming into effect in 1964. Bolivia says that is discriminatory, given that coca use is so deeply rooted in the indigenous culture of the Andes. The US is opposed to changing the UN convention because it says it would weaken the fight against cocaine production. In a statement, the US embassy said Washington recognised coca-chewing as a “traditional custom” of Bolivia’s indigenous peoples but could not support the amendment. Bolivian President Evo Morales has long advocated the recognition of coca as a plant of great medicinal, cultural and religious importance that is distinct from cocaine. As well as being Bolivia’s first indigenous head of state, Mr Morales is also a former coca-grower and leader of a coca-growers trade union. The Bolivian amendment would come into effect on 31 January only if there were no objections.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/world-latin-america-12292661
Newsline: Sweden to close six embassies, open 10 new ones
The Swedish government said it would close six Swedish embassies, including five in Europe, this year and open 10 new embassies. Embassies facing closure were based in European Union members Bulgaria, Ireland, Luxembourg, Slovakia, and Slovenia. “Within the framework of the close cooperation that exists between the EU member states, there is scope for developing new forms for maintaining bilateral contacts in future,” Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said. Meanwhile, Sweden is to upgrade its missions in Albania, Kosovo, Georgia and Moldova to embassies. The sixth embassy to be closed was in Dakar, Senegal, while section offices were to be upgraded in Senegal’s West African neighbours Burkina Faso, Liberia and Mali as well as Rwanda, Bolivia and Cambodia.
