Bolivia’s conservative government ends agreements with Iran

“Approximately four months ago, this military cooperation agreement was denounced, therefore the contract no longer exists,” he said in response to questions from journalists about whether the agreement, signed during the government of Luis Arce (2020-2025), was still in force.

The minister added that the agreements with Iran “have simply been terminated and no longer exist.”

Since taking office on November 8, President Rodrigo Paz has questioned Bolivia’s relations with Iran, Venezuela and Cuba, countries allied to the governments of Arce and Evo Morales (2006-2019).

In return, the Paz government secured agreements to resume diplomatic relations with the USA and Israel, nations that had distanced themselves from former left-wing presidents.

At the end of February, after the start of US and Israeli attacks against Iran, the Bolivian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reaffirmed, in a statement, “its commitment to peace and the strengthening of democracies as spaces where people fully exercise their freedoms.”

Salinas’ predecessor, Edmundo Novillo, signed the cooperation agreements on July 20, 2023, during a visit to Tehran with his then Iranian counterpart, Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Qarai Ashtiani.

Novillo requested Iranian collaboration in border security and combating drug trafficking and smuggling, and visited technology companies that manufacture drones for these purposes.

The agreements raised questions and warnings from the government of Javier Milei, in Argentina, reactions that Novillo rejected, stating that the agreement did not represent a threat to neighboring countries.