Befriending Bolivia: We should improve relations this poor South American land

While U.S. relations with Bolivia can be divided into periods in quest of clarity, U.S. corporate investment there across 187 years of Bolivian independence is probably the central, constant theme.

Then there is the understandably difficult relationship between a country of 310 million and one the size of Bolivia, with 11 million -- a bit like that between a pit bull and a Pekingese. The United States has been very involved -- probably too involved -- in developments in Bolivia.

Foreign investment in general creates difficulties. At one end of the spectrum, foreign companies and banks spot opportunities in countries like Bolivia and put up their money. That money can provide engineering, equipment and skills that the host country neither has nor can afford on its own. If matters proceed smoothly, investments make use of the host country's resources, providing income, employment and development -- and nice profits for the foreign investors.

At the other end of the spectrum, foreign investors interfere mightily in the politics of host countries. Host country resources tend to be extracted in a one-off proposition, like Pennsylvania's shale gas: Once they have been extracted and exported, they and the money surrounding them are gone forever.

Dan Simpson Befriending Bolivia: We should improve relations with this poor South American countryWednesday, February 15, 2012By Dan Simpson Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Second, these industries employ workers -- in the case of Bolivia, many mine- workers laboring in very difficult circumstances -- who also are a political force. The behavior and the advent or departure of extractive industry is bound to be a large factor in the life of any country receiving foreign investment.

Bolivia has had successive booms of gold, silver, tin, zinc, nitrates, oil and gas, coca and lithium -- definitely feeding-frenzy stuff for U.S. and other foreign investors. It has also had some 65 presidents, all of whom except the current one, Evo Morales, were members of non-Indian ethnic minorities -- as in Spanish or Spanish-Indian mixed -- and they were not shy about getting their gains out of Bolivia and into financially safer harbors.

Prior to being elected president for the first time in 2005, Mr. Morales headed Bolivia's coca-growers association -- coca as in cocaine, constituting an estimated 10 percent of Bolivia's economy. Ah, Bolivia.
Bolivia's treasure trove after it won independence from Spain in 1825 attracted quite a collection of American investors. The best known was J. Pierpont Morgan, 19th and 20th century banker, arms dealer and railroad and steel financier. Col. George E. Church was supposed to organize a steamship line on Bolivia's rivers and a port on the Atlantic Ocean but didn't. Big U.S. companies involved in Bolivian history include Bechtel, Gulf Oil, Standard Oil of New Jersey and U.S. Steel. One of the best Morgan quotes is, "A man always has two reasons for doing a thing. One that sounds good, and a real one

U.S.-Bolivian relations have been rocky, but there have been high moments from the Bolivians' perspective. President Jimmy Carter in 1978 championed their long-frustrated quest to regain a Pacific Ocean port, and the country has received relatively high levels of U.S. aid over the years. In 1958, during the Cold War, the United States provided a third of Bolivia's budget. The United States also brokered peace talks to help bring about the end of Bolivia's unsuccessful War of the Pacific against Chile.
There have been some stunningly bad moments in recent years, as well.

Mr. Morales was publicly derided by then-U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia V. Manuel Rocha during his 2002 campaign. Mr. Rocha suggested that Mr. Morales was a liar and a narco-trafficker, urging the Bolivian electorate to vote against him and threatening to cut off U.S. aid if they voted for him. In 2008, Mr. Morales kicked out another American ambassador, followed shortly by the agents of the Drug Enforcement Agency.
Mr. Morales clearly does not have friendly feelings for the United States -- which also have been expressed through his close relationship with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a favorite American bete noire