it is a Bolivian counter-narcotics and counter-insurgency force[1] which was founded by, and is funded, advised, equipped, and trained by the United States government as part of its "War on Drugs".
[5] In 1984, UMOPAR troops kidnapped the President of Bolivia, Siles Zuazo,[6] and staged an unsuccessful coup attempt against the Bolivian government.
[8] Although UMOPAR is technically headed by Defensa Social, a branch of the Bolivian Interior Ministry, they are in practice controlled by DEA and U.S. military officials based at the U.S. Embassy in La Paz, who plan their operations, provide intelligence, and lead the drug raids,[4][9] using UMOPAR mainly as a "strike force" for U.S.
[11] In 1987, under a U.S. State Department contract, an Oregon corporation known as Evergreen International Airlines provided several private military contractor pilots, many of whom had flown for the CIA's Air America in Laos and Cambodia, to transport DEA agents and UMOPAR troops throughout the Upper Huallaga Valley.
[13] UMOPAR troops have frequently been responsible for beatings, torture, rapes, extortion, robberies, arbitrary shootings, mass arrests without warrants, and various other human rights abuses.