"We will have the collaboration of several international agencies, including, of course, the DEA. Because drug trafficking and terrorism are not the problem of a single nation, Oviedo said Wednesday at an official event. Oviedo focused primarily on the coca-producing region known as the tropics of Cochabamba, or Chapare, a political stronghold of Morales and an area with minimal regulation over coca leaf production. Local coca growers have warned that they will not allow the international agency to set up operations there."
"The vice minister of controlled substances, Ernesto Justiniano, said that the DEA's presence will be established as soon as possible: Without the DEA, we fell behind in the fight, battling blindfolded. The problem with drug trafficking in Bolivia is that large quantities of cocaine are produced, but we don't know how much and which organizations control it. He added that U.S. support will be technological, logistical, and training-related."
President Rodrigo Paz reinstated DEA operations in Bolivia after the agency's 2008 expulsion. The government invited collaboration from multiple international agencies, including the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The initiative targets the Chapare coca-producing region, a Morales stronghold with minimal regulation of coca leaf production, where local growers have vowed to block foreign agency operations. The DEA return coincides with a surge in organized-crime violence and the reopening of diplomatic ties with the United States. Bolivia lacks precise data on cocaine production volumes and on which organizations control trafficking networks. U.S. assistance is expected to provide technological, logistical, and training support.
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