US Diplomat Seeks to Ease Tensions With Bolivia

[Judi Lynn]

US Diplomat Seeks to Ease Tensions With Bolivia
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: May 20, 2009
Filed at 5:03 p.m. ET

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) -- A top U.S. diplomat said Wednesday that Washington hopes for a ''new direction'' in troubled relations with Bolivia, where he arrived for talks with President Evo Morales.

The visit by Thomas Shannon, the assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, comes eight months after Morales expelled the U.S. ambassador to this South American nation, claiming he had conspired with the opposition to incite violence.

U.S. officials denied it, and former President George W. Bush's administration kicked out Bolivia's ambassador to Washington and suspended trade preferences to the country.

~snip~
Morales also suspended cooperation with U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents last year, accusing them of espionage and funding ''criminal groups'' trying to undermine his government. The U.S. in turn added Bolivia to its anti-narcotics blacklist.

The U.S. Embassy said in a statement that Shannon was accompanied by officials from the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/05/20/world/AP-LT-Bolivia-US.html?_r=2

Shannon????? :wtf: