LA PAZ, Bolivia — President Evo Morales said Wednesday he is expelling the U.S. Agency for International Development from Bolivia for allegedly seeking to undermine his leftist government.
Morales did not specify what USAID had done that merited expulsion.
In the recent past, he has accused it of funding groups that have opposed his policies, specifically a lowlands indigenous federation that organized protests against a highway through a rainforest preserve.
In 2008, Morales expelled the U.S. ambassador and agents of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration for allegedly inciting the opposition.
Morales made the announcement to a crowd outside the presidential palace during an International Workers’ Day rally, an occasion he has used since first taking office in 2006 for major announcements, including of nationalizations of industries.
He said he was protesting a recent statement by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that Latin America is the backyard of the United States. It was not immediately clear what statement by Kerry he was referencing.
“The United States does not lack institutions that continue to conspire, and that’s why I am using this gathering to announce that we have decided to expel USAID from Bolivia,” Morales told the crowd, turning to his foreign minister, David Choquehuanca and ordering him to inform the U.S. Embassy.
The Associated Press could not immediately reach an embassy spokesman by phone or email.