The Frustrated Nationalization of Hydrocarbons and the Plunder of Bolivia
by Jeppe Krommes-Ravnsmed
Evo Morales came to power in Bolivia after the gas war and a subsequent rebellion that overthrew two presidents in 2003 and 2005. However, the promised nationalization of hydrocarbons remained on paper, and a new extractivist offensive was launched that deepened processes of accumulation by dispossession. Plunder, environmental devastation, and recolonization of indigenous territories have increased because of different factors that are dialectically interrelated: (1) the 2006 oil contracts, which allowed transnationals to retain a dominant position in the sector; (2) the challenge of finding new gas reserves to maintain the current export volume; (3) the country’s substantial dependence on hydrocarbon revenues to maintain public expenditure levels, given that the productive matrix remains unchanged; and (4) the political degeneration of the Movimiento al Socialismo. However, there is no political and discursive coherence: the government conceals its policy behind a revolutionary discourse.
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