A referendum intended to decide the future use of Bolivia’s natural gas passed by popular vote on July 18 amid indigenous objections.
The five-question referendum asked whether Bolivia should abolish the current hydrocarbon law, export its natural gas resources, increase government control in the industry, increase taxes on private companies, and use gas as a bargaining chip to obtain coastline access for transportation of gas. All five questions passed with a "yes" vote, with turnout of the electorate reported at 60 percent. High rates of abstention and null votes were also reported.
It is uncertain how the vaguely worded referendum will be interpreted by lawmakers. The vote inspired debate about the future of Bolivia’s natural resources and indigenous communities.
Bolivia's population has the highest percentage of indigenous peoples in South America, and is also the most impoverished. In 2001, a study by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) found that 62 percent of Bolivians identified with an indigenous community, the majority identifying as Quechua or Aymara.
Massive Bolivian natural gas resources, second only to Venezuela in Latin America, were discovered in the late 1990s in the southern department of Tarija. Bolivians have since witnessed control pass from a corrupt national company (YSBF) to the hands of private transnational corporations—among them Petrobras, Repsoll-YPF, Perez-Companc, and British Petroleum. Many Bolivians say they fail to see any benefits from the natural gas resources valued at $70 billion.
"We do not have light, we do not have gas, we cook with wood," Julian Poma, 42, leader of the town of Corpaputo told The New York Times. "They sell gas to other countries, and we get nothing."
Evo Morales, an Aymara who headed successful resistance to the takeover of Cochabamba's water supply by Bechtel Corporation in 2000, leads the indigenous movement for nationalization. Those who ally themselves with Morales believe nationalization would make more jobs, money, and resources available to the Bolivian people. Thus far, the Movement for Socialism has a working relationship with President Carlos Mesa and plans to call an assembly to rewrite the constitution in the coming months.
Isolated protests took place prior to the vote in La Paz on July 13 and in Santa Cruz on July 12 and July 14. In the barrio of El Alto, indigenous protesters blocked the road between La Paz and the airport on July 16, halting traffic. The referendum did not call for nationalization of the gas industry, an issue called for by both indigenous groups and workers’ unions since the entry of private companies in the mid-1990s. The "government control" of the referendum is vaguely defined and would not oust private companies.
Felipe Quispe, an Aymara and union leader, is willing to settle for nothing less than nationalization. He wants control over natural resources by indigenous peoples, and encouraged his supporters to abstain from voting since the referendum did not directly address nationalization. His group is considering separating from Bolivia entirely. Aymara led by Quispe, a former guerrilla, hope to split from Bolivia and form an independent indigenous nation. Quispe calls for a return to the traditional Andean communal system—the allyu—uniting Aymara from Bolivia, Peru, Chile, and Argentina in a new nation called "Kollasuyu."
Bolivians in the eastern lowlands, home to 90 percent of the natural gas and oil resources, threaten succession if gas is nationalized. Descendents of European immigrants and Guarani indigenous peoples, these Bolivians currently profit from privatized gas resources. They claim to be oppressed by the Aymara and Quechua cultures and want to establish their own nation called "Cambia."
"You are condoning anarchy by adopting the agenda of a small minority which uses blackmail and threatens to surround your seat of government," Zvonko Matkovik, a key leader in the Cambia independence movement, told Mesa in regard to the proposed changes, according to United Press International.
Political analysts say that this issue will make or break Mesa's presidency. Former president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozado was ousted last October after supporting the construction of a pipeline that would transport gas to Chile for shipment to the United States. Chile has been the historic enemy of Bolivia since an 1879 war between the two left Bolivia without a coastline, and many in Bolivia still cite its lack of ports as a factor in its extreme poverty. Lozado also failed to bring a referendum similar to Mesa's to vote.
The passage of Bolivia’s natural gas referendum marked the beginning of a new debate: that of who will reap the benefits of the Bolivia's nascent gas industry, and perhaps even of who will belong to the nation.
