Bolivian President Evo Morales in 2003 allegedly received money from the Venezuelan government to "destabilize and overthrow" then Bolivian ruler Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, a former official with the overturned president told Cochabamba daily newspaper Los Tiempos.

Carlos Sánchez Berzaín, a former minister of Sánchez de Lozada who is residing in the United States, said "Morales brought to Bolivia in August and September 2003 an amount of money that Hugo Chávez gave him in Venezuela to destabilize and overthrow the government of Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, and there are other elements and I am going to make available."

The former official also accused Morales of receiving significant support from Cuba and the rebel Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) to unseat his predecessor, who is exiled in Washington.