Foreign Minister, David Choquehuanca, announced on May 11 that the Bolivian government still wishes to change the course of its relationship with the United States, but that this may take up to five years. “We want improved relations, but with respect; we’re not desperate.” He affirmed that the Bolivian government does not want to allow economic assistance to come into the country if they don’t know how it is being managed.

“We want economic cooperation to be [determined jointly] by the two states. This is one area [of bilateral negotiations] we have not been able to agree on. We don’t want the U.S. to keep administering their economic aid themselves, without Bolivia having the right to obtain information about how these funds are spent.”

Choquehuanca stated that the Bolivian government currently manages only 7 percent of U.S. assistance. The U.S. or other entities administer the remaining 93 percent, and national authorities do not have information about spending.[i]

The proposed “state to state” concept is frequently misunderstood as direct control of all U.S. aid by the Morales administration. Bolivian authorities clarify that economic cooperation decided by the two states would include funding to public and private institutions, joint initiatives between the public and private sectors, as well as non-governmental organizations, as long as both governments agree on the entity designated to carry out the or project or contract.

Morales administration criticisms about the lack of transparency surrounding USAID projects and accusations that the institution funded opposition regional governments motivated the expulsion of Ambassador Goldberg in September 2008. Since that time, the role of USAID and the terms of U.S. development assistance have been the primary stumbling blocks to the signing of a new bilateral framework agreement and a renewed exchange of ambassadors.

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[i] “Nosotros queremos que la cooperación sea de Estado a Estado (…) es uno de los temas centrales. No queremos que la cooperación que viene de Estados Unidos la sigan administrando ellos sin que Bolivia tenga el derecho a acceder a la información de cómo se gastan estos fondos.” Además “de esa cooperación, el Gobierno boliviano sólo maneja el 7 por ciento, el restante 93 por ciento lo administra ese país y las autoridades nacionales no tienen información de los gastos.”