Bolivia bans U.S. drug agency flights

LA PAZ (Reuters) - Bolivia's leftist government will not allow the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to fly over the country, President Evo Morales was quoted as saying by state news agency ABI on Thursday, a move that could spark the latest standoff between the two countries.

"Two days ago I received a letter from the DEA of the United States asking a state institution for permission to fly over our national territory. I want to publicly tell ... (officials) that they cannot authorise the DEA to fly over Bolivian territory," Morales said, according to ABI.

A spokesman for the local anti-narcotics office said he could not give details about Morales' decision or information about the frequency and purpose of DEA flights in Bolivia.

Impoverished Bolivia is the world's third-largest cocaine producer after Colombia and Peru, and last month the United States added Bolivia to a list of states that had "failed demonstrably" to meet their counter-narcotics obligations.

Washington says coca acreage in Bolivia has increased significantly, but the Morales government argues it went up by only 5 percent in 2007.

No one was available to comment on Morales' statements at the U.S. Embassy in La Paz on Thursday evening.

Relations between the two nations were upset last month when Morales expelled the U.S. ambassador, prompting Washington to respond in kind.

Last week, the U.S. government took initial steps to suspend trade benefits for Bolivia because of what U.S. officials described as the country's poor cooperation in fighting drug trafficking.

Since taking office in 2006, Morales has pursued a policy of "zero cocaine but not zero coca," which gives tens of thousands of farmers permission to grow coca on small plots for legal uses.