MAS Presidential Candidate Denounces Lithium Privatization as a Target for Coup in Bolivia

Former Bolivian economy minister and presidential candidate for the Movement towards Socialism, Luis Arce, denounced on Wednesday that the privatization of lithium is one of the objectives pursued by those who perpetrated last year’s coup d’état.
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Author: Redacción Digital | internet@granma.cu

February 26, 2020 14:02:29

Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.

Luis Arce, denounced that the privatization of lithium is one of the objectives pursued by those who perpetrated the coup d’état:

Former Bolivian economy minister and presidential candidate for the Movement towards Socialism, Luis Arce, denounced on Wednesday that the privatization of lithium is one of the objectives pursued by those who perpetrated the coup d’état last year.

In his Twitter account, Arce stated that “(…) the coup d’état was not against the Indian but because of lithium. It was designed by transnationals interested in its privatization along with gas (…)”.

This denunciation, which reiterates those made previously by former president Evo Morales, comes in response to the call for transnationals to invest in Bolivian lithium.

Lithium is considered the energy of the future, because of its properties and use in the manufacture of batteries for electronic effects.

Bolivia has 70 percent of the world’s proven reserves of this mineral (around 21 million metric tons), most of which are in the Uyuni salt flats, in Potosí.

During the Morales government, lithium production began to be industrialised, with the aim of generating 4.5 billion dollars a year for the country’s development.