LA PAZ (AFP) — Bolivia is to summon the US ambassador to explain why he was photographed next to a criminal, officials here said Wednesday, in a fresh diplomatic spat illustrating the current poor relations between Le Paz and Washington.
Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca said late Tuesday that "we are going to summon him through diplomatic channels to get a better explanation of this matter."
He did not say when the meeting with US ambassador Philip Goldberg would take place.
The upset derived from a photograph dating from September showing Goldberg standing next to John Jairo Vanegas, a Colombian criminal now serving time in a Bolivian jail for armed robbery.
In the photo, Goldberg was also standing next to Gabriel Dabdoub, a powerful Bolivian businessman who opposes the government of President Evo Morales.
Diplomatic ties between the United States and Bolivia have frayed since Morales, a leftwing indigenous former coca farmer, took power last year.
Morales has criticized "US capitalism" and resisted US efforts to eradicate coca cultivation in the country in a bid to eradicate cocaine production.
Last month Goldberg was forced to apologize after Bolivia took exception to him mocking a suggestion by Morales that the UN headquarters be moved away from New York.
Goldberg had joked that Morales -- who was complaining about the difficulties Bolivian officials had in entering the United States to attend a UN general assembly -- maybe also wanted to move the Walt Disney headquarters.
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