Bolivia is underdeveloped technologically, so we would like to learn from other countries in order to create added value by processing natural gas, President of Bolivia Evo Morales told RT Spanish.
The head of the largest Latin American gas exporter was in Moscow
on July 1-2 for the Forum of Gas Exporting Countries. Evo Morales
met with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, the two presidents
discussed access of Russian energy companies to aid Bolivia’s oil
and gas development.
"We would like countries like Russia and Qatar to consider
investing in Bolivia. We offer this as partners, not as the
owners of our natural resources. This is the new policy of the
Plurinational State of Bolivia. We would like to create added
value, so that our countries get richer and consumers benefit
from this fuel," Morales told RT Spanish ahead of the
meeting.
RT:What can you say about your visit in terms of your
bilateral relations with Russia?
EM: We want Russia to resume its technological exports to
Latin America and the Caribbean. We want to learn from you, to
work together and cooperate in investment, in order to diversify
our investments and our market. We cannot depend entirely on the
US market, as some countries in Latin America do. We cannot rely
entirely on the European or the Asian market. We want to have
diverse markets. We also need to import technology in order to
avoid a monopoly in Latin America and the Caribbean.
We will soon sign an agreement with Gazprom and another company,
which will come to Bolivia in the near future to look at our
reserves. We will discuss the best way to explore new gas fields
and develop them to our mutual benefit. Second, we also need
Russia’s technological assistance in fighting drug traffickers.
Bolivia needs radar and helicopters, ones that can be used in the
mountains as well as on the plains. In order to fight drug
cartels, we would like to buy big helicopters that we know Russia
has. We would be interested in buying them for a reasonable price
or on credit. These are the issues we would like to discuss with
Russia.
RT:Based on what you are saying, I conclude that close
cooperation between Russia and Bolivia will continue.
EM: Of course, we will develop our cooperation, fair trade
and investment in natural resources. I would like to thank Russia
publicly. In the days of the Soviet Union, many Bolivians studied
in Russia, and today they are good professionals. Some of them
work in the government; some are engineers. They are
well-disciplined and well-educated. Today, as Bolivia develops,
it would be very helpful if our young specialists could study in
Russia and then take their knowledge back to Latin America, to
the Caribbean, and especially to Bolivia.
RT:Speaking of this exact kind of liberalization, your
position towards the USA has been shaping over a long period of
time. You expelled an American ambassador, the DEA and, according
to your latest statement, USAID as well. What are the grounds for
such measures?
EM: Bolivia wants to establish friendly relationships with
President Obama. He and I have something in common – we both
descend from oppressed population groups. I don’t know whether it
is Obama’s instruction or not, but this US organization was
conspiring against our government, provoked us, funded our
opponents and turned some companies against us. All countries and
all presidents have their opponents but ambassadors and other
members of diplomatic missions shouldn’t participate in any
plots. That is why we expelled the agents of the United States
Drug Enforcement Administration and the US Agency for
International Development. The USA pretends to help us just to
conspire against our country, weakening it. We are a small
county, but we still have a right to protect our dignity,
independence and fight against foreign conspiracies. We respect
differences between countries and freedom of thought. There are
many different countries – be it capitalist, imperialist,
anti-capitalist, anti-colonial or anti-neoliberal – it shouldn’t
hatch plots against us. I am very sorry that the USA is involved
in this, and it was the reason for the expulsion of their
agencies.
RT:What is the reason for this conspiracy? What are
the goals of the USA?
EM: They don’t want other countries to nationalize their
natural resources and utility operators. For instance, Entel
Telecomunicaciones (Entel Movil) was privatized during the period
of neoliberalism. Up to 2007 Entel had only been present in 90
out of 341 municipalities. In 2007 the company was nationalized
and its services are now provided in all the country’s
municipalities.
In 1989, when I was a labor union leader, I had my first visit to
Europe within a program for legalization of the coca leaf,
protection of human rights, protection of the Earth, as well as
supporting the rights of the Indian poor. I visited
Switzerland, France, Belgium, but most of the time I spent in
France working with the coca leaf campaign.
So one Sunday I had no conferences to go to, and a friend of mine
from France said, ‘Evo, I’m a farmer, let me take you to my
farm’. I had free time, so I decided to go. We went quite a long
way in his car. I couldn’t figure out how a farmer could own a
car. After a long journey, we finally made it to his farm. He
pushed the button, and the garage door opened automatically. I
felt like I found myself in a different world. I’d never seen
anything like that garage before. We went in, and inside he had
telephone, electricity, drinking water, and shower. I’d never
seen a shower before either. He said, Evo, feel free to take a
shower. It was totally amazing to take a shower. Then I saw the
phone, and he told me that I could use it. I was really
overwhelmed that someone living in a remote village had a private
phone. For me, France, Europe was a truly different world. At
that moment I wondered when my brothers in my village would have
shower, electricity, and other amenities, and drinking water of
course. Just think how things have changed in Bolivia since 1989.
The Entel network now covers almost the entire country. Thanks to
these programs which encourage investing in water as the source
of life, capital cities of provinces and municipalities have got
drinking water. Villagers used to have to travel to cities just
to be able to see electricity, television and drinking water. And
now, to the contrary, people go back to their provinces where
they now have garden water and drinking water, and where they
enjoy electricity and communication networks. This side of our
public life has seen some profound improvements. And we feel
we’re obliged to continue changing Bolivia.
RT: Can you say that you as president have
managed to achieve your dream?
EM: I’d say I achieved more than one dream. During the
seven years of my presidency I’ve achieved truly historic, even
unprecedented results from the foundation of the republic. For
instance, in 2005 prior to my election, the state investments
amounted to $600mn, 70 percent of which were loans and
cooperation funds, and only 30 percent were actual money.
Last year, the state investments amounted to $6bn, about 20
percent of which were loans, and the rest was our state funds. We
were able to achieve this due to nationalization. Another
important point, the YPFB Company’s oil revenues were $300mn in
2005; and last year, oil revenues were $4.2bn. This year we’re
expecting to make over $5bn from oil. We went from $300mln in
2005 to $5bn in 2013 in the oil sector alone. It means that
nationalized companies bring these revenues, which become the
assets of the Bolivian people. Bolivia used to have to borrow
money to be able to pay salaries, but this is no longer required.
We used to always have a budget deficit but now, in the first
year of nationalizing the oil deposits, we had a budget surplus,
and now we can afford benefits and subsidies for our elderly and
children.
RT:Coca Cola and McDonalds got kicked out of Bolivia.
What was the reason for such measures?
EM: This was initiated by some of our comrades.
It caused an increase of consumption of national products and the
development of the domestic market. I welcome such initiatives,
because if our market grows, our economy will grow and our
economic policy will become more stable. If we depend just on the
foreign market, when it crashes, we may experience the economic
crisis. Today we are trying to develop the domestic market. For
instance: city administrations have more financial resources,
mayors purchase national products from small producers to prepare
breakfast and lunch for primary and junior school students.
Parents produce, mayors purchase and feed the children to
strengthen the domestic market and boost the economic growth. I’m
not an economist or a financier, but I realized that these
measures benefit our country and encourage us to expand our
domestic market. We’re now talking about guaranteed-income
products that may cause economic growth.
RT:Do you believe that capitalism is the cause of many of
the world’s problems?
EM: Just like before I still believe that
capitalism is not the most successful way. The capital is
concentrated in the hands of a small group of people, the
so-called oligarchs. They have all the economic and political
power. And they are using their economic power to increase the
economic power of certain businessmen. I know that some
businessmen do not participate in politics and are just doing
business. They have the right to do that, just like others. But
there are businessmen-politicians, who use politics to get money
for their companies, and that’s what we call the politics of
oligarchy. As long as there are such politicians, as long as the
capital is concentrated in the hands of a few people, nothing
will change. As long as there’s capitalism and imperialism in the
world, there’ll be struggle.
RT:Mister President, I would like to conclude our
conversation with a brief reflection regarding the future. How
possible do you think it is that major changes in the global
economy will start in Latin America?
EM: You know, the Queen of Spain told me during
her visit last year, “Evo, you will be the richest nation.” I
asked her, “Why?” – “Because as soon as you recover your natural
resources, your economy will take off.”
Nations where all natural resources are owned by the state and
the people, and where revenues from resource development belong
to the people, such nations will be alright. That is why it would
be great to apply Bolivia’s and other Latin American nations’
experience to the benefit of the rest of the world. I always knew
that Latin America is abundant in natural resources. Even in
Bolivia, after so many years of plunder, there are still
considerable resources that practically lie right beneath our
feet, such as oil and iron.
My indigenous brothers, peasants, once told me, “Mr. President,
we have found an oil spring, and it’s flowing with oil.” – “No
way?” – “Yes, it’s true.” – “Well, let’s go see it.”
We went to the site they were talking about, and there really was
a spring spurting with oil. It could be light crude or heavy
crude, but the bottom line is that it was gushing with oil.
Unbelievable.
I am Bolivian, and I myself keep discovering my country and its
riches – it turns out we have vast deposits of lithium. And once,
they brought me to an area that borders on Brazil, and someone
told me, “Look, Mr. President, this is iron. Take that stone
there.” I pick up a stone, and I see it’s pure iron.
What we need are joint ventures. Foreign companies could team up
with our national companies and mine these resources for the sake
of all humanity, in a sustainable and responsible manner. What we
need is partners rather than “masters” who would misappropriate
our natural assets.
There are still some decent foreign companies that continue to
operate in Bolivia, such as Repsol S.A. and Total S.A. But the
law that used to grant ownership rights over deposits to mining
companies is no longer in effect. It was a neoliberal measure
enacted by one of the previous governments, which effectively
meant that natural resources were property of the Bolivian people
just as long as they were below ground – once developed, they no
longer belonged to us, as ownership rights were to pass to the
owner of the mining company. Consequently, Bolivians were
entitled to a mere 18 percent of mining revenues, while mining
companies claimed the remaining 82 percent. Such was their
invention.
Our latest economic assessments show that a share of 18 or even
15 percent of the revenue is enough for a mining company to get a
return on its investment and make a profit. So nowadays, we
Bolivians retain 80, 82 or even 85 percent of mining revenues,
particularly as far as gas mining is concerned. This has had a
major impact on our economy.
We need to set up joint businesses that would benefit both
Bolivia and other countries. Which is why such meetings are so
helpful. Like I said, we are very enthusiastic about it, and we
would like to continue getting to know each other better, to our
own benefit and for the best of humanity.