
It's a slight irony that we know of this through a report from Cuba's Prensa Latina news service. Prensa Latina is typically (and appropriately) critical of US-led anti-drug militarization in Latin America. However, Bolivia and to an extent Brazil have governments that have been close to Havana—although the political right now has the upper hand in the crisis that has been for months shaking Brazil.
But there are growing signs that Bolivia, having booted the DEA in 1988, is seeking new partners in drug-war militarization. In 2011, Brazil began supplying Bolivia with anti-drug aid, including drones for border surveillance. Just last October, Bolivia and Russia signed a pact for bilateral military cooperation. And Bolivia last year launched a new "anti-imperialist" military school in the eastern city of Santa Cruz, as an alternative to the Pentagon's School of the Americas.
Despite moves toward a more progressive drug policy in recent years. including a new law doubling the territory open to legal coca cultivation, Bolivia has continued to see sporadic clashes between cocaleros and government eradication forces.
We hope that for Bolivia's struggling coca growers and jungle residents caught between traffickers and security forces, it isn't going to start looking like a case of "meet the new boss."
Cross-post to High Times
Graphic: Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection
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