Bolivia may revoke mine contracts

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

Latest Update: Saturday 16/4/2011 April, 2011, 12:27 AM Doha Time

Bolivia may revoke mine contracts
Reuters/La Paz

Bolivia’s leftist government may rescind concessions on four mines run by Glencore affiliates and Canada’s Pan American Silver, the Andean country’s mining minister said on Thursday. Mining unions are asking the state to “recover” the silver, zinc, lead and tin mines currently operated by private firms, which would be in line with President Evo Morales’ drive to regain control over key natural resources since 2006.

Mining Minister Jose Pimentel said state-run Bolivia Mining Corp (COMIBOL) would assume control of the mines if the concessions were rescinded, a move described as “recovery, not nationalisation” that could happen before May 1.

~snip~
Pimentel said the government did not plan to target mining projects that have been private investments from the start, such as San Cristobal, the country’s largest silver mine, owned by Japan’s Sumitomo Corp.

“We respect the legal framework but we are also conscious that the whole privatisation process has had judicial pitfalls,” Pimentel said. Coeur d’Alene, which operates the San Bartolome silver mine in Bolivia, said it believes its operations in the country will not be impacted. Pan American’s San Vicente mine, located in the center of the silver-rich Potosi region, produced 3.0mn ounces of silver and 4,661 tonnes of zinc concentrates last year, according to the company’s website.Shares in Pan American fell as much as 11.3%, before recovering somewhat to close down 9.3% at C$35.89 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.


Read more: http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=428543&version=1&template_id=43&parent_id=19

[howaboutme]

1. Well that clinches it - it is either war or overthrow.

And it doesn't make a difference whether the USA is controlled by the Ds or Rs....because in reality the USA is controlled by the elite and banksters and Wall St. They want money and they want to strip it from most. The financiers have their tribe and most Americans are not even eligible for membership.

Goldman Sachs owns the USA as does the US Chamber of Commerce. Until 300 million Americans resist that premise, they haven't the foggiest clue of reality. The MSM profits because they make it seem that the divide is because we have DADT or because some others despise abortion. They make big money and we pay over the BS of nothing-ness.

America is now about deception, not reality.

[orangeapple]

2. what are you talking about?

what do those ramblings have to do with the article?

Whether they realize it or not the Bolivian government just told anyone thinking of investing capital in Bolivia that they might have their investment seized. The lack of capital isn't going to make things better for Bolivians. They just jacked up their own risk premium.

[howaboutme]

3. It works like it has always worked

whether it be Bolivia or the USA. The banksters create war to advance their own, and average Americans pay, die and get poor. Bolivians face the same cabal.

[COLGATE4]

4. You need some dressing with that word salad. Again, what

does that have to do with the post in question???

[howaboutme]

7. I think I said cabal - not salad

but both might describe how our country is run for the favored few versus the huddled masses.

[EFerrari]

5. Yep. USAID was already caught once

funding the white separatists up in Santa Cruz.

Evo will get no peace while he is president. He probably knew that going in.

[howaboutme]

6. This is how the USA typically gets involved in wars

Capitalist/corporate interests are threatened by sovereign interests or leaders for possibly legitimate reasons, and USA sends in the CIA or military to assassinate leaders or change governments. The capitalist risk problem oddly becomes America's problem, and every American ends up paying, some with their lives. Instead of the costs being borne only by the investors (as it should be) it is borne by all. But we Americans should be accustomed to that with the recent actions of Wall St.

This is analogous to the US government seizing the assets of BP because of the damage they did in the Gulf, and Great Britain sending in MI6 to assassinate US leaders or sending in their military to take over the country because of BP's failures.

[Judi Lynn]

8. The US has been trying to overthrow the Bolivian President from even before he was elected.

"We" have been paying for dirty operations against this man since well before he became the President, and have been attempting to create havoc there every day since. Can't allow leftist presidents in that country either, regardless of what the people want and need for their OWN country. They apparently only THINK it's their country!

US Denies Removal of Bolivian Missiles Was Secret
By David Gollust
Washington
23 December 2005

The United States denied Thursday that it removed anti-aircraft missiles from Bolivia without the knowledge of top officials in La Paz. The State Department says the operation was at the request of Bolivian authorities and in line with an Organization of American States resolution.

Officials here acknowledge that the United States removed a small number of MANPADS, man-portable air defense system, from Bolivia earlier this year as part of a broader effort to keep the shoulder launch missiles out of the hands of terrorists.

But they are denying charges from Bolivia, which figured in that country's presidential election campaign, that the operation was conducted without the knowledge of senior Bolivian officials.

Bolivian President-elect Evo Morales, the victor in last Sunday's election, has alleged that the 28 Chinese-made missiles were spirited out of the country in June in an operation he described as international intervention.

More:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2005/12/mil-051223-voa01.htm

~~~~~

In October 2005, presidential candidate Morales denounced the
deactivation or destruction by the U.S. military of an undetermined
quantity (press sources estimate between nineteen and 31) of
Chinese-made surface-to-air missiles of the Bolivian armed
forces after they were removed from the country. While these
allegations were denied at first by the military command, the
army’s head, General Marcelo Antezana, admitted (and then
denied) deactivation of the missiles out of concern for Morales’
possible election. On 9 March 2006, former President Eduardo
Rodríguez, former Defence Minister Gonzalo Méndez and
former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Marco
Antonio Justiniano were formally accused of high treason after
an investigation by the attorney general’s office. La Razón, 10
March 2006.

More:
http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/latin-america/boliva/18_bolivia_s_rocky_road_to_reforms.ashx

~~~~~

Bolivia hands over its missiles to the United States

Evo Morales, “cocalero” and MAS (Movement towards Socialism) leader, and presidential candidate for elections in Bolivia scheduled for December 18, recently stated that 28 MHN-5 surface-to-air missiles made in China had disappeared. The missiles were in Bolivian arsenals and handed over to the United States for “deactivation”.

Morales indicated he was planning to file a lawsuit against the current acting president Eduardo Rodríguez and his minister of defense Gonzalo Méndez Gutiérrez, for “betraying the homeland” (a popular uprising to overthrow the former president Carlos Mesa from power in June 2005). In order to justify why the Chinese missiles were sent to the United States, the Bolivian authorities mentioned that such equipment was obsolete, and their handling was dangerous. It seems, though, that they had been acquired in China in the early 90’s and were in perfect condition.

Furthermore, they were the only missiles that the Bolivian army had, and whose lack of ordnance is chronic. In that case, why giving those weapons away?

Used to different forms of interference in Latin America, in 2004, the United States had already tried unsuccessfully to convince the former president Carlos Mesa to hand over such armaments, said the former Foreign Minister Juan Ignacio Siles. The imminent presidential decision and fear over Evo Morales’ victory are obviously the factors that precipitated the events.

More:
http://www.voltairenet.org/article133814.html

~~~~~

23 December 2005
Evo Morales faces his first problem: what happened to Bolivia's air defence missiles?
President-Elect Evo Morales of Bolivia met the outgoing President Eduardo Rodriguez to discuss the handover of power yesterday. However, the new President faces a problem with the USA even before taking office. Put simply, what happened to Bolivia's air-defence missiles?

The country had 28 or 30 Chinese built HN-SA hand-held anti-aircraft missiles that seem to have vanished from the military's arsenal. By all accounts they were stolen by the American Embassy with the conivence of Bolivian military officers, during May or June of this year. It is reported that they were taken aboard an unmarked C-130 transport aircraft and removed from the country.

When Evo Morales first made these allegations last month, the Bolivian army claimed that the missiles had been disposed of as part of an "annual disposal of obsolete equipment," and the army also claimed that the weapons were still in the country. However, army reports which were released this month show that the missiles, which cost Bolivia about £1,000,000, were well-maintained and had ten more years of service left in them.

At this point I fully expect some idiotic hand-shandyist for war to write in and tell me that 30 missiles will not protect anyone from the American armed forces. Don't bother, lads, because I know this. Besides, it's not the point.

The point is that the theft proves that the United States has pretty thoroughly infiltrated the Bolivian army. Should a future President Morales act against America's interests, and he has already said that he will, then the Americans can remove him as they have done so many before him. They would not need to send in the marines, they could set the scene as they did in Chile and then leave it to the locals to do their dirty work for them.

More:
http://www.the-exile.info/2005_12_01_archive.html

~~~~~

MAS Denounces Serious US Interference in Bolivia
Prensa Latina || October 19, 2005

Bolivian presidential candidate Evo Morales denounced Wednesday that troops at the service of the US seized 28 land-air missiles supplied by China to Bolivia and sent them to the United States.

In his news conference, Morales said that "patriotic soldiers" who opposed the operation that took place a few days ago reported the despicable interference to his political party, Movement towards Socialism (MAS).

Consulted by phone, presidential spokesman Julio Pemintel refused to comment and said he had requested information on the matter from Defense Minister Gonzalo Molina.

Morales explained that a Bolivian commando force commanded by elements from the US Embassy and the CIA were involved in the seizure.

He denounced that the group raided an army facility in Viacha, near La Paz, where the missiles were seized and taken to the airport or to El Alto military base, and then were smuggled out of the country by air, supposedly bound for the US.

The weapons had been provided to Bolivia by the People's Republic of China, in accord with bilateral military cooperation agreements.

More:
http://www.knowledgedrivenrevolution.com/Articles/200510/19_US_Bolivia.htm