Argonautica Polaris

The gas issue: New twists and turns, but USA says "no problem to deal with left wing leaders as long as they are democratically elected"

No blog about Bolivia these days can be without some references to the gas issue or as some like to call it the gas war that lead up to the election of Evo Morales as president in 2005.
In short it is a conflict over one of Bolivias natural resources, that started already in 2003 or even earlier. During the period 2003-2005 Bolivian campesinos joined forces to protest the foreign exploitation of the gas fields. The government at the time had in mind to export gas to the US, through a pipeline over Chile. The protesters argued that income from the gas fields were to stay in the country, providing the country with means for development in many other fields, in other words the view of the protesters was that the government intended to sell off the gas for a price far too low. Different strategies were during the course of the protests suggested: Larger taxes or exploitation fees for the foreing companies would make more money to stay in the country. Demands for a 100 % nationalization of the gas coompany also was put forward.
At the background of this Evo Morales was elected president. Here are some recent news on the matter:

"Bolivia to nationalise key industries

Bolivian President Evo Morales has promised to nationalise the country's key industries by 12 July. The president plans to renationalise the oil and gas industries, some of which are in foreign hands. Bolivia has the largest gas reserves in the region after Venezuela.

The Bolivian government also plans to launch a new campaign to convince Chile to give it access to the Pacific Ocean, which it lost in an 1879 war. The two countries broke off relations in 1979 after negotiations over the long-running land dispute failed. However, Mr Morales is hoping for a more favourable response from Chile's new president, Michelle Bachelet." Cited Radio Netherlands. Here is a recent US response: No problems to deal with left wing leaders as long as they are democratically elected. Read the whole article here.

The title-link is to the World News Network, Media Bolivia, the section on South America. More also here

posted by "Amira" @ 4:22 AM