Bolivia ready to rebuild ties with US: Morales

Source: Gulf Today

Bolivia ready to rebuild ties with US: Morales
August 13, 2015

SUCRE: Bolivia is set to try to rebuild ties with the United States and exchange ambassadors again, President Evo Morales said on Tuesday, citing Washington’s warmer Iran and Cuba stances. “We are here today to get back on course to good relations with the United States,” Morales told a briefing at the presidential palace, ahead of US Secretary of State John Kerry’s historic visit to Havana on Friday.

The leftist leader, a key ally of Communist-led Cuba and socialist Venezuela, said the top US diplomat here, business attache Peter Brennan, had been informed about Bolivia’s wish to work with him on restoring normal ambassadorial-level ties. “I cannot say when this may happen, but hopefully, we will be able to achieve it,” Brennan added.

The United States and Bolivia have not had ambassadors in their respective capitals since 2008.
Morales threw out the last US ambassador in 2008 accusing him of allegedly plotting with local conservative opposition seeking to oust him. The United States reciprocated.

Since then, the diplomatic outlook has improved, Morales said. In December, US President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro made a surprise announcement to seek normal diplomatic relations after more than 50-year break in relations. Kerry is due in Havana for a ceremony to raise the US flag at its reopened embassy, a first since January 1961.

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