BOLIVIA HALTS U.S. AGENTS' ANTI-DRUG OPERATIONS

Bolivian President Evo Morales Accuses the DEA Employees of Spying
and Helping Criminals to Attack Authorities.

Bolivian President Evo Morales suspended operations by the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration on Saturday after accusing the agency of
aiding "criminal groups" that oppose his rule.

Morales' move was the latest sign of the deterioration in relations
between his leftist government and Washington.

"There were DEA agents who worked to conduct political espionage and
to fund criminal groups so they could launch attacks on the lives of
authorities, if not the president," Morales told reporters during a
visit to the Chapare region, a major production zone for coca plants,
from which cocaine is extracted. "We are obligated to defend Bolivian
sovereignty."

Bolivia is the world's third-largest producer of cocaine, after
Colombia and Peru. A sizable DEA contingent has been working on
interdiction in Bolivia for decades.

A senior U.S. State Department official called Morales' accusation
"false and absurd."

"Should U.S. cooperation be ended, more narcotics will be produced
and shipped from Bolivia," said the official, who declined to be
named because of the sensitivity of the matter.

In September, Morales ousted the U.S. ambassador after accusing him
of abetting those suspected of plotting a coup against him -- an
allegation denied by the Bush administration.

The ambassador's expulsion figured in Washington's subsequent
decision to declare that Bolivia was not cooperating in drug
interdiction. That move led the U.S. to eliminate Bolivian trade
preferences, potentially costing South America's poorest nation tens
of thousands of jobs.

Morales, almost three years through his five-year term, faces a stiff
challenge from conservative opponents in Bolivia who call him an
authoritarian leader bent on amassing power and imposing a
communist-style dictatorship. Opposition provinces are seeking
greater autonomy from the central government in La Paz, the capital.

Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president, denounces his
opponents as "fascists" and "racists" abetted by Washington. He says
he represents the interests of Bolivia's long-disenfranchised masses.

The DEA is believed to have about two dozen agents in Bolivia,
complemented with a support staff of analysts. The agents have no law
enforcement powers, but train Bolivian anti-drug personnel and share
intelligence with counterparts in Bolivia and other nations in South America.

What will happen to the DEA personnel in Bolivia remained unclear.
Morales did not order them expelled.

Apart from the DEA presence, Washington provides about $35 million a
year to Bolivia in drug interdiction funds, used for training police
and eradication of coca plants. Morales has suggested that Russia may
be willing to fund interdiction if U.S. aid is cut.

Morales is a key ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who
likewise suspended DEA activities in Venezuela after alleging that
agents were working to undermine his government.