Bolivia's Morales nationalizes smelter

[Judi Lynn]

Bolivia's Morales nationalizes smelter

LACK OF REFINEMENT: International mining firms have purchased the country's exports of raw mineral ore while performing lucrative refining work elsewhere

AP, VINTO, BOLIVIA
Sunday, Feb 11, 2007, Page 7

Advertising Bolivian President Evo Morales signed a decree nationalizing a tin smelter owned by the Swiss mining company Glencore International, a first step toward his declared ambitions to win his government a larger share of Bolivia's mineral wealth.
Morales did not immediately name the terms for the takeover of the Vinto plant, the country's only operating smelter.

He stressed that Bolivia must not only control its rich mineral resources but also the refinement of raw ore into valuable metals.

"Our natural resources have been looted again and again," Morales told the smelter's employees on Friday.

"We have never been permitted to industrialize our own natural resources," he said. "With so many false pretexts ... they tried to keep Bolivia merely an exporter of raw materials. But now the hour has come to industrialize all of our natural resources."
(snip/...)

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2007/02/11/2003348572

[Judi Lynn]

1. Bolivia Seizes Tin Smelter

Bolivia Seizes Tin Smelter
08:05 AM, February 10th 2007
by News Staff

Bolivian troops Friday seized the largest privately run tin smelter in the country, La Razon newspaper reported in its online edition.

Some 200 troops were sent to the smelter at the behest of the Bolivian government led by leftist President Evo Morales, who signed a decree nationalizing the Vinto Complex.

Morales last year promised to nationalize large sectors of the country's energy sector, particularly the gas industry.

The seizure came one day after Morales negotiated the end of protests by miners who wanted the president to step up his nationalization plans.
(snip/)

http://www.playfuls.com/news_10_13355-Bolivia-Seizes-Tin-Smelter.html

[Judi Lynn]

2. Bolivia's Morales signs decree nationalizing Swiss tin smelter

Bolivia's Morales signs decree nationalizing Swiss tin smelter
The Associated Press
Published: February 9, 2007

~snip~
The Vinto smelter, located near Oruro on the high Andean plain 180 kilometers (110 miles) southeast of La Paz, was — until Friday — entirely in private hands, but all of Bolivia's extensive mineral deposits are already owned by the government.

State mining company Comibol works a handful of the deposits, but most are mined through private concessions split between independent Bolivian miners' cooperatives — most still working with hammer and chisel — and giant international companies, including Glencore and U.S.-based companies Coeur d'Alene Mines and Apex Silver Mines Ltd.

Morales has said that only those concessions left idle or lacking investment will be returned to the state. In the meantime, the president has proposed a tax hike aimed at recovering a greater share of Bolivia's soaring mineral revenues, driven in part by demand from China.

Until the 1970s, when Vinto was built under military dictator Hugo Banzer, Bolivia exported mostly raw mineral ore, allowing other countries to reap the refining profits.

The Bolivian government sold the Vinto smelter in 2001 to Allied Deals, which later sold it to Comsur, a private mining company whose largest stockholder at the time was former Bolivian President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada.
(snip/...)

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/02/10/business/LA-FIN-Bolivia-Mining-Nationalization.php

[Robbien]

3. So Bolivia had to privatize the smelting

and the winner in this particular privatization was the wealthy elite of Bolivia?

It is so nice to see a leader working for the benefit of his people. Go Morales.

[Acadia Blue]

6. Typical latin american corruption and oligarchy...like Mexico

[Ken Burch]

4. Viva Avo! Ama Kela!

The wealth of Bolivia belongs to the Bolivian people.

Somewhere, Che is smiling.

[Jack Sprat]

9. Somewhere Bush is frowning

BushCo will now put Bolivia on their hate list, alongside Chevez and Venezuela. It's funny. We are the champions of democracy only as long as it is owned or mortgaged to American corporations.

[Judi Lynn]

10. Bolivia was on Bush's hate list the moment Evo Morales decided to run for the Presidency.

_Bush had his officials threatening Bolivians long before the election happened with dire consequences if they allowed him to be elected. Colin Powell, Don Rumsfeld, and Condoleeza Rice ALL threatened and thundered at the people of Bolivia.

Someone in the Defense Department went behind the back of the President around election time, to the officers of the Bolivian military, and persuaded them to destroy some missiles Bolivia had in reserve. This was soundly condemned by Evo Morales publicly, having Bolivia's own military officers actually taking their orders from _Bush's Defense Dept.

Since that has happened, _Bush has trimmed back foreign aid to Bolivia which had been going to the military, giving the officers there a reason to resent Evo Morales, which was a truly underhanded, backstabbing thing to do, but it didn't frighten the President, at any rate, and there will undoubtedly be far more to follow, including more encouragement to the people in the gas-producing area, Santa Cruz, I believe, to continue pressing to separate permanently from the Bolivian government and the country.

_Bush isn't nearly finished with the destruction he intends to lay upon the people of Bolivia for daring to elect someone who looks out for their own interests. (You may remember they rioted with such intensity, having no other choice, actually, when the Bechtel-connected company (connections to _Bush the Elder) privatized their water supply, even to the filthy extent of trying to force them to PAY FOR WATER THEY COLLECT IN RAIN BARRELS. They showed such resistance their President finally had to break the deal with the company, but not until it had gone far past the point of human decency.)

Bolivia's Trial by Fire
by Benjamin Dangl
The Social Movements and the State
<sub>~snip~
US Troops in Paraguay

Outright U.S. military intervention in Bolivia is a possibility. An airbase in Mariscal Estigarribia, Paraguay is reportedly being utilized by hundreds of U.S. troops. The base, which was constructed by U.S. technicians in the 1980s under Paraguayan dictator Alfredo Stroessner, is 200 kilometers from the border with Bolivia and is larger than the international airport in Paraguay's capital. Analysts in the region believe these troops could be poised to intervene in Bolivia to suppress leftist movements and secure the country's gas reserves.5

Under U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's direction, the Pentagon has pushed for a number of small Cooperative Security Locations (CSLs) based around Latin America. These military installations permit leapfrogging from one location to another across the continent. Such a strategy reflects an increased dependence on missiles and unmanned aircraft instead of soldiers. CSLs offer the opportunity for a small but potent presence in a country. Such outposts exist at Eloy Alfaro International Airport in Manta, Ecuador, Reina Beatrix International Airport in Aruba, Hato International Airport in nearby Curacao, and at the international airport in Comalapa, El Salvador. Paraguay may already be home to the region's next CSL.6

The U.S. Embassy in Paraguay contends that no plans for a military outpost are underway and that the military operations are based on humanitarian efforts. However, State Department reports do not mention any funding for humanitarian works in Paraguay. They do mention that funding for the Counterterrorism Fellowship Program in the country doubled in 2005.7

U.S. officials say the triple border area, where Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil meet, is a base for Islamic terrorist networks. Analysts in Latin America believe that the U.S. government is using the threat of terrorism as an excuse to secure natural resources in the region.

"The objectives of the U.S.A. in South America have always been to secure strategic material like oil in Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela, tin mines in Bolivia, copper mines in Chile, and always to maintain lines of access open," Luiz Alberto Moniz Bandeira, a Brazilian political scientist at the Universidade de Brasilia, wrote in the Folha de São Paulo.8

Orlando Castillo, a Paraguayan human rights leader, said the goal of U.S. military operations in his country is to "debilitate the southern bloc . . . and destabilize the regions governments, especially Evo Morales. . . . "9

While grappling with these challenges, the Morales administration will have to answer to the millions of Bolivians who, in the December election, gave him the biggest mandate in the country's history.

For centuries, Bolivians have, in the words of Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano, "suffered . . . the curse of their own wealth." The country's tin, copper, and silver were exploited by foreign companies that made enormous profits while Bolivia struggled on. For many Bolivians, the election of Morales offers the hope that history will stop repeating itself. As Galeano writes, "Recovery of the resources that have always been usurped is the recovery of our destiny."</sub>
(snip)

http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/dangl120106.html

[Jack Sprat]

11. Our capitalists have no conscience.

If there is a nation that has some natural resource that can be plundered, our American capitalists or a consortium of global capitalists will do their best to take it away or get a lion's share of it.

[manic expression]

14. Capitalists can scarcely have a conscience

almost by definition.

A person is a "capitalist" BECAUSE they exploit workers.

[Vidar]

5. Go, Evo, go!

[mc jazz]

7. Isn't it ironic

how we can support Evo's policies in the knowledge that whatever we may lose out on from his nationalisation (which is enrichment of a small elite anyway) pales into insignificance compared to the outsources and selling off of our own country. it's the principle of the the thing, they are protecting their interests while we our selling ours off to the highest bidder...

[manic expression]

8. It might seem that way

but you need to see the difference between the working classes' interests and the ruling class' interests. The bourgeoisie (the ruling class) is pursuing its interests by screwing over American workers and employing workers abroad at slave wages and conditions.

The interests of the bourgeoisie and the working classes are directly opposed. The working classes must take what is rightfully theirs by overthrowing the system which exploits them.

[Judi Lynn]

12. Bolivia Calls Ex-President to Court

Bolivia Calls Ex-President to Court
Tuesday, Feb. 06, 2007 By JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY/LA PAZ

Although Washington has recently been alarmed by Bolivia's President Evo Morales' close alliance with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and by his moves to nationalize energy reserves, the latest challenge to Washington from La Paz comes from the Bolivian judiciary: Last Thursday, the Bolivian Supreme Court allowed the indictment of former president Gonzalo "Goni" Sanchez de Lozada to face trial over the killing of demonstrators in October 2003. Soon, a request for the apprehension of Sanchez de Lozada will arrive in the U.S., where he has lived since resigning four years ago, and that could pose a dilemma for the Bush Administration.

"Once we establish legally that Sanchez de Lozada resides in the U.S.," says Rogelio Mayta, the attorney acting for relatives of 67 Bolivians killed and others gravely wounded during the 2003 protest, "we send the extradition notice and the U.S. is obligated to send him home." Bolivia has an extradition agreement with the U.S., ironically signed by Sanchez de Lozada himself in 1995.

The events in question followed mass protests by poor and indigenous Bolivians against Sanchez de Lozada's plan to export natural gas to the United States via Chile. By October 11, 2003, La Paz was suffering from a fuel shortage because of the blockades in the impoverished highland city of El Alto. On that day, Sanchez de Lozada issued Supreme Decree #27209 which sent the military to escort gas trucks to La Paz. The following week, according to witnesses, the military fired indiscriminately and without warning in El Alto neighborhoods.

"My husband was in his bed sleeping when a bullet came through the window and killed him," explains Juana Carvajal, El Alto resident and mother of four. More than a dozen people were killed in their homes by ricocheting bullets; one 10-year-old died and of the 400 wounded, several lost limbs. And the widespread outrage at Sanchez de Lozada's ordering the use of the military against unarmed protesters forced him to resign on October 17.
(snip/...)

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1586707,00.html

[manic expression]

13. Good

hopefully this a sign of things to come.

Arise, ye workers from your slumber!

[mc jazz]

15. gotcha ;)

I misworded a bit, kind of meant what you said, I hate the outsourcing trend in Britain although I suspect the call of the workers initially will be for lower living costs as well as proper jobs. If a recession/depression happens I think unless the debt burden is eased society will be torn apart leading to martial law possibly. Its such a problem I wonder if we'll see demonstrations demanding extending all loan repayments by say 50 years, it makes a huge difference to repayments and is like an instant pay rise for everyone fooled by the easy credit scam

[Peace Patriot]

16. See Judi Lynn's Comment #1, on the $3.9 billion check Bush is writing

against our meager salaries, and our children's salaries, and our grandchildren's salaries--for the Colombian fascist military and paramilitaries, apparently to be hand-delivered by Bush Boy this march.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2726234

They are planning a war for sure, against the Andean democracies. Is that where their second 9/11 will be staged--to start simultaneous wars with Iran and Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador?

This doesn't make sense--Bush going to South America in March. Or are they giving up on Iran's oil?