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NEWS & LETTERS, August-September 2004Our Life and Times by Kevin A. BarryBolivian referendumBolivia held a referendum, July 18, on how to exploit natural gas reserves. The demand for nationalization of the industry that had been sold off to multinational companies in the 1990s was, along with opposition to exportation of gas through Chilean ports and an end to former President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada's reign, the main demand of the rebellion of last October that took more than 80 lives. Despite Carlos Mesa's statements last year that the referendum was to allow the Bolivian people a way to define the state's approach to the issue, it has ended up merely driving a wedge between sectors of the popular movement and assuring the multinationals that their investments will not be threatened. There were five questions on the ballot, but none specifically spoke of "nationalization." Evo Morales, leader of MAS (Movimiento al Socialismo), supported the referendum and said the time was still not ripe to call for nationalization. He is now being referred to as a "traitor" by the main labor organizations, such as COB (Central Obrera Boliviana) and COR (Central Obrera Regional), as well as by Felipe Quispe, the Aymara indian campesino leader. The latter groups encouraged people to void their ballots, or to abstain from voting. Only about 60% went to the polls, despite its being obligatory. The questions were deliberately confusing and lend themselves to interpretation. One asked if the old state enterprise, YPFB, should be re-established, without defining what its relationship to the multinationals would be. Another asked if the gas "en boca de pozo" (i.e. in the "well") should be the property of the state. Morales claims the "yes" victory on this latter question means some form of nationalization should take place, but nobody else seems to agree with him. The referendum seems to have put an end for the time being to any serious speculation that last year's revolt--and the lives sacrificed in it--might have the effect of bringing about changes to the neo-liberal model in Bolivia. --Mitch Weerth |
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