Evo: US Out to Rob Latin America of Its Huge Natural Resources
Bolivian President Evo Morales again accused the United States of attempting to take control of the wealth of South America’s natural resources under the guise of a so-called war against drugs, Prensa Latina reported Monday.
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“We are convinced that the fight against drugs launched by the United States government has hidden geopolitical interests and is used as an argument by Washington to control our countries, dominate them, humiliate them and divide us,” Morales warned.
The first Indigenous president of Bolivia then recalled how the United States practically invaded his country with military, DEA and other forces under the pretext of fighting drugs.
“We ask ourselves how would the Washington government react if the Bolivian attorney general went to the United States on a yearly basis to evaluate their internal political issues,” Morales asked.
His statements came after the signing of contracts worth US$51.2 million to expand the 15 miles of highway between Cochabamba and Santa Cruz.
Morales, who said the fight against drugs in Bolivia has been far more successful since the DEA and other alleged U.S. anti-narcotic forces were thrown out of the country, took the chance to highlight the negative role of the DEA in South America.
“Apart from the DEA and military troops, the U.S. sent the so-called Expeditionary Forces that were integrated by former soldiers, former police officers and former convicts … they never consulted the Bolivian government, but rather responded directly to the U.S. embassy,” he said.
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He reminded the people of Bolivia and international media that about two decades ago, under the argument that they were in the country to fight against drugs, what they were actually doing was “robbing us all through their corporations, they extracted and stole our natural resources, while obstructing the development of Bolivia and the rest of Latin America.”
Morales said that proof that they were in Bolivia only to extract and steal is the fact that “after 20 years of neoliberalism imposed by the United States, our country accumulated a mere US$4.5 billion through oil production, while in 2014 alone, we collected about US$5.4 billion.”
He then noted how in 2015, despite the huge fall in the price of oil, Bolivia recorded a US$4 billion income, which is slightly less than what was reported during the 20 years of neoliberalism in Bolivia.
