Bolivia in 2006

Bolivia in 2006

Area: 1,098,581 sq km (424,164 sq mi)
Population (2006 est.): 9,354,000
Capitals: La Paz (administrative) and Sucre (judicial)
Head of state and government: Presidents Eduardo Rodríguez Veltzé and, from January 22, Evo Morales Ayma

The historic nationalization of Bolivia’s lucrative natural-gas industry and the convening of a citizens’ constitutional assembly were the landmark events of 2006. Both were initiatives of Pres. Evo Morales, a former coca farmer who took office in January after having placed first in the December 2005 election. Morales, of Aymara heritage, became Bolivia’s first Indian president after having spent years as a leader of protests by labour, peasant, civic, and indigenous movements that drove two previous presidents from office. He promised to reclaim Bolivian resources from foreign control and give the three-fifths of Bolivians who identified as Indians a stronger voice in national affairs.

The nationalization, announced by Morales on May 1, required local units of foreign oil-and-gas firms to transfer majority control to Bolivia’s state-owned petroleum company, Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB). Defending his decision, Morales said, “For more than 500 years our resources have been pillaged. This has to end now.” Later, however, it became clear that it was one thing to issue a decree and another to put it into practice. Morales had said there would be no compensation for the foreign firms, but it appeared that the firms were able to block the transfer of assets until at least some money changed hands. Hampered by a lack of funds, YPFB missed deadlines for assuming control of Spanish and Brazilian petroleum interests. Its president, Jorge Alvarado, resigned on August 28 amid allegations of corruption and mismanagement.

Morales moved in other ways to change the character of government, traditionally dominated by white and mixed-race elites. As justice minister he chose Casimira Rodríguez, a Quechua Indian, former housemaid, and leader of a domestic workers’ union. As ambassador to the U.S. he nominated a journalist, Gustavo Guzmán, who had no diplomatic or foreign experience. Convening the constituent assembly in August, Morales described its 255 members as “soldiers for our country’s true independence.” They were given 12 months to draft a constitution, which would then be submitted to a referendum. State control over natural resources, religious and language rights, and judicial reform were listed as priorities by Morales and his supporters. They did not fare as well as they had hoped, however, in July elections for the assembly. Businessmen and landowners in the prosperous southeast worked to enshrine property rights and regional autonomy in the new charter. In November Morales signed into law a land-reform bill that gave the government the right to claim some types of privately owned land and reappropriate it to indigent farmers.

Some South American governments were sympathetic to Morales’s attempts to address long-standing inequalities. Argentina took the nationalization in stride and renegotiated a gas-supply agreement with a 47% price increase. Nationalization inflamed relations with Brazil, the purchaser of two-thirds of Bolivia’s gas exports and a major investor in Bolivia. Illegal settlement of Bolivian territory by Brazilian landowners added to the friction, but Brazilian Pres. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva appeared eager to maintain good relations with Morales. Relations with the United States were strained by Morales’s close links with Venezuelan Pres. Hugo Chávez and by the revelation that U.S. officials and the Bolivian armed forces had jointly removed 28 antiaircraft missiles from Bolivian territory shortly before Morales’s inauguration.

by: Paul Knox