Repsol YPF says Bolivian arrest warrant for executive a 'misunderstanding'

[Judi Lynn]

Repsol YPF says Bolivian arrest warrant for executive a 'misunderstanding'
02.27.2006, 10:55 AM

MADRID (AFX) - Repsol YPF SA said that the arrest warrant issued against Julio Gavito, chairman of the group's Andina SA unit in Bolivia is the result of a 'misunderstanding.'

A spokesman from Repsol YPF noted that the company hopes and expects that 'a solution will soon be found,' to the situation which led to the warrant's issue last Friday.

The spokesman noted that Repsol YPF chairman Antoni Brufau will visit Bolivia next Friday to discuss the situation with the authorities.

Bolivian customs have claimed Andina allegedly exported more than 230,000 barrels of oil equivalent between 2004 and 2005 without proper permits.
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http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2006/02/27/afx2555780.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. U.S. State Department Begins to Pick Off South America’s Pink Tide Nations

World Issues: U.S. State Department Begins to Pick Off South America’s Pink Tide Nations
Bolivia Joins Venezuela on Washington’s Pariah List

Condoleezza Rice seems intent on a unilateral escalation of ill-will towards some of the more leftist Latin American governments, by ramping up the administration’s campaign against Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez. And it appears as though the crusade against the “pink tide” has begun to take root elsewhere on the continent. This is not a game played by standard diplomatic rules however, as was clearly demonstrated by the expulsion from Washington, in violation of the factor of proportionality, of the second ranking embassy official. This action occurred after a U.S. military attaché posted to the U.S. embassy in Caracas was asked to leave the country on grounds of espionage.

Such unwarranted punitive tactics are perhaps now being implemented against members of Bolivia’s new government headed by Evo Morales, specifically in the Bush administration’s last minute decision to revoke the visa of adjunct Senator Leonida Zurita Vargas, who hails from Cochabamba.

Zurita today is among Bolivia’s most prominent female leaders and public figures, and undoubtedly one of the most powerful women in the ruling Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) coalition. Like Morales, her roots can be traced to early advocacy work that she did for coca growers in the Chapare region, and the stature she gained as a leader of the anti-coca eradication protests in 2002-2003. In last December’s elections, she joined Morales’ MAS party and won election as an adjunct Senator from Cochabamba, largely because of her leadership in the social sector.

This background would seem to confer substantial prestige on Senator Zurita, yet in her case, dignity and appropriate diplomacy ran afoul of ideology and politics. She had planned to travel to the U.S. for a three week speaking tour, accompanied by COHA Senior Research Fellow and longtime Cochabamba resident George Ann Potter.
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http://www.canadiandemocraticmovement.ca/displayarticle816.html