11 May 2006
Bolivian Says He Won't Pay Energy Companies

This kind of thing doesn't even qualify as a bizarre sort of "eminent domain" - it's just theft, pure and simple, with an armed gang (wearing uniforms, in this case) seizing the property of others.

This will insure that there will be no further investment in the disintegrating infrastructure in Bolivia, and I predict the Bolivian economy will tank entirely within a few years. You cannot sustain any economy on the principle of theft - it doesn't work any better when you steal from oil companies than when you rob peasants blind. Robbery is robbery, pure and simple.

President Evo Morales today ruled out any compensation for nationalized oil and gas resources.

(link) [New York Times

18:46 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link