U.S. Soldiers Aiding Bolivia Drug War Start to Head Home

U.S. soldiers who have been assisting a special Bolivian police unit in its crackdown on cocaine trafficking are beginning to leave the country, a U.S. Embassy official said Thursday.

The 174 U.S. soldiers and six Black Hawk helicopters arrived in Bolivia on July 14 and were based in Trinidad, a tropical city in the Beni region northeast of the capital of La Paz.

At least 30 U.S. soldiers and three of the helicopters have flown from Trinidad to Santa Cruz, 250 miles to the south, according to embassy spokesman Mark Jacobs. From there, they are returning to their bases in Panama and the United States, Jacobs said.

Nov. 15 Deadline

At least half of the Americans will be out of Trinidad this weekend and the rest will leave Bolivia by Nov. 15, Jacobs said. The soldiers had planned to leave by mid-September, but Bolivian authorities asked them to stay until Nov. 15 to assure continuity in the drug crackdown.

After the U.S. troops leave, the United States will lend Bolivia at least six Huey helicopters to replace the Black Hawks and will train Bolivian pilots to fly them, the embassy said.

The raids destroyed 18 major jungle laboratories that once turned cocaine paste into pure cocaine, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

American officials say the raids have halted 90% of Bolivia’s cocaine trafficking, which had been estimated at 240 tons annually.

Long-Range Plans

No major arrests were made, however.

A seven-member U.S. delegation representing the State, Justice and Defense departments and the Agency for International Development met Wednesday with senior Bolivian officials to discuss the war on cocaine and long-range economic development plans, Jacobs said. He did not elaborate.

President Victor Paz Estenssoro has said that Bolivia needs at least $100 million in development aid and drug enforcement assistance to combat the drug trade.

The cocaine industry provided Bolivia, South America’s poorest nation, with an estimated $600 million annually, more than all its legitimate exports combined. An estimated 400,000 of Bolivia’s 6.4 million people earned a cocaine-related income.