LatinNews Daily Report - 08 June 2012

SECURITY| Morales denies presence of Colombian DTOs in Bolivia. On 7 June Bolivia’s president, Evo Morales, rejected claims that Colombian Drug Trafficking Organisations (DTOs) operate in Bolivia. His remarks contradict statements made during the recent Organization of American States (OAS) summit held in Cochabamba, by Colombia’s foreign minister, María Ángela Holguín, who said that her government knows of the presence of Colombian DTOs in Bolivia, but failed to name them. The Morales government has continued to send out mixed messages about the presence of international organised crime gangs in the country. While he has admitted that drug trafficking gangs, including some foreigners, are present in Bolivia, he draws a distinction between these and the major DTOs. At the same time other top Bolivian security officials have contradicted this line. In February 2011 for example, both the head of Bolivia’s specialist drug police, Fuerza Especial de Lucha Contra el Narcotráfico (Felcn) and national police chief admitted that the Colombian Norte del Valle cartel operates in Bolivia.

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