Separatist, white, Bush-backed elite in Bolivia's oil-rich regions threaten to secede

[StefanX]

Separatist white elite in oil and gas regions of Bolivia threatening to secede
http://mondediplo.com/2006/02/08bolivia

Evo Morales and his Movement Towards Socialism still have plenty of opponents in and out of Bolivia: the separatist white elite in the rich oil and gas regions, army factions, multinationals, and the government of the United States.
...
On 18 December {2005?} Morales was elected president in the first round, with 54% of the vote. He is in a difficult situation. The upper classes, determined to hang on to all the privileges they derive from the current system, will give him no respite. Neither will the US, the multinationals or the autonomist, indeed separatist, white elite in the rich oil and gas regions of Santa Cruz and Tarija. If there is a showdown, what will the army do?
...
Last July {2005?}, 500 members of the US Special Forces arrived in {Bolivia's} neighbouring state of Paraguay to train the army “in the struggle against terrorism and drug-trafficking”. Since August, as well as supervising military manoeuvres, the US army has rehabilitated the Mariscal Estigarribia airport in the Gran Chaco region, just 250km from the border with Bolivia. The 3,800m runway is long enough to take heavy transport aircraft, such as the B-52, the C-130 Hercules and the C-5 Galaxy. It is ideally situated as a base for intervention in Bolivia, if the separatist movement in Santa Cruz should decide that the country had become ungovernable.

Elite white Bolivian separatists in oil-rich regions taking up arms and threatening to secede
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2827595

The part of Bolivia known as Half Moon, made up mainly of the states of Santa Cruz, Pando, Beni and Tarija, is heading for an outbreak of large-scale armed separatist conflict, if demands for greater autonomy for the region are not met by the new Constitution.

"If our demands are not met, we are in a position to rapidly close the access connecting Santa Cruz to the Andes region (where La Paz is located). This would prevent Morales's troops from entering. We realize that if we do this, Morales will have the support of Hugo Chavez to do air strikes. But if he accepts that support, he's going to be helping us instead of hurting us. If Venezuela gets involved, we'll have more support from the international community," the official stated, confirming that his forces are receiving training from Colombia's AUC and arms ordered from Israel. "We're not fools, we need to be ready for anything."
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The possibility of a confrontation between Half Moon militias and Bolivian troops under Evo Morales could jeopardize the supply of gas to both Brazil and Argentina. The state of Tarija in Bolivia, which is responsible for more than 90% of the natural gas sent to Argentina and Brazil, is part of Half Moon and is said to be territory being claimed by the Camba Nation separatists in case of conflict. Two mega-oilfields (San Alberto and San Antonio) operated by {Brazilian state oil company} Petrobras are located there, producing about 80% of the Bolivian gas consumed by Brazil.

[scarletwoman]

1. Let them secede. Then form an economically sovereign nation for the rest of the people.

People do not need oil to survive, they need water, food and shelter. In all the millennia since the human species spread out from Africa, they have adapted and formed viable societies and cultures from north of the Arctic Circle to islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

There is no reason to think that members of the human species cannot find within their own particular ecospheres the means to thrive -- were this not so, there would be no thousands of years of human history from every continent (save antarctica -- there are *some* limits, of course) of the world. It is not the common people who benefit from "free trade", it is only the already rich and powerful.

sw

[Marr]

2. "if the separatist movement in Santa Cruz should decide that the country had become ungovernable"

Since when do separatists get to decide that a country is ungovernable? Seems like the proper authority to deal with would be the... umm... Bolivian government.

Our South American policy has been frustrating for so long. Especially because here just don't seem to give a shit.