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Bolivian VP: mining nationalization will respect private property
The Associated Press
Published: October 15, 2006
LA PAZ, Bolivia Bolivia's vice president said Monday that private mining interests have "nothing to worry about" from President Evo Morales' move to nationalize the country's mining industry, indicating the government will respect private property and foreign investments.
Morales said on Sunday that the Bolivian government would place its mines "under the social control of the Bolivian people," and promised "surprises" for the South American country's tin, silver, and gold sectors.
But Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera said on Monday private property would be respected.
"The private sector has nothing to worry about," Garcia Linera said.
The proposed nationalization will "reactivate (the state mining company) Comibol; maintain, of course, the presence of the private sector and foreign private investment; and also the presence of the miners' cooperatives," the vice president added.
Garcia said Morales would speak further about the proposed nationalization on Monday.
The nationalization plan is central to Morales' efforts to overhaul the Bolivia's mining regulations after a violent clash earlier this month between rival miners' groups that killed 16 people.
Morales nationalized the South American nation's oil and gas reserves on May 1, giving international companies six months to cede majority control of their Bolivian operations to the state or leave the country. The process has been delayed by the resignation of key energy officials and a reorganization of Bolivia's state petroleum company.
"We started with hydrocarbons, and the next step are the minerals," Morales said on Sunday while giving away tractors to local farmers in the town of Challapata, 120 miles (190 kilometers) south of the capital La Paz.
"There will be some surprises with tin, silver and gold. These minerals must pass to the Bolivian state under the social control of the Bolivian people. That is the next urgent step we must take."
Newly appointed Mining Minister Guillermo Dalence said Sunday the nationalization plan would be launched Oct. 31, the anniversary of the first nationalization of mines during a national revolution in 1952.
Morales' words were a stronger reiteration of a nationalization plan he put forth immediately following the deadly battle Oct. 5-6 between independent miners' cooperatives and state-employed miners over the right to work the Huanuni tin mine. Then Morales had said the state would only expropriate mines where foreign operators had not invested sufficiently.
In the first half of 2006, Bolivian mines exported minerals worth US$483 million (€385 million), according to the Bolivian Institute of Foreign Commerce. The metals, mostly zinc, silver, gold, and tin, together represented Bolivia's largest export after natural gas.
Morales' administration is continuing negotiations with independent miners' cooperatives who stormed the Huanuni mine on October 5. State-employed miners counterattacked, and the rival bands exchanged gunfire and dynamite for two days. Sixteen died in the clash before 700 riot police moved in and restored order.
Both groups see Huanuni's rich vein of tin as a source of steady employment in South America's poorest country.
The government has proposed expanding the operations of national mining company Comibol at Huanuni and other mines, and offering the independent miners salaried state jobs.
However, the independents have rejected the offer, demanding that their cooperatives be granted greater access to the Bolivia's mineral deposits.
Though nationalized in 1952, many of Bolivia's mines have since been privatized. While now under state control, the Huanuni mine was operated between 2000 and 2005 by the British firm Allied Deals, now known as RBG Resources.
Morales, a former coca-grower, was elected in December as Bolivia's first Indian president. Besides nationalizing the petroleum industry, he has also called an assembly to rewrite the country's constitution and proposed a dramatic land reform bill that would redistribute unproductive land to Bolivia's poor.
International energy companies affected by the oil and gas nationalization, including Brazil's state-run Petrobras and the Spanish Argentine firm Repsol YPF, have until October 28 to sign new contracts with the Bolivian government.
While some Bolivian lawmakers have proposed pushing the deadline back to allow negotiations to continue without pressure, Morales' administration remains committed to the current deadline.
LA PAZ, Bolivia Bolivia's vice president said Monday that private mining interests have "nothing to worry about" from President Evo Morales' move to nationalize the country's mining industry, indicating the government will respect private property and foreign investments.
Morales said on Sunday that the Bolivian government would place its mines "under the social control of the Bolivian people," and promised "surprises" for the South American country's tin, silver, and gold sectors.
But Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera said on Monday private property would be respected.
"The private sector has nothing to worry about," Garcia Linera said.
The proposed nationalization will "reactivate (the state mining company) Comibol; maintain, of course, the presence of the private sector and foreign private investment; and also the presence of the miners' cooperatives," the vice president added.
Garcia said Morales would speak further about the proposed nationalization on Monday.
The nationalization plan is central to Morales' efforts to overhaul the Bolivia's mining regulations after a violent clash earlier this month between rival miners' groups that killed 16 people.
Morales nationalized the South American nation's oil and gas reserves on May 1, giving international companies six months to cede majority control of their Bolivian operations to the state or leave the country. The process has been delayed by the resignation of key energy officials and a reorganization of Bolivia's state petroleum company.
"We started with hydrocarbons, and the next step are the minerals," Morales said on Sunday while giving away tractors to local farmers in the town of Challapata, 120 miles (190 kilometers) south of the capital La Paz.
"There will be some surprises with tin, silver and gold. These minerals must pass to the Bolivian state under the social control of the Bolivian people. That is the next urgent step we must take."
Newly appointed Mining Minister Guillermo Dalence said Sunday the nationalization plan would be launched Oct. 31, the anniversary of the first nationalization of mines during a national revolution in 1952.
Morales' words were a stronger reiteration of a nationalization plan he put forth immediately following the deadly battle Oct. 5-6 between independent miners' cooperatives and state-employed miners over the right to work the Huanuni tin mine. Then Morales had said the state would only expropriate mines where foreign operators had not invested sufficiently.
In the first half of 2006, Bolivian mines exported minerals worth US$483 million (€385 million), according to the Bolivian Institute of Foreign Commerce. The metals, mostly zinc, silver, gold, and tin, together represented Bolivia's largest export after natural gas.
Morales' administration is continuing negotiations with independent miners' cooperatives who stormed the Huanuni mine on October 5. State-employed miners counterattacked, and the rival bands exchanged gunfire and dynamite for two days. Sixteen died in the clash before 700 riot police moved in and restored order.
Both groups see Huanuni's rich vein of tin as a source of steady employment in South America's poorest country.
The government has proposed expanding the operations of national mining company Comibol at Huanuni and other mines, and offering the independent miners salaried state jobs.
However, the independents have rejected the offer, demanding that their cooperatives be granted greater access to the Bolivia's mineral deposits.
Though nationalized in 1952, many of Bolivia's mines have since been privatized. While now under state control, the Huanuni mine was operated between 2000 and 2005 by the British firm Allied Deals, now known as RBG Resources.
Morales, a former coca-grower, was elected in December as Bolivia's first Indian president. Besides nationalizing the petroleum industry, he has also called an assembly to rewrite the country's constitution and proposed a dramatic land reform bill that would redistribute unproductive land to Bolivia's poor.
International energy companies affected by the oil and gas nationalization, including Brazil's state-run Petrobras and the Spanish Argentine firm Repsol YPF, have until October 28 to sign new contracts with the Bolivian government.
While some Bolivian lawmakers have proposed pushing the deadline back to allow negotiations to continue without pressure, Morales' administration remains committed to the current deadline.
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