Weekly Report - 17 November 2011 (WR-11-46)

An end to the three-year impasse in US-Bolivia relations is finally within sight. Last week the two governments signed a framework agreement providing for the full restoration of diplomatic ties, which were severed in 2008 following the crisis triggered by spying allegations involving then-US ambassador to La Paz, Philip Goldberg. Uncertainty surrounds the form that this new relationship - which has yet to be sealed with the appointment of new ambassadors - will take, particularly in relation to the issue of anti-drugs cooperation given President Evo Morales’ ‘coca sí, cocaína no’ platform, which has long been a sticking point with Washington.