Cuba, Venezuela rush aid to Bolivia

Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez are cementing their ties with the three-month old government of Evo Morales by increasing the flow of humanitarian aid to Bolivia.


Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez and Bolivian President Evo Morales at Puerto Iguazu, Argentina on May 4, 2006. AP photo from Yahoo News.

The "left-wing" triumvirate has been labeled as "commie" by conservative critics in the West for blocking free trade approaches by the U.S. Venezuela, under Chavez, offers discounted petroleum to poor nations in the region and even to underclass American neighborhoods. Bolivia, for its part, nationalized the country's natural gas resources.

Cuba and Venezuela are sending doctors, teachers and other aid workers to the impoverished mountainous country.

Opposition parties in Bolivia have warned that the new assistance might make the country a dependency of Cuba and Venezuela.

However some independent observers see the aid as balancing Bolivia's traditional reliance on wealthy Western nations and donor organizations.


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