Spin of the Week

By PR Watch
Bolivia: The Spies Who Spun Me

In Bolivia, anti-government protests have led to dozens of deaths. President Evo Morales ousted U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg, claiming the United States is supporting violent groups there. The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), pointing to earlier reports that the U.S. Embassy “had repeatedly asked Peace Corps volunteers and a Fulbright Scholar to spy on people inside Bolivia,” says Morales may have a point. So CEPR is calling on the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) “and other U.S. agencies to ‘come clean’” about which groups they support, in Bolivia. “Despite numerous requests … the U.S. has not turned over all the names of recipient organizations of USAID funds.” In related news, USAID “is looking to hire a PR firm to tout its work in Bolivia as diplomatic relations have strained with the left-leaning South American country,” reports O’Dwyer’s. USAID will pay $500,000 for the first year of an up to three year contract, “to highlight its emergency supply efforts, opportunities for the poor, and other economic and social welfare programs it has funded in Bolivia.”

Source: Center for Economic and Policy Research, September 12, 2008

Spin of the Week comes courtesy of PR Watch, a project of the Wisconsin-based Center for Media and Democracy.