On Oct. 15, Bolivian President Evo Morales voiced defiance in the face of Washington threats to remove Bolivia's trade preferences as a punitive measure for failing to meet US narcotics enforcement standards. "We can't kneel down for $63 million," said Morales during the opening in La Paz of a textile factory that will be run by workers. The US Congress voted last week that Peru [2] and Colombia [3]—South America's top coca producers—will benefit for another year from the trade preferences. Bolivia and Ecuador [4] were provisionally approved for only six months, which can be extended for another six with Congressional approval.
Washington did not cut off Bolivian anti-narcotics aid, but President Bush cited the country's "decertification" to recommend suspending the special exemption from US tariffs under the Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA [5]). In the case of Ecuador, Congress cited an unfavorable investment climate. Last month, Ecuador's President Rafael Correa expelled Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht [6], blaming it for faulty construction of the San Francisco hydroelectric dam. (Periodico 26 [7], Cuba, Oct. 16; Latin America Business Chronicle [8], Oct. 13; Textile World [9], Oct. 7; AP [10], Oct. 4)
See our last post on Bolivia [11].
