Bolivia lifts exporter gas prices in nationalisation step

[Judi Lynn]

Bolivia lifts exporter gas prices in nationalisation step
By Hal Weitzman in Lima
Updated: 1:10 a.m. ET Feb. 2, 2006

Bolivia has said it will take its "first step towards nationalising hydrocarbons" by raising the prices foreign investors pay to export natural gas and by taking control of privately owned petrol stations.

Jorge Alvarado, the head of YPFB, Bolivia's state energy company, said the developments would show that the government had begun to exercise ownership of Bolivia's hydrocarbons. "We can't say that we have nationalised if we don't exercise our ownership rights."

Evo Morales, Bolivia's newly elected leftwing president, made a pledge to nationalise the gas sector a central element of his election campaign, though he stressed that he would not expropriate assets.

Multinational energy giants such as Petrobras, Repsol, British Gas and Total have collectively invested $3.5bn (€2.9bn, £2.4bn) over the past decade in developing Bolivia's gas reserves, the second largest in the region.
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http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11133304/

[Judi Lynn]

1. Bush calls for dialogue with Bolivian leader

Bush calls for dialogue with Bolivian leader
Wed Feb 1, 2006 3:48 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush telephoned Bolivia's new president, Evo Morales, on Wednesday and expressed hope for a dialogue with the leftist leader who during his campaign called his socialist party a nightmare for the United States.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush congratulated Morales on his election, praised the democratic process in Bolivia and said he wanted "a constructive U.S.-Bolivian relationship and dialogue."

Despite Morales' anti-American rhetoric during his campaign and his friendliness toward U.S. antagonists Venezuela and Cuba, the Bush administration has sought to avoid a clash with him and is taking a wait-and-see approach.
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http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-02-01T204825Z_01_N01255303_RTRUKOC_0_US-BOLIVIA-BUSH.xml

[Judi Lynn]

2. Bolivia - Morales De-Privatizes Water

Bolivia - Morales De-Privatizes Water

1/2 - Evo Morales, the new president of Bolivia, announced the start of his policy of converting water distribution intoapublic service and making access to water a human right. Morales explained his policy during the inauguration of three vice-ministers of the new ministry of water.

Morales, while emphasizing the importance of water for human life and the development of the agricultural sector, said that the principal task of the minister of water, Abel Mamani, and his three vice-ministers Walter Valda, René Orellana, and Luis Salazar, is to make water supply a public service.

"From the moment the water was privatized, a human right was violated," said Morales, whose priorities are water,energy and productivity."If we have water, if we have energy,we will have productivity," said the president. (PULSAR/ERBOL)
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http://www.noriegaville.com/latam.php?subaction=showfull&id=1138777521&archive=&start_from=&ucat=18