Bolivia's Morales Accuses US Drug Enforcement Agency of Selling Seized Drugs

President Evo Morales accused the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) of having financed illegal activities by selling confiscated drugs in Bolivia.

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Morales said the DEA kept 50 percent of the confiscated cocaine from drug-trafficking in the country, when it had its headquarters in the South American nation. According to the Bolivian leader, the U.S. anti-narcotics agency confirmed they had used the revenues from illegal drug sales to pay government officials and undercover agents.

Morales referred to the Triennial Plan, implemented in 1988 under the government of President Victor Paz Estenssoro which looked to eradicate coca crops in the Chapare Province. This plan had the support of the troops from the Mobile Rural Patrol Unit and under pressure from the DEA.

The president made the statement during an event in commemoration of the 28 years of the massacre of Villa Tunari, where the DEA killed 9 coca farmers on June 27, 1988.

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Morales, a former coca farmer and union organizer paid his tribute to those who died defending coca farming and fought to expel the DEA from Bolivia.

President Evo Morales expelled the DEA from Bolivia in 2008 for “espionage” and “conspiracy” against his government and suspended its activities.

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Former U.S. President Richard Nixon created the Drug Enforcement Agency in 1973 as part of the "war on drugs."​ Since its founding, the United States has increased the DEA budget from US$70 million to about US$3 billion.

An article published in 2014 by Huffington Post, accused the DEA of killing alleged drug dealers in countries where it has no jurisdiction, and seizing drugs and money for personal gain.