Bolivian president Evo Morales has expelled the US development agency from his country for allegedly seeking to undermine his leftist government. Morales claimed on Wednesday that the USAID is involved with “alleged political interference in peasant unions and other social organisations.” He made the announcement before a crowd outside the presidential palace during a May Day rally. “Never again, never again USAID, who manipulate and use our leaders, our colleagues with hand-outs,” Morales said in announcing the expulsion. He then ordered David Choquehuanca, Bolivia’s foreign minister, to inform the US embassy of his decision. The move marks the latest confrontation between Washington and a bloc of left-wing governments in the Western Hemisphere. Morales also told the crowd that he “laments and is condemning” secretary of state John Kerry’s remark, made in April 17 testimony to the US Congress, that “the Western Hemisphere is our backyard. It’s critical to us.” “It has too often been viewed as a second thought. It shouldn’t be. It’s our backyard, neighborhood, as you say. I think there are relationships we could improve,” Kerry said. Many Latin Americans, leftists in particular, are sensitive to descriptions of their nations as a “backyard,” especially because of Washington’s history of backing repressive regimes in the Americas.
