Bolivia After the Storm http://www.cipamericas.org/archives/4189

At the end of December, the first popular uprising in the region against a government of the left took place in Bolivia. It was caused by an excessive increase in the price of fuels. The event demonstrates the difficulties of entering into a truly alternative mode of development, but it also reveals the limits of the Bolivian government’s stated effort to re-establish and decolonize the state.The Power of the Oil Companies.The events described above indicate that if the decree hadn’t been withdrawn, the country would have advanced toward its fourth social breakdown since the impressive insurrection in Cochabamba in April of 2000 known as the “Water War”, which forced the rightwing government to reverse the privatization of potable water. The current government complained about the popular rejection of the increase in fuel prices, but it didn’t open a public debate about how to prevent the economy from losing $380 million annually from subsidies, $150 million of which is the result of contraband.

According to Soliz Rada, “The gasolinazo has generated a feeling that the petroleum companies have regained domination of the country,” neutralizing and even reversing the effect of the hydrocarbon nationalization nearly six years ago. The ex-minister defended the “state advances” in mining such as the installation of a lithium carbonate processing plant and another one for copper, the enlargement of the mining refinery of Huanuni, a tin foundry and the creation of the Bolivian Gold Corporation, which assured state control of the precious metal. However, all Bolivians know that George Soros’s San Cristóbal mine, which mines zinc, silver and lead, generates annual profits of a billion dollars and pays barely $35 million in taxes. The ex-minister charges that the monetary reserves of $10 billion, the largest amount the country has ever had, are used for current expenses (salaries and social benefits) and not for the strategic investments the country needs if it wants to make the promised “industrial leap” a reality.

[James petras predictions on bolivia were dead on i regret to say...but also read this ...A Realigned Bolivian Right: New ‘Democratic’ Destabilizations https://nacla.org/node/6916