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President Evo Morales recalled today that the expulsion of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and the U.S. military base allowed Bolivia to recover economic and political sovereignty.
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“I do not regret the decision about the DEA and the military base,” the president said in a public ceremony marking the 47th anniversary of the municipality of Villa Tunari, in the central region of Cochabamba.
He criticized the repression of the U.S. agents against Bolivian campesinos under the pretext of the war on drugs, “The United States used the war on drugs in order to control the country's politics and loot our natural resources,” he said, emphasizing the importance of having recovered national independence, thanks to the struggle of the people.
“Now we have a new Bolivia. That is a result of the unity of the people,” he said, recalling other public policies implemented during his administration, such as the nationalization of hydrocarbons and strategic companies as well the redistribution of wealth.
Such policies seem to have paid off, as Bolivia has become the country with the highest Gross Domestic Product growth throughout South America, from the GDP US$5 billion, to US$34 billion in 2015.
"Our Revolution has united the countryside and the cities, the east with the west," the Bolivian president explained in his speech in Villa Tunari.
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