| | |  Americas & Beyond | March 2009 
Bolivia Expels US Diplomat, Alleging Conspiracy
 PVNN
| | Bolivia's President Evo Morales shows coca leaves during a news conference at the presidential palace in La Paz, Monday, March 9, 2009. (AP/Juan Karita) | |
La Paz, Bolivia — President Evo Morales on Monday ordered a U.S. diplomat to leave Bolivia for allegedly conspiring with opposition groups, further straining tense relations six months after he expelled the American ambassador.
The leftist leader said investigations determined that the U.S. Embassy's second secretary, Francisco Martinez, "was in permanent contact with opposition groups."
The U.S. State Department called the Bolivian move "unwarranted and unjustified."
"We reject the allegations," it said in a statement in Washington.
Martinez was a career diplomat focused on political affairs, said a U.S. Embassy official who was not authorized to discuss the expulsion and thus spoke on condition of anonymity.
Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca later told a news conference that his office has prepared a diplomatic note demanding Martinez's departure and has given him 72 hours to leave.
Last week, Morales publicly accused Martinez of "coordinating contacts" with a former Bolivian police captain he accused of infiltrating the state energy company, Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos, on behalf of the CIA.
The former captain, Rodrigo Carrasco, was a key whistleblower in a corruption scandal that landed the oil company's president, a close Morales ally, in jail.
The U.S. government last week called Morales' accusation about alleged CIA infiltration of the company baseless and accused him of using the United States as a scapegoat in domestic politics.
"We can't understand how the president can assure us that he wants better relations with the United States and at the same time continue to make false accusations," Embassy spokeswoman Denise Urs said at the time.
On Monday, Choquehuanca said there is no reason Bolivia's action should damage relations. "Rather, it must call the United States' attention to the fact that interference is no longer allowed in Bolivia and that we want a relationship of mutual respect."
In September, Morales expelled U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg, alleging he was inciting the political opposition.
That move followed bloody rioting between Morales supporters and pro-autonomy activists in Bolivia's wealthier, unabashedly capitalist eastern lowlands.
Morales later kicked out the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, accusing it of espionage and of funding "criminal groups" seeking to undermine his government. He alleged intrigue that he did not detail.
At the same time, Morales and others in his government have spoken of their desire to improve relations with the United States under President Barack Obama.
The State Department called Monday's expulsion "inconsistent" with such expressions.
Monday's expulsion follows weekend violence in which a pro-Morales mob stormed the home of a political rival in a town on the shore of Lake Titicaca and beat members of the man's family with fists and, apparently, sticks.
The rival, Victor Hugo Cardenas, is an Aymara Indian like Morales and was vice president from 1993-1997. He calls Morales a leftist opportunist more interested in promoting upheaval than indigenous rights.
Morales on Monday disavowed any government involvement in the attack.
A former coca-growers union leader, Morales is Bolivia's first indigenous president and is seeking to "refound" the country on behalf of its long-suppressed native majority.
Morales is a close ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who kicked out the U.S. ambassador in September in solidarity with him.
Associated Press Writer Frank Bajak contributed to this report from Lima, Peru. |
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