Bolivia has signed a $20 million security agreement with the US to train and equip its forces against drug trafficking, marking a major thaw after nearly two decades of frosty relations sparked by Evo Morales’s expulsion of the DEA.
Old grudges, meet new money. Bolivia has signed a fresh cooperation deal with the US, the BBC reports, with Washington pledging up to $20m to train and equip Bolivian forces in the fight against drug smuggling — the clearest sign yet that ties are warming after 18 chilly years.
Under centrist President Rodrigo Paz, Bolivia has now joined the US-led “Shield of the Americas” security initiative, and just appointed a former “drug czar” as defence minister. According to the BBC, the backdrop is messier than it sounds: Trump’s broader anti-narco push includes lethal strikes on suspected smuggling boats, with more than 200 people killed in Caribbean and Pacific strikes since September, drawing legal pushback.
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