Bolivia. Troops. DEA.

Editor,

Bolivia for the U.S.A. is a node in its "WAR ON DRUGS". Sending troops to eradicate coca and DEA agents to prosecute its "WAR ON DRUGS" are an insult to the sovereignty of Bolivia and undermine its age-old culture. Predicating U.S. aid to Bolivia on its effectuality in the U.S. "WAR ON DRUGS" amounts to bribery on the one hand and blackmail on the other.

Hugo Chavez's trade agreement with Evo Morales will satisfy all of Bolivia's diesel fuel needs in exchange for Bolivian agricultural products. Cuban aid to Bolivia in the form of doctors, literary materials, and scholarships to Cuban universties makes no mention of war and does not require that coca be eradicated. Nor does a promised $30 million in Venezuelan financial aid.

The United States, rather than to perceive Bolivians as ingrates for not putting American military interests above their own (let alone abiding neoliberal plunder in the form of privatization and mandatory curtailment of government spending on health and education), would do well to learn from Senors Castro and Chavez how to foster friendship with neighboring states and govern for the benefit of human beings.