La Paz, June 29 (RHC)-- Bolivian President Evo Morales accused the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) of having financed illegal activities by selling confiscated drug in Bolivia.

The Bolivian leader said the DEA kept 50 percent of the confiscated cocaine from drug-trafficking in the country, when it had its headquarters in the South American nation. According to the Bolivian president, the U.S. anti-narcotics agency confirmed they had used the revenues from illegal drug sales to pay government officials and undercover agents.

Evo Morales referred to the Triennial Plan, implemented in 1988 under the government of President Victor Paz Estenssoro which looked to eradicate coca crops in the Chapare Province. This plan had the support of the troops from the Mobile Rural Patrol Unit and under pressure from the U.S. DEA.

A former coca farmer and union organizer, Evo Morales paid his tribute to those who died defending coca farming and fought to expel the DEA from Bolivia.  The Bolivian president expelled the DEA from Bolivia in 2008 for “espionage” and “conspiracy” against his government and suspended its activities.

Former U.S. President Richard Nixon created the Drug Enforcement Agency in 1973 as part of the "war on drugs."  Since its founding, the United States has increased the DEA budget from US$70 million to about $3 billion.