Bolivia–United States relations were established in 1837 with the first ambassadorial visit from the United States to Peru–Bolivian Confederation. The Confederation dissolved in 1839, and bilateral relations did not occur until 1848 when the United States recognized Bolivia as a sovereign state and appointed John Appleton as the Chargé d'Affaires.
While opposed to other self-identified "revolutionary" governments, the United States engaged with the National Revolutionary Movement (MNR) following the country's 1952 Revolution in an effort to encourage to move its politics to the right. In 1971, the US government viewed President Juan Jose Torres as anti-American and funded military officers plotting to overthrow him."n June 1971, U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia Ernest V. Siracusa expressed concern to Washington that failure to support opponents of the anti-American and left-leaning military regime of Bolivian President Juan Jose Torres might leave the door open for communists to gain yet another foothold in the Americas. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) shared the Ambassador’s concerns. In response to a White House request for a political action program to arrest the leftward trend of the Torres regime, a proposal was submitted to the 40 Committee for $410,000 in covert funding for the National Revolutionary Movement (MNR) and moderate military leaders, who opposed the Torres regime." 76. Editorial Note in General Hugo Banzer took power later that year and had cooperative relations with the United States. However, under the Jimmy Carter administration, the United States supported a transition to democracy and opposed the 1979 and 1980 coups by Generals Alberto Natusch Busch and Luis García Meza, respectively. The United States supported the 1985 shift to neoliberal economic policies under the government of Víctor Paz Estenssoro, who had also led Bolivia after the 1952 Revolution.
From the 1980s onwards, the US became heavily concerned with stopping the growing and trafficking of coca leaves, a precursor to cocaine, in Bolivia. The US supplied training and equipment for an eradication campaign focused on the Chapare coca region. However, in 2005, coca grower leader Evo Morales was elected to the presidency as the leader of the Movement Towards Socialism. Morales was publicly critical of US policies and brought Bolivia closer to Venezuela, Cuba, Russia, and China. Morales severed diplomatic relations following the 2008 political crisis, and expelled the US Drug Enforcement Administration and USAID. Subsequent negotiations between the two governments were unsuccessful at restoring them. Following Morales' resignation in November 2019, under pressure from protests and the Bolivian military, the United States renewed USAID assistance. Following the 2025 Bolivian general election, relations between the two countries were reestablished.
According to the 2012 U.S. Global Leadership Report, 34% of Bolivians approve "the job performance of the leadership of the U.S.", with 26% disapproving and 40% uncertain. In a 2013 global opinion poll, 55% of Bolivians view the U.S. favorably, with 29% expressing an unfavorable view.Bolivian Opinion of the United States Pew Research Center
History Modern relations The election of Evo Morales as president later in 2006 caused fresh tensions. The Morales platform includes programs to return land and power to the Aymara people of Bolivia, to nationalize key industries and to legalize use of coca, a traditional Aymara medicine. In September 2008, US president George W. Bush placed Bolivia on a counter-narcotics blacklist along with Venezuela. He said that Bolivia had "failed demonstrably" to meet commitments to combat the production and trafficking of illicit drugs, mainly cocaine. Speaking a week later, Evo Morales said the United States has tried to thwart his policies and had failed to condemn a pro-autonomy movement that uses terrorist tactics. He said that as a member of parliament in 2002, he was accused by the U.S. ambassador of being a narcotics trafficker and an assassin, and that later the ambassador had called him an Andean bin Laden and threatened to cut off aid if Bolivians voted for him. Morales accused the CIA of assisting the previous regime in Bolivia, and said that the U.S. military had supported illegal arms shipments to rebels.
In November 2010, Morales accused the U.S. of aiding coup attempts in Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador, as well as successful coup in Honduras, while also denouncing the U.S. attempts to define whom Bolivia should have foreign relations with, alluding to disagreements over possible talks between Iran and Bolivia.
In September 2018 at a United Nations Security Council meeting, Morales accused the U.S. of promoting torture. Morales also criticized US president Donald Trump face-to-face for threatening Venezuela and for its opposition to the International Criminal Court.
Morales plane incident
Relations between the United States and Bolivia deteriorated further in July 2013, when Bolivian President Evo Morales's plane, while returning to Bolivia from Russia, landed in Vienna, Austria after France, Spain, Portugal and Italy informed Bolivia that their airspace was closed to his plane due to unsubstantiated rumors that U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden was on-board his aircraft. Morales said the United States pressured European countries to prevent his passage home. After arriving back in La Paz, Morales said he would potentially close the US Embassy in La Paz, stating "We do not need the embassy of the United States."
Áñez interim government and return of MAS under Luis Arce In November 2019, after accusations of fraud in the general election and the ensuing political crisis, Evo Morales resigned as president and Senator Jeanine Áñez took power. After Morales ouster, Áñez steadily improved relations with the United States, which had been at a low point under Morales's administration and named a temporary ambassador to the United States for the first time in more than a decade.
After the general election of October 2020 and the victory of socialist candidate Luis Arce, relations worsened despite an attempt by Arce to improve ties with the United States. When Jeanine Áñez and several of her cabinet ministers were arrested in March 2021 and charged with criminal offences related to massacres that took place during the first days of her presidency, relations hit a new low, after remarks by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and called for Áñez's release. In response, the Arce administration stated the United States was interfering in Bolivia's internal affairs.
Rapprochement In October 2025, Bolivia president-elect Rodrigo Paz Pereira stated that he seeks to restore Bolivia's relations with the United States. Christopher Landau, the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, attended Paz's inauguration in November 2025, and he announced that both countries will reestablish relations at ambassador level
The government of Paz announced in December 2025 that American nationals could travel to Bolivia without visa. In February 2026, Bolivia revived anti-drug alliance with the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) after nearly 18-year break, meaning DEA was again present in Bolivia. In March 2026, President Rodrigo Paz met president Donald Trump at the "Shield of the Americas" summit in Miami, USA.
US aid to Bolivia
The US State Department notes that the United States Government channels its development assistance to Bolivia through USAID. USAID is well known in Bolivia, especially in rural areas where thousands of projects have been implemented. USAID has been providing assistance to Bolivia since the 1960s and works with the Government of Bolivia, the private sector, and the Bolivian people to achieve equitable and sustainable development. USAID/Bolivia provides about $85 million annually in development assistance through bilateral agreements with the Bolivian Government and unilateral agreements with other organizations. USAID programs are implemented by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the private sector, and the Bolivian Government. USAID's programs support Bolivia's National Development Plan and are designed to address key issues, such as poverty and the social exclusion of historically disadvantaged populations, focusing efforts on Bolivia's peri-urban and rural populations. USAID's programs in Bolivia strengthen democratic institutions; provide economic opportunities for disadvantaged populations through business development and trade; improve family health; promote sustainable use of natural resources and biodiversity conservation; provide farmers alternatives to illicit coca cultivation; and improve food security.
In August 2007, Bolivian Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera said that the U.S. Embassy was using aid programs to fund the government's political opponents, trying to develop "ideological and political resistance." He cited USAID financing of Juan Carlos Urenda, author of a plan for Santa Cruz's secession from Bolivia. A State Department spokesman denied the accusation, and USAID officials said they provided support to all Bolivian governors, not just those in the opposition. In a decree issued by Bolivia's supreme court in October 2007, one article states that Bolivia will not accept money with political or ideological strings attached. Evo Morales declared "The imperialist project is to try to carve up Bolivia, and with that to carve up South America because it is the epicenter of great changes that are advancing on a world scale." On May 1, 2013, the Bolivian president Evo Morales expelled the USAID Program for allegedly attempting to undermine the government by supporting the opposition.
In January 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump determined to waive a restriction on United States assistance to Bolivia, following the resignation of Evo Morales and his government in November 2019.
Bolivian criticism of U.S. government policy
The US State Department observes that Bolivian government hostility and provocations towards the United States strained bilateral relations in 2008, as the Bolivian government escalated verbal attacks against the U.S. Government and began to dismantle vital elements of the relationship. In June, the government endorsed the expulsion of USAID from Bolivia's largest coca growing region. In September, President Morales expelled Ambassador Philip S. Goldberg from Bolivia, declaring him "persona non grata." In November President Morales expelled the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) from the country on the grounds that "personnel from the DEA supported activities of the unsuccessful coup d'etat in Bolivia" ending a 35-year history of DEA activity in Bolivia. Morales said of Philip Goldberg that "he is conspiring against democracy and seeking the division of Bolivia."
Gustavo Guzman, the Bolivian ambassador to Washington, was expelled in retaliation. Guzman said "The U.S. embassy is historically used to calling the shots in Bolivia, violating our sovereignty, treating us like a banana republic." He claimed that the US was openly supporting autonomy-seeking Santa Cruz politicians including the mayor Percy Fernandez and the prefect Rubén Costas. Ambassador Goldberg met Costas in August 2008. Immediately after the visit, Costas assumed power, declared that Santa Cruz was autonomous and ordered the take-over of national government offices. The visit to Santa Cruz was the trigger for Goldberg's expulsion.
In the midst of the 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis, Morales accused the United States government of xenophobia due to it not recognizing Nicolás Maduro as the legitimate President of Venezuela.
Narcotics issues