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Morales cancelled a contract with a German company just a week ago. But this was a project supported by the Bolivian government that was arranged in June under Morales. There very well may be a lithium rush now, but it's not helping anyone to misrepresent what happened. https://twitter.com/carterforva/status/1194018912888905728
Some more background from yesterday. As both a narrative and an actual thing, 'lithium wars' could dominate the next couple of decades or more, so splitting this out into its own thread. https://twitter.com/libcomorg/status/1193878538639826944
There were ongoing protests against the plant - locals not trying to shut it down, but wanting a higher dividend payment. Morales claimed the protests were stoked by the right wing ahead of the election (this is from October 8th). https://apnews.com/e9a563ddf79643c89816aebc7a7a3bc0
So Morales cancelling the project doesn't look to me like refusing to deal with European companies - it was his deal! It looks like a concession made to calm unrest, one that happened only a few days before new elections were called.
More on this. Marco Antonio Pumari is a close associate of Camacho and organised some of the protests against the lithium project. So it is ridiculous to say that the coup happened because the project was cancelled on November 4th. Here they are together: https://www.la-razon.com/nacional/Camacho-Pumari-Palacio-Quemado-Anez_0_3256474370.html
Here's a dw article on the deal and Pumari going on hunger strike just before the election. https://www.dw.com/en/bolivians-protest-over-lithium-deal-with-german-company/a-50732216
Common Dreams here argues the opposite, that the cancellation of the deal led to the coup: https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/11/11/bolivian-coup-comes-less-week-after-morales-stopped-multinational-firms-lithium-deal
Potosi is a mining town with a militant working class. In August miners were on strike against Sumitomo/ San Cristobal, when the company refused to pay overtime despite a court order. https://therealnews.com/stories/bolivian-mine-workers-strike-against-one-of-worlds-largest-mining-corporations
So questions from me - if you know more please answer:
1. Was there much genuine working class opposition to the ACI deal in Potosi vs. opportunistic protests from Pumari?
2. Was there any reason Morales cancelled the project other than to try to (unsuccessfully) calm things?
1. Was there much genuine working class opposition to the ACI deal in Potosi vs. opportunistic protests from Pumari?
2. Was there any reason Morales cancelled the project other than to try to (unsuccessfully) calm things?
More thoughts on the 'lithium coup' narrative from @triofrancos https://twitter.com/triofrancos/status/1195052279478521861
A historical parallel with Allende and Pinochet in Chile which I never knew before today: Here's a February 1971 article from the NYT talking about nationalisation of Chile's copper (again, there is no recent nationalisation of Bolivia's lithium reserves). https://www.nytimes.com/1971/02/11/archives/chilean-senate-gives-allende-power-to-nationalize-us-copper.html
This is often given as one of the drivers of the Pinochet's coup against Allende. However, here's an NYT article from June 1983 about a wildcat strike in Chile's state-owned copper mines. Pinochet never undid the nationalisation. https://www.nytimes.com/1983/06/17/world/copper-mines-in-chile-defy-regime.html
The mines were an important source of state revenue, used for military spending. It's mot always the case that left wing governments nationalise and right wing governments privatise. The Tories didn't really start privatising seriously until the '80s https://twitter.com/triofrancos/status/1196507729592045569
