Brazilian Support for Expulsion of US Ambassador to Bolivia

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said in an interview with TV Brasil that he supports the decision by President Evo Morales to expel the United States Ambassador, Philip Goldberg, from Bolivia. “If it is true that the US Ambassador met with Evo Morales’ opposition, Evo was correct to make him leave.”

“It is not news that the American embassies are famous for having interfered in various moments during the history of the American continent. So, I think that there was a diplomatic incident, and if the ambassador was interfering in politics there, Evo was correct,” he continued.

Morales expelled Goldberg one week ago under the allegation that he was supporting the Bolivian opposition as a result of his interest in the separatist ideas of the group. The expulsion took place during a period of violent and frequent protests by anti-Morales groups. The worst of these happened the morning following the expulsion, in El Porvenir, causing at least 15 deaths.

“The role of the ambassador is not to be involved in politics inside the country. He is there as a representative of his country, in a state to state relationship, he represents the state. Here in Brazil, once, an American ambassador responded to a criticism that I had made of Bush in a Brazilian newspaper. I told Celso Amorim* to call her and tell her that it was unacceptable for her to provide commentary about an interview by the president of the Republic,” said Lula.

In the case of Bolivia, the expulsion gave rise to a diplomatic crisis. The following day, the US expelled its Bolivian ambassador, Gustavo Guzman. In solidarity to Morales, the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chaves, then expelled his US ambassador, Patrick Duddy. Once again the US reacted, expelling the Venezuelan ambassador, Bernardo Alvarez.

In the interview, Lula claims to have recently spoken with the US president, George W. Bush, “a few times” because of the Bolivian political crisis. The Brazilian president said that, during their conversations, his aim was to pressurise Bush to approve “special tariffs” for some “Bolivian products.”

According to Lula, the negotiations were advancing, “but because there was this expulsion of the ambassador, I think that now these things will be put on hold.”

As for the separatist aspirations of the Bolivian opposition, Lula claimed to “ask God” that this does not happen. The president said that he hopes that the resolution to support Morales elaborated by Unasul (Union of South American Nations) will be kept. “I think people are realizing that we have good intentions with respect to Bolivia. Everyone wants to help Bolivia, now it is necessary for Bolivia to want to be helped.”

Interference

As in the days prior to the emergency meeting of Unasul, Lula showed that he was worried about the possibility of Brazilian help being interpreted as interference in the internal affairs of the neighboring country. “Don’t even think about Brazilian interference in Bolivia, much less troops.”

According to the Brazilian president, in Usasul, it was agreed that Brazil would evaluate the possibility of selling trucks to the Bolivian military. It was also agreed that the Justice Ministers of both countries would “try to establish a joint action by the Federal Police along the border to avoid arms, contraband and narcotics traffic.”

“Evo was at the meeting, and after hearing the speeches of some presidents, when it was my turn to speak, I told the president of Chile: ‘Instead of talking, I would like to ask Evo Morales what he thinks we should be saying to help him, he is the one who needs to tell us,” said Lula.

The entire interview will air at 22:00, on the premiere of the show “3 a 1” on TV Brasil.

*Foreign Minister of Brazil