The United States will train and equip Bolivia in the fight against drugs after signing the first bilateral agreement of this type in almost twenty years, the American embassy in La Paz said Tuesday, June 16.
In 2008, Evo Morales, then president of Bolivia, the world’s third largest producer of cocaine, severed relations with the United States and expelled its anti-drug agency, the DEA, from the country.
Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz has made a shift in the country’s foreign policy after twenty years of left-wing governments, moving closer to Washington and multilateral credit organizations.
20 million dollars allocated by Washington
“The United States will work closely with the Bolivian government to provide training, equipment and other support” to investigate and dismantle drug trafficking networks, prosecute financial crimes and increase transparency within the police and judicial system, the embassy said in a statement.
Washington has committed $20 million to the strategy, which will be led by the US State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement (INL). Although both countries have expressed willingness to restore high-level diplomatic relations, they have yet to reappoint ambassadors.
The DEA has not officially reopened an office in Bolivia, although La Paz has acknowledged that the agency is cooperating with Bolivian authorities. This year, Bolivia joined the “Shield of the Americas” initiative, launched by the Donald Trump administration to fight drug trafficking and transnational organized crime.
