I recently had the opportunity to engage with a senior Bolivian colleague connected with the government of Luis Arce regarding the country’s economic and political difficulties and its relationship with the United States. Their fundamental question was, “Why can’t Bolivia’s relationship with the United States be better?” The instinctive response that came to my mind began with the Bolivian government’s problematic relationships with Iran, China, and Russia, President Arce’s support for Nicholas Maduro’s blatant robbery of elections in Venezuela, and track record of expelling the DEA, USAID, and former US Ambassador Phillip Goldberg from the country, among other details. Yet, as I reflected further on the matter, I also realized that Bolivia and its relationship with the US is more complicated and far less understood than how it is commonly treated by policymakers in Washington, DC. Indeed, the difficulties in the US relationship with Bolivia illustrate the dilemmas Washington faces more broadly in dealing with a range of ambiguously problematic, sovereign actors in the region.
Background photo of La Paz, Bolivia skyline from article ()