Head of Bolivian state oil company quits

LA PAZ, Bolivia – The president of Bolivia’s state oil company, Jorge Alvarado, resigned on Monday amid a probe into a contract with a Brazilian company, marking a setback in the drive to nationalize the country’s hydrocarbons industry.

In his letter of resignation, read at a press conference in La Paz, Alvarado wrote that the accusations against him were “an attack by the oligarchy and the reactionary right-wing” aimed at halting the nationalization process.

He said he was resigning “to avoid committing any further harm to the great ideas for change in our country.”

Alvarado was one of the key figures in leftist President Evo Morales’ drive to nationalize the South American nation’s hydrocarbons industry, but his leadership of Yacimientos Petroleos Fiscales Bolivianos, or YPFB, has come under increased scrutiny as nationalization has run into troubles.

AP