U.S. drug agents survey Bolivia coca fields: deputy minister

This June 13, 2016 photo shows Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents in Florida. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP)

U.S. drug enforcement officials joined an aerial survey over a coca-growing region in Bolivia to support the country’s fight against drug trafficking, the government said Friday.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) was expelled from Bolivia in 2008 by its then president, leftist Evo Morales, but the new administration since 2025 has moved closer to Washington, seeking economic and security cooperation.

On Thursday, U.S. officials and DEA agents flew over Chapare, Bolivia’s main cocaine-producing area, the country’s Deputy Social Defense Minister Ernesto Justiniano told AFP.

The region produces coca, a crop that is legal but closely regulated as it also serves as the prime ingredient for cocaine.

The reconnaissance flight aimed to identify clandestine airstrips and drug labs, he said.

Justiniano said the mission could pave the way for a cooperation agreement.

“We need it urgently... our resources are miserable,” he said.

A leading coca producers’ representative, Isidro Auca, condemned the move, calling the government “a U.S. puppet” in comments broadcast by radio.

U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened further action against drug-producing countries in Latin America after U.S. forces seized Venezuela’s leader Nicolas Maduro on January 3 and took him to face narcotics charges in New York.

Bolivia is the world’s third-biggest cocaine producer, with 34,000 hectares of coca under cultivation, above legal limits, according to the UN.