In-Briefs

Bolivia: President Says Corruption and Drug Trafficking are Major Problems

August 7, 2012
| Security
| The Americas

In a state of the nation address yesterday, President Evo Morales admitted that corruption and drug trafficking are the main weaknesses facing the country . . . Morales announced plans to stop the use of national parks to grow coca as part of a counter-narcotics campaign . . . the speech comes only days after Interior Minister Carlos Romero denied claims by the US Office of National Drug Control Policy that Bolivia is now the primary producer of cocaine in the region . . . Bolivia’s state oil company recently was named in a major corruption scandal and Minister of the Presidency Juan Ramon Quintana is accused of links to a convicted drug trafficker . . . the speech is important because it counters previous statements from the government that Bolivia is not a significant producer of cocaine or transit point for drugs . . . the statements may also suggest that the government is reconsidering a controversial road through indigenous territory, which residents say will facilitate the movement of narcotics through the country . . . it may also signal a new willingness by Morales, a former coca grower, to fight drugs and affiliated violence. 


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