Bolivian Natural Gas Fight Highlights Struggle For Natural Resources - NYT

[hatrack]

EDIT

"Last week, Bolivia's Congress, under pressure from protesters, signed into law a new tax-and-royalty scheme so tough that energy experts say oil and gas multinationals will curtail investments. But groups like Mr. Solares's, with hundreds of thousands of members, say the law is too soft and want more restrictions. At the same time, a conservative, pro-globalization movement in the relatively prosperous eastern part of Bolivia is calling for a referendum on whether the region should have more autonomy, including control of its gas fields. Political analysts say the divisive crisis could lead to violence or, in time, the disintegration of a country whose state has little presence or control over its far-flung provinces.

The discovery of large gas deposits in the late 1990's was supposed to have brought Bolivia more stability and wealth as the country's leaders tried to position Bolivia as a regional energy power. But the masses of poor indigenous people have never forgotten how the Spanish and a series of corrupt governments plundered the country's silver, tin and gold, leaving them more poverty-stricken than before. Flexing their political muscle, they have carried out protests that resulted in the departure of two foreign water companies and wreaked havoc with the government's energy plans. "Those companies always come in with big promises, but all they do is rob," said Rafael Condori, 18, an Aymara Indian who plans to take part in the protest on Monday.

Such words could not be more troubling to Juan Carlos Iturri, an economist who said that many protesters are driven by slogans and do not take into account Bolivia's economic realities. "Nationalization is not real and it cannot be sustained in time," he said. "They want a horse and a battle and nothing sounds better than saying, 'Die, transnationals.' "

But Bolivia's history seems to signal that the protests are not likely to fade away. A major revolution in 1952 led to nationalization of the largest tin mines, and charismatic leaders have revived the movement in recent years. Eduardo Gamarra, the Bolivian-born director of Latin American studies at Florida International University in Miami, referred to that history, saying in an interview, "Bolivia is one of the few places in the world where you have a firm belief that nationalizing key industries is the way to go."

EDIT

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/23/international/americas/23bolivia.html?

[phantom power]

1. I'm glad the locals remember.

If anybody else is upset, I'm sure it's because they were hoping the locals would forget.

[bemildred]

2. "increasingly deep divisions"

Since the globalization agenda is getting it's collective
ass handed to it in Bolivia, all of a sudden the Screw Your
Times notices that Bolivia is "deeply divided" and so on.
Were this not the case, NYT would not notice Bolivia at all.

The truth, which the NYT finds distasteful, is that Bolivians
are unified by resistance to their corrupt and unrepresentative
government.

[thegreatwildebeest]

3. Very true...

And you can see it in the way the article is positioned between the so-called economic "experts" and the "idiot" man on the street. No one wants to acknowledge that the emperor (or rather oligarchs) have no clothes, and that the time for multinationals raping and pillaging the indegionous south is going by the extreme wayside. Now we just need to keep up the pressure in our own backyards on the war profiteers and multinationals, and make sure that they don't feel like they can get a free pass with residing in our country.