Bolivia asks US ambassador to leave La Paz

Bolivian President Evo Morales has asked the United States’ ambassador to his country to leave, blaming him for intensifying opposition protests that have shut down a gas pipeline to Brazil.

“I am not afraid of the US empire, and before all of you, and the people of Bolivia, I declare Philip Goldberg, the US ambassador, persona non grata,” Morales said during an address at the presidential palace in La Paz.

A US State Department spokesman described Morales’ accusations as “baseless”.

Morales’ opponents have stepped up protests in recent days against his leftist reforms.

Facilities linked to the country’s key natural gas industry, including the Brazil pipeline, have been attacked.

The demonstrators, who are concentrated in the resource-rich eastern regions, want a bigger share of state energy revenues, as well as greater autonomy from La Paz.

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