Watch part two

This week Inside USA looks at the Bush administration's policies in South America's poorest nation, and asks what the future holds for Bolivia.

The country is a classic case of the Resource Curse. From its vast deposits of silver that lined the colonial treasure chests of Europe, to the 29 trillion cubic feet of natural gas it has today, all the wealth in the world has created the poorest country in South America.

Today Bolivia is in the midst of historic change. Evo Morales, its first indigenous president, won a landslide victory in 2005, and immediately went after multinational oil companies, forcing them to hand over much more of their profits to the government.

The US has been predictably critical of Bolivia's leftward tilt - and just two weeks ago the state department went so far as to say that the country shows "new potential as a possible site for terrorist activity".

It is no coincidence that Evo Morales is a former coca farmer, and has been a strong defender of the cultural uses of coca - a plant that is central to indigenous identity.

The US wants coca production banned, and sees the issue through the prism of the war on drugs.

This episode of Inside USA aired from Saturday, May 10, 2008.