A new security command in Bolivia

SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia

President Evo Morales announced Sunday during a visit to his home district of Chapare plans to dismantle the U.S.-supported military Joint Task Force charged with eradicating coca plantations.

Addressing troops stationed in the coca-growing region, Mr. Morales called the U.S. project “a failure” and said controls over coca production would be enforced by his “syndicates and social movements.”

The president wasted no time tightening his grip over Bolivia’s security services, which he has made a priority since taking the oath of office eight days ago.

He expelled 28 generals from the police, army, navy and air force after a government-appointed commission denounced high-command “complicity” in a U.S. covert operation to remove Bolivia’s anti-aircraft defenses. Reports said only two of the generals removed were involved directly in the missile case.

“We have no choice but to go home, hurt by the political manipulation of which we have been victims,” said Gen. Marco Antonio Vasquez, who was evicted from the presidential palace when he arrived with 15 other officers to protest.

Some observers think Mr. Morales is using China’s provision of surface-to-air missiles to the new Bolivian government as an excuse to get rid of officers involved in counternarcotics and counterterrorist operations directed by the United States since the 1980s.

U.S. influence spurned

“Much of the army and police apparatus that the United States has set up in Bolivia is going to disappear,” said a member of the ruling Movement to Socialism (MAS) defense transition team.

Washington gives Bolivia close to $100 million a year in military aid, which includes training, maintenance and advisers for elite units created to fight narco-trafficking and terrorism. U.S. Special Forces units at times have participated in direct-action missions in Bolivia, military officials said.

“The [Bolivian] force for the fight against narco-trafficking has become an extension of the American [Drug Enforcement Administration], with all the risk that this implies for our national security. All our organs and institutions must return to government control,” said Juan Ramon Quintana, a defense adviser close to Mr. Morales.

Mr. Quintana insisted that the government will not accept economic aid from the United States that is conditioned on the fight against narco-trafficking, and will “eliminate all types of interference in the armed forces, including joint operations.”

He said security assistance “without conditions” can be obtained elsewhere, and mentioned China as a source.

Mr. Morales announced last week that he would bring in Cuban and Venezuelan intelligence teams to clear government offices of hidden microphones and guard against “imperialist intervention.”

A sweep was made of the presidential palace hours before he held a long afternoon session with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez last Tuesday. Days earlier, Mr. Chavez had accused the United States of trying to instigate a military coup against the MAS government.

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