|
The leaders of Argentina and Brazil have accepted Bolivia's oil and gas industry nationalization industry and have agreed to "fair and democratic" talks on future prices and foreign involvement.
The deal was reached at an energy summit in Puerto Iguazú, next to the shared Argentine/Brazil Iguazú falls and also included President Hugo Chavez from Venezuela. Last Monday, May 1st, President Evo Morales took control of Bolivia's energy industry including natural gas resources and told foreign corporations they will have to comply with new conditions or leave if they are not satisfied. Brazil and Argentina, which rely heavily on cheap gas imports from Bolivia fear that nationalization could push prices up distorting economic basics. "The important thing is that gas supplies for the countries needing them have been guaranteed and that prices will be discussed in the most democratic form possible between all parties involved," Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said following the meeting. In spite of President Morales repeated warnings of "historic" changes regarding his country's resources and commitment to honor campaign promises, last Monday's decision to take over Bolivia's energy industry apparently surprised Argentina and Brazil. The urgently convened summit begun with stiff faces but after several hours' discussions ended with a conciliatory tone emphasizing on Venezuela's Pharaonic project of a pipeline crisscrossing South America to provide cheap gas to the whole continent; a project which involves almost US$ 20 billions and with no finishing date in the horizon. Venezuela's Hugo Chavez has South America's largest reserves of oil and gas, and has pledged to help Bolivia in the nationalization of its own energy industry. The Bolivian government has said it will start renegotiating energy contracts with all foreign companies from next week with a 180 days deadline to reach an agreement or face eviction. They will be asked to hand over majority control of all Bolivian operations to the country's state oil firm, Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos. State-owned Brazilian energy firm Petrobras, the largest foreign investor in Bolivian energy, had stated it would cancel further investments, but President Lula said this decision could be reversed after more negotiations. Spanish giant Repsol, which has invested more than US$ 1 billion in Bolivia, said it plans to remain in the country and co-operate with Mr Morales' government in spite of initial strong reactions supported by Spanish and EU officials. Bolivia has South America's second largest gas reserves behind Venezuela and the nationalization process comes on the heels of a similar policy in Venezuela forcing foreign corporations to become minority partners of the country's oil company, PDVSA, and in Ecuador which imposed heavy windfall profit taxes on international companies operating in the Amazon basin. Mercopress - www.mercopress.com
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Brazil received a huge boost in its international image with its selection as the host of the 2016 Olympics, but it was really just the cherry on top of the overall recognition of the country's ascension to the ranks of one of the world's most important countries. Now, as it finally takes its place on the world scene, there has been a great deal of concern about what kind of image Brazil hopes to project, now that the world is really paying attention. 
The only good thing to say about the visit to Brazil of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on Monday November 23, is that it was mercifully short and lasted less than 24 hours. Ahmadinejad had his picture taken being hugged by president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva who gave him a warm welcome and said Iran had every right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. 
The small, coastal town of Condé is located just a twenty minute's drive from João Pessoa, the capital of Paraíba. The Northeast of Brazil has historically been a place of encounter and mixing between peoples. For millenia groups of indigenous people fished, farmed, migrated and sometimes fought along this large, fertile area. 
The Brazilian diplo-MÁ-cia (bad diplomacy) carries on its accelerated course towards the non-acknowledgment of human rights, although sometimes it takes pleasure in saying that it does precisely the opposite. The visit of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is another example of a diplomatic omission that verges on hypocrisy. 
On July 4, 2006, representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay met in Caracas to sign the protocol for the entrance of Venezuela into the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). After two and a half years, the protocol was approved by the legislative bodies of Argentina and Uruguay, and as of now it may be only days away from being ratified by the continent's economic megalith, Brazil. 
Some sectors of the fight against AIDS have suggested that Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, committed genocide through his absence from the fight against the illness in his country throughout his two terms. 
One hundred and eleven years after Brazil abolished slavery, the number of workers deprived of their freedom is still huge. They raise cattle, produce charcoal, sugar cane or timber. Some of them, most undocumented Bolivians, work in basements of small apparel factories in São Paulo and other metropolis. 
On November 7, 2009 a few friends and I had an opportunity to take a look inside a Brazilian jail outside the city of Rio de Janeiro. We were able to take some amateur footage of our experience on video (see link below). It's no surprise, of course, that the typical Brazilian jail lacks some of the functionality of those in North America or Europe, but our experience that day was quite shocking. 
Depletion of the Amazon Rainforest is not a new concern facing environmentalists, biologists, ecologists, and a growing number of the Amazonian indigenous peoples. For decades they have feared for the fate of the world's most biologically diverse and species-rich hothouse. 
Geisy Arruda made history this week in Brazil, but for all the wrong reasons. What began as a poorly planned fashion statement has become a worldwide tale. Geisy decided to wear a pink mini-dress to her private college in São Paulo state, and after that, all hell broke loose.