How Morales took on the oil giants – and won his people back

For Palmasola, a Brazilian-owned refinery 15 miles west of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, the most prosperous city in Latin America’s poorest nation, was at the centre of an international storm this week that saw the country nationalise in all but name its foreign-owned gas and oil industry, pitting neighbouring countries against each other and wrongfooting foreign investors.

On May 1, Bolivia’s recently elected president, Evo Morales, the country’s first indigenous leader, put on a tin hat and made the declaration that much of the country had been waiting to hear. “The time has come,” he said, announcing “a historic day in which Bolivia retakes absolute control of our natural resources”. Mr Morales spoke of “looting by foreign companies” and said it was time the armed forces “occupy all the energy fields in Bolivia”. But he was off pace. The army had already moved into Bolivia’s foreign-owned energy fields, refineries and distribution depots.

The Guardian