MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolivia: Morales Asks U.S. to Reconsider Aid Cuts

President Evo Morales asked the United States on Tuesday to reconsider a proposed cut in anti-drug aid to Bolivia, and called on the world to strengthen drug-fighting alliances.

Morales? appeal came day after President Bush asked Congress to reduce anti-narcotics funding to Bolivia to $67 million $80 million.

Morales, who once promised to be "Washington?s nightmare," led the often-violent struggle against U.S.-backed coca eradication efforts over the past decade, and has promised to retool Bolivian coca policy.

Morales has asked the U.S. government to enter into a "true" pact to fight drugs but has vowed his goal will be "zero cocaine," not "zero coca."

Bush also proposed cuts in anti-narcotics aid to most countries that make up the Andean Counterdrug Initiative, including Brazil, Ecuador, Panama, Peru and Venezuela. Colombia is the only nation for which Bush has proposed a funding boost. U.S. funding for Bolivian anti-drug efforts has been declining since 2001, when it stood at $117 million.

However, U.S. Ambassador David Greenlee said the cut was due solely to revised budget priorities in Washington.

Coca farmers deny that their harvests are being fed to cocaine labs, and claim instead to be meeting a legal ? and underestimated, they say ? demand for coca.

Morales has vowed to create a "new Bolivia" by bringing more power to the majority poor Indian population.

The president is also proposing that people as young as 18-years-old be able to run for the assembly, although only people 25 or older can run for Congress under current law.

Morales said he hopes rewriting the Constitution will resolve not only the country?s inequality, but help distribute unused land to peasants and increase state control over Bolivia?s natural resources, especially its vast natural gas reserves.