Morales is taking Bolivia out of the shadow of the US

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Two factors compelled Morales to seize Bolivia's national resources and to realign the country internationally: the militancy of the country's peasant, worker and indigenous movements, and the decision of the US to foist free-trade agreements on Colombia and Peru that severely damaged Bolivian exports to other Andean nations.
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This year, Colombia signed a so-called "free-trade agreement" with the US that is particularly harmful to Bolivia. Sixty per cent of Bolivia's major agricultural export, soya beans, currently goes to Colombia. The US-Colombian accord means that cheap, subsidised US grains will flood Colombia, driving out Bolivian soya.
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