Bryan Goebel

A student supporter of Evo Morales: Photo by ReutersBolivia's president and the governors of two opposition states, Santa Cruz and Tarija, have agreed to sit down for talks aimed at diffusing a political crisis that has lead to a wave of violence resulting in the deaths of at least a dozen people.

Last week, President Evo Morales expelled the U.S. ambassador, accusing of him of supporting the opposition. Venezuela soon followed suit, expelling its U.S. ambassador.

Jim Schultz of the Democracy Center, a global justice organization based in San Francisco and Cochabamba, believes the expulsion was a mistake.

If anything, Schultz says, the U.S. should have pulled the ambassador out for his own incompetence.

He says "conspiracy theories" the U.S. is stirring up violence have been overblown.

"This violent opposition to Morales did not need any support from the United States to exist," he says.

In this interview recorded for KCBS September 13, 2008, Schultz talks about the divisions of class, ethnicity and region in Bolivia and says the U.S. should stay out of the conflict.