Gas War Update

All signs are that Bolivia is once again headed toward a political showdown over the same issue that has ignited this country over and over again for the last two years –how to tax and control foreign oil companies as the nation develops its vast gas and oil reserves.

Last week the Congress passed a gas bill that soon came under attack by foreign oil companies (for taxing them too much) and by various social movements on the left (for giving the companies too much). Yesterday movement leaders announced plans for a major people’s march on the capital, La Paz, to begin Monday. For five days the country has waited to see whether President Carlos Mesa would veto the bill, begin its implementation, or demand changes in it.

Last night in a national address Mesa declared that the gas bill was a recipe for national division and called for a summit of all interests to hammer out a new version of the legislation. Translated this means that Mesa is hoping wildly that another round of high level negotiations will somehow produce a bill that will simultaneously satisfy the social movements enough to keep them from marching, stop the companies from threatening to leave, and stop the IMF from saber rattling with threats to hold up aid if the corporations aren’t happy.

Well, and I also suppose that the Easter Bunny might come to Bolivia this week along with his buddy the tooth fairy (Note: Santa Claus is real so we won’t add him to the list) with large chocolate eggs and perhaps toothbrushes. But that is about as likely as a magic compromise on gas. Aside from the tax issue (the movements want a 50/50 split of revenues with the companies) the real complaint is that the new law still cedes control of the nations gas and oil reserves to the corporations, a concession they won in privatization contracts a decade ago that some legal scholars say are illegal because they were never approved by Congress here.

Mesa’s call for a summit isn’t helped too much either by the fact that the last time a national summit was called, by the Catholic Church and others, a few months ago Mesa decided not to show up at all.

In an hour I will be sitting in on a meeting at which some of the most prominent social movement leaders will be discussing how to respond to the President.

Stay tuned.