Bolivian President Evo Morales said he is expelling the U.S. Agency for International Development from his country for allegedly meddling and conspiring against the government . `` USAID is out ; I ask the foreign minister to immediately communicate with the U.S. Embassy , '' Morales said in a speech Wednesday , according to the state-run ABI news agency . According to USAID 's Bolivia website , the agency has operated there since 1964 . It says it carries out health , sustainable development and environmental programs in the country . The agency says its 2011 budget for Bolivia was $ 26.7 million . The State Department called the decision regrettable and said the ones who will be hurt by the expulsion will be ordinary Bolivians . `` We deny the baseless allegations made by the Bolivian government , '' State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said of the accusations that the agency meddled in Bolivian affairs . After Morales ' announcement Wednesday , Bolivia 's foreign minister called the U.S. Embassy in La Paz to inform officials of the decision and said USAID would be given a `` reasonable '' amount of time to end operations , which employ nine Americans and 37 Bolivians , Ventrell said . Bolivia and the United States have had diminished relations since September 2008 , when each country expelled the other 's ambassador . Morales , a strong proponent of the cultivation of coca plants -- the source of cocaine -- expelled the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration a month later . He also delivered a strong verbal criticism of the U.S. government at the United Nations General Assembly that year . The order to expel USAID appeared to be off-the-cuff , but it 's not the first time it 's been suggested . In 2011 , an influential Bolivian official accused the agency of `` destabilizing '' the government and called for its ouster . `` The expulsion of USAID should be ... an act of sovereignty , '' Juan Ramon Quintana , director of a Bolivian government development agency and a former top presidential aide , said at the time . The move is also in protest of a comment made by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at a hearing in Washington last month , Morales said . In response to a question about Latin America , Kerry told lawmakers that `` the Western Hemisphere is our backyard . It 's critical to us . '' To many in the United States , the reference to `` backyard '' would mean that the Western Hemisphere is a neighbor . But Morales took offense , apparently interpreting the phrase as derogatory toward Latin America 's place in relation to the United States . A history of U.S. policy toward Latin America that asserted American dominance over the region made Kerry 's phrase stinging to some . The phrase `` America 's backyard '' harkens back to the Monroe Doctrine , which considered Latin America under the influence of the United States . `` We may be a small country , but we deserve respect , '' said Morales , stating his offense to being called the `` back patio '' of the United States . Ventrell said Kerry did not intend to offend anyone with his remarks . `` It 's about us being neighbors , '' he said .
U.S. calls allegations by Bolivian president ` ` baseless '' Was a comment by Kerry partly responsible for Bolivia 's support of Kerry ? Morales made the connection , then called his foreign minister to contact . U.S.-Bolivia relations have been tense for years .