Bolivia has resumed operational cooperation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) after a 17-year interruption, government officials said, marking a significant shift in security relations with Washington. The move is part of what Bolivian authorities describe as a wider multinational campaign to confront organized crime.
Interior Minister Marco Oviedo confirmed the DEA's presence and active work with Bolivian authorities, overturning the 2008 decision by then-president Evo Morales to expel the U.S. agency and end joint anti-narcotics operations. Oviedo framed the renewed partnership as a practical component of the government's strategy to increase border controls and dismantle trafficking networks.
"The DEA is in Bolivia," Oviedo told local media on Monday. "Just as the DEA is now present, we also have cooperation from European intelligence and police bodies... We want neighboring countries anti-narcotics agencies onboard as well."
Officials said the reinstatement of DEA cooperation has political and operational dimensions. Politically, it reflects the centrist President Rodrigo Paz's decision to reopen diplomatic channels with Washington after nearly two decades of strained ties. Operationally, it bolsters Bolivia's capacity to confront trafficking groups at a time when global cocaine production and seizures have reached record highs, increasing the international stakes for counter-narcotics work.
Bolivia remains a major producer of cocaine and an important transit hub for traffickers. While coca leaves have traditional ceremonial and medicinal uses in the Andean region and are legally grown for those purposes, United Nations data cited by Bolivian officials indicate that cultivation has expanded in recent years, drawing concern from international partners.
Foreign Minister Fernando Aramayo said particulars around the scope of cooperation and the operational constraints under which DEA personnel will operate are still being finalized. He said a formal agreement that will define the agency's activities is expected within the coming months.
Aramayo has previously argued that external assistance is necessary to counter increasingly complex criminal networks. He noted the growing use of cryptocurrency assets for money laundering and moving illicit funds, and said the government is working to modernize its capabilities to detect digital transactions linked to cocaine trafficking.
The return of the DEA to Bolivia is being presented by officials as one element in a coordinated international response to organized crime, involving European law enforcement partners and outreach to neighboring countries' anti-narcotics agencies. The government has emphasized border surveillance and financial-detection tools as priorities in the near term.