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Morales: Obama 'lied'

07-02-2009 | AP

Panama Star LA PAZ. President Evo Morales on Wednesday accused Barack Obama of lying by pledging to change America's historically heavy-handed relationship with Latin America and then halting $25 million in annual trade benefits for Bolivia.

The U.S. on Tuesday said it is ending the import duty waivers because world's No. 3 cocaine-producing country is not doing enough to reduce "unconstrained" cultivation of coca.

Morales said the move contradicts Obama's promise at the Summit of the Americas in April to be a peer rather than an overseer of countries in the region. "President Obama lied to Latin America when he told us in Trinidad and Tobago that there are not senior and junior partners," he told reporters.

The former coca-growers' union leader, who expelled U.S. drug agents from his country last year, said the U.S. trade representative used "pure lies and insults" to justify its decision. The trade office said there has been "explicit acceptance and encouragement of coca production at the highest levels of the Bolivian government."