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UNITED NATIONS — Bolivian President Evo Morales expressed hope Monday for improved relations with the United States under Barack Obama’s presidency but said he will never allow the U.S. anti-drug agency to resume operating in his country.
The socialist leader, a close ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, accused the Drug Enforcement Administration of “political aggression” in Bolivia, which is a major source of coca plants, the raw ingredient for cocaine.
Morales, the former leader of a coca growers union, also said Bolivia will seek to remove coca leaf from the U.N. list of prohibited drugs. While coca can be turned into cocaine, Bolivians use the small green leaf in its less-potent natural form as a tea or for chewing.
