Junio 02, 2005
Bolivia in the News - June 2
From yesterday's Daily State Department briefing:
QUESTION: Can we change to Bolivia?
MR. BOUCHER: Sure.
QUESTION: There's violence and protests and congress is having difficulty meeting there. On the diplomatic front, this is a country that you've helped a lot, especially working with the Mexicans. Are you doing anything to try and defuse the violence?
MR. BOUCHER: I think, simply put, yes. We are in touch with the government. We're in touch with leaders in Bolivia. We're also in touch with other nations who are very interested and concerned about the situation there. And I would expect that this situation, as well as — that this situation will be discussed as part of the discussion of democracy in the hemisphere at the OAS General Assembly meeting next week. But yes, Bolivia is one of the issues of — that we're working on in the hemisphere along with others in the OAS in order to support the Inter-American Democracy Charter.
QUESTION: The main protest is about nationalizing the gas sector, with the U.S. usually prescribing economic policies that don't involve nationalizing. Are you talking to the government about that, that they shouldn't give into the demands of the protestors? Where do you stand on that issue?
MR. BOUCHER: I think, generally, we've stuck with talking to the government about the security situation, about the situation as regards to democracy and maintaining democracy in Bolivia, so I think I'll leave it at that for the moment.
Interesting question #2, which tries to pinpoint a U.S. position. With so much criticism coming to Bolivia that they rely too much on foreign aid, a generous Hydrocarbons Law (not necessarily nationalization) would pump more dollars into the treasury using their own natural resources. We're not talking about airlines or railroads that the government has no business working with, rather natural resources within the country.
Posted by eduardo at Junio 2, 2005 01:51 PM