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Caribbean-Latin America
Bolivian President Under Fire for Missiles
2005-11-24
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) - Presidential candidate Evo Morales on Wednesday criticized Bolivia's leader for sending 30 surface-to-air missiles to the United States for deactivation.

The debate over the missiles began last month when Morales said that President Eduardo Rodriguez had given up the shoulder-launched missiles. Morales maintains that Bolivia needs those missiles because it has no other air defense missiles and lacks a military radar system.

In comments to Congress Tuesday, Defense Minister Gonzalo Mendez Gutierrez said the missiles, purchased from China in the 1990s, had become obsolete and were sent to the United States to be deactivated. He said they presented ``a high risk'' because they had not properly cared for.
Yep, proper care is something you'd want to do to SAM's.
The destruction of the missiles, apparently linked to a U.S.-led campaign to rid the region of portable arms that could fall into the hands of terrorists, increasingly has become a campaign issue for Morales and his Movement Toward Socialism party. Rodriguez is not a candidate.

The president ``told me the missiles weren't in the United States, that they had been deactivated and were in Bolivia. I think the president lied to me,'' Morales told reporters. He said he would start a legal process to have Rodriguez and Mendez charged with treason. ``You can't permit this kind of treachery toward the country,'' Morales said.
They could have given the missiles to France, China, Spain or Qatar for proper deactivation and no one would say boo. I think I know what the problem is.
Posted by:Steve White

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