When Evo Morales ordered the United States Agency for International Development (usaid) out of Bolivia on May 1st, it looked as if the football-fanatic president had scored an own goal. Mr Morales has made helping the poor his political brand. Why cut off a ready source of aid to South America's poorest country? Playing on fears of malign yanqui influence has been a cornerstone of Mr Morales' government since he came to power in 2006. In 2008 he expelled the United States' ambassador and Drug Enforcement Administration for supposedly plotting to unseat him. The charges this time were similar: usaid was a "smokescreen [for the United States] to involve itself in our country's political affairs", said Alvaro Garcia Linera, the vice-president. John Kerry, the United States' secretary of state, had unwisely referred to Latin America in remarks on April 18th as "our backyard", a red rag to those incensed by past meddling.
展开▼
