Summary
The article in the New York Times talks about the agreement between the Energy companies and the government of Bolivia based on which the energy companies will now be giving a larger share of their revenues to the Bolivian government.
Bolivia, the poorest country in the South American region has been waging a hard battle to get the control of its natural resources. Its President Evo Morales has finally clinched the deal with the companies that makes his position stronger and will in the long run help the economy of Bolivia. He claimed that the revenues from the sector to the government will go up from $1 Billion to $4 Billion in the next 4 years. This also marks as a major win for his political career as most people were critical about his plans saying that they will not succeed. He has embarked on a journey to get back the natural resources of Bolivia from the foreign companies and strengthen the economy.
In a signing ceremony he said "What we are doing here is exercising our property rights, as Bolivians, over our natural resources without evicting anyone, without confiscating," he said. "With these new contracts we want to generate more economic resources to solve the economic and social problems of our country. That's our great wish."
However, as a part of South America it is setting and following a precedent set by Venezuela and Ecuador. Whether this is something that will go on in other countries is a discussion I will have in the next section.
The talks started after the declaration by Mr. Morales that his government will take over the Energy Resources of the country and the companies were given a 6 month time frame where they must hand over their majority stakes to the government or move out of Bolivia. The article also talks about th ...