New Government Amancay Colque assesses the impact of the election of Morales in Bolivia. I - January this year Bolivia elected a new President, Evo Morales Ayma. His victory was historic not only for Bolivia but for the rest of Latin America. Evo was the first president e ected with 54 percent of the vote, where 97 percent of the population had participated in the electoral process. In the US the electorate accepted Bush's rigged victory and he faced no further consequence for electoral fraud. In Bolivia, however, ordinary citizens have had enough and are not willing to give way any longer. Several traditional parties were disbanded and recreated and their rhetoric became leftwing.' All the political parties, even PODEMOS (it had a red flag with a white star), with its presidential candidate the former World Bank (WB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) consultant, Jorge Quiroga, spoke of the need to return Gas and Oil to the Bolivian people. Morales' MAS party was not the most radical or indigenous, but it was the best-organized leftwing party. The majority of the population voted for 'real change'. When I spoke to people from the City of El Alto, they clearly stated that they did not trust any political party, including MAS, but at the same time they recognized the need to prevent oligarchs such as Jorge Quiroga from taking power. Most grass roots organizations kept their distance from the MAS party. Some well-known leaders such as Abel Mamani negotiated their way into the party, much to the distaste of the grass roots. Corporate Fraud MAS's victory was overwhelming, an extraordinary kick in the teeth by the poorest of the planet against the rich and powerful. Yet, the international press concentrated on Evo Morales' woolly jumper, or the fact that he was Aymara. Both facts were the least remarkable of the event. What was extraordinary was that after the MAS's victory, Repsol's shares dropped by almost 8 percent, its officials explaining that this was due to a change of law in Bolivia. But in fact Repsol had illegally registered Bolivian gas reserves as their property, fraudulently inflating the value of its shares. There 18 in Bolivia are four US civil lawsuits so far against Repsol, related to Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) eto pa cert one the bage that was attempted by a consortium, Pacific LNG,? created exclusively to allow the Bolivian gas reserves 48TCF to be registered in the SEC: this would have pushed the shares from eleven to eighteen Euros. The latter was not reported by the international media, although it had all the necessary ingredients to make the headlines as the oil corporations involved were Repsol, British Petroleum and British Gas. An arrest warrant has been issued for Julio Gavito, Américo Díaz and Fernando Cabrera, for fuel smuggling between 2004 and 2005; some 230,400 barrels of crude oil were exported to Argentina and Chile, which meant $9.3 million. During the same period the company had registered a record in its profits, 29.3 percent that meant 312 billion Euros. There are still other well-known corrupt corporations that the Bolivian authorities have promised to take to court, like Transredes (Shell- Enron), responsible for environmental damage and oil/gas smuggling. After all, previous Bolivian governments, willing to change Bolivian laws* for the benefit of oil corporations, or turn a blind eye when these corporations broke the law, had been kicked out by the people: a radical change is expected. The Bolivian vice-minister of Hidrocarbons, Julio Gomez Menacho, 5 declared that the contracts signed with the oil companies had not been approved by Congress and were consequently invalid, they were written in English and under conditions that were detrimental for the state. "we have to recover the hydrocarbons, it is important that the country starts a policy to recover our state economy" said Gomez. If the new Bolivian government is going to search only in the legal part to recover the hydrocarbons it will take years of legal battles that could become a vicious circle. After all we must learn from history, in 1969 when the Gulf company was nationalized, Ovando sent the army to occupy the installations. 1. Imagine the Tories, Liberals and New Labour organizing new political parties in order to stand against Respect! 2. Ramiro Victor Paz Cerruto is the son of Victor Paz Estenssoro who has been president of Bolivia four times. 3. Pacific LNG is composed of the British multinationals BG Group and Pan-American Energy itself composed of BP and Bridas and the Spanish giant Repsol- YPF. The $5 billion gas export plan consists of a 700km pipeline from Bolivia to a port in Chile from where gas would be shipped to Mexico. There the shipment would be converted from its liquefied form back into a gas by the American company Sempra Energy Corp. and imported to California via a pipeline running from Baja California. The San Diego-based Sempra has been in negotiations since December of 2001 with Pacific LNG for a 20-year contract amounting to $7 billion. Sempra has been criticized for inflating the price of gas during the California energy crisis and still faces investigation by federal and state regulators. 4. During Banzer and Goni's Governments two decrees were passed 25477 and 24400, that allowed oil and gas reserves that were under the probable' status were classified as 'proved'. 5. Government confirms that contracts with private companies are unconstitutional, La Paz, Bolivia, 8-03-06 Jornada
cut corporate tax from 50 to 18 percent, representatives, as well as indigenous groups have Can Morales keep the promises of the election? Corporate Tax olivia followed the World Bank mantra to will leave the country and we will have job losses'. In May 2005, under Carlos Mesa's government a new law was introduced IDH, 6 which meant that the oil corporations had to pay 50 The oil corporations started to pay percent tax. in May 2005; by October 2005 the amount paid approximately was $250 million. The corporations paid reluctantly, and threatened court proceedings stating that they expected to get the tax back. This tax reform was passed to divert the demand by the Bolivian population for 'nationalization and industrialization of the oil and gas' and has meant that $400 million a year now remains in the country. This is a direct transfer from the richest of the world to the poorest, a real redistribution of wealth and was achieved through pressure from the social movements in the streets against a neoliberal government.® of oil smuggling and promised to comply with court proceedings. charismatic and well-known leaders, such as Abel Mamani, who had fought against Minister for Water,' Sacha Llorenti, former president of the Permanent Assembly for Human Rights and a campaigner for the extradition of Goni."° As the new ambassador to the USA, he will speed up Goni's process of extradition. But, unfortunately there are some well-known neoliberal figures such as Walker San Miguel," nominated as Defence Minister. Despite opposition to his appointment the government decided to keep him.!2 Constituent Assembly During his inauguration speech Evo Morales explained that the indigenous population had not participated in the foundation of the Republic Oin 1825, and that he wanted to refound Bolivia. The Constituent Assembly was the means by which the popular indigenous movement would be given access. However, Vice-President Alvaro Linera later admitted that he had to give in to the demands of the most right wing organization in Bolivia, el Comite Civico Cruceño. Jaime Solares and other rejected Evo's promulgated law to create the Constituent Assembly. be discriminatory because in order to participate they need to belong to a political party or a group such as PODEMOS, 13 and the indigenous and social movements are not represented by these types of There are already calls from the organizations. social movements to mobilize and once again force the government to give them what is rightfully theirs, the right to exercise democratic control of the natural resources and the direction of the country, for the benefit of the people and not for corporate profit. Bolivia Solidarity Campaign: www.boliviasc.org.uk This March Repsol's chairman Antonio Brufau on his visit to Bolivia declared, 'When we are operating in a country, we must go hand-in-hand with the interests of that country'. He also recognized that, 'Bolivia is the epicentre of a very important region'. This is in total contrast to what Repsol and other oil corporations had stated before the elections. He also brushed off accusations The social movements clearly stated that Evo Morales had 180 days, to comply with the promise to nationalize the oil and gas industry. But they are becoming increasingly worried as the MAS government talks ambiguously. Evo Morales declared in January, 'we want partners, not bosses', implying that the contracts with the oil corporations would be maintained with some changes in the conditions. This means that the most left wing and radical government in Bolivia is attempting to legalize the contracts introduced by right-wing Goni. Ordinary working people in Bolivia expected a real change, and when the new government cabinet was nominated there was an extraordinary list of Suez, as the 7. In the last five months (Aprox 235 million dollars). 8. The Bolivian Supreme Court declared that all existing contracts with transnational gas companies to be null and void. The Constitution required Congressional approval at the time the contracts were signed, but no one brought them before Congress. 9. SUEZ is a global conglomerate and one of the largest private water services companies in the world. www.stopsuez.org trade 10. 'Goni Sanchez de Lozada, is currently hiding in Miami". juiciogoniya. free.fr, *Bolivia May Send They consider the law to Prosecutor to US', Prensa Latina, 9-03-06 11. Walker San Miguel, was involved in the privatization of Lloyd Aereo Boliviano and Empresa Nacional de Ferrocarriles. 12. Walker San Miguel was also involved in a scandal about selling airplanes to the Air Force overpriced by 10 million. 13. Poder Democratico Social, is called 'agrupacion ciudadana' which is another way of recycling the old discredited neoliberal parties. 19