Bolivia nationalization further sidelines US

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – By nationalizing Bolivia’s energy industry, President Evo Morales lived up to a pledge to be Washington’s nightmare and highlighted waning U.S. influence in Latin America.

Last week’s action from the leftist, whose allies are U.S. adversaries Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Cuban leader
Fidel Castro, was another step in the region’s retreat from U.S.-prescribed free-market economics.

And the United States can do little to stem a tide of Latin American voters turning to leftists like Morales who rail at free trade and foreign investment for failing to improve the lives of the region’s impoverished majority.

“It is a genie that is not going to be put back in the bottle,” said Peter Hakim, head of the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based think tank.

Reuters