From a story about the troubles in Bolivia:
But union leaders and the nation's poor Indian majority, which has frequently led protests against government attempts to privatize the country's state industries, argue the economic benefits won't reach them.
The decision to shelve the gas plan "is not enough for the Bolivian people," Morales told Radio Cooperativa of Chile. "What the Bolivian people want is that the gas remain in Bolivia, for the benefit of Bolivians."
Opponents are especially upset that the government might pick a port in Chile to ship the gas. Bolivia has been a landlocked nation since it lost its coastline in an 1879 war against Chile, and resentment against its neighbor is still strong.
Sanchez de Lozada has said he would prefer a Peruvian port, but admitted one in Chile would be technically and economically more convenient for the now idled project, which would involve a $6 billion investment by an international consortium.
Notice the usual stuff happens here that holds back countries. Lets see, they want to keep gas in Bolivia for their use. How is this to be achieved??? Reports say that virtually none of the country is capable of using natural gas, yet these protesting groups think they can use it. Fat chance, changing a country over to use natural gas costs billions upon billions of dollars, and in this case the amount of gas they are talking about is probably 10 times what they could ever use. Nationalism at its best, lets stay poor, but at least we are being poor the right way. And to object to a plan because of grudges against your neighbor really just sums it all up. We will be dirt poor (Bolivia is one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere after all), but we will do it our way with dignity. Any wonder countries like this stay poor forever?
I can't blame people though for expecting corruption to be a big problem with this, but in the end leaving gas sitting in the ground hoping it will do you some good is very crazy thinking. This will next lead to people calling for Bolivia to use the gas, but once again there is no money to make this happen. What will they do then, argue the government should be kicked out for lacking money to invest in this since you turned away the foreign dollars? If I were the President I would definitely just step down, who needs to run an ungovernable country with people that have no concept of reality?
But union leaders and the nation's poor Indian majority, which has frequently led protests against government attempts to privatize the country's state industries, argue the economic benefits won't reach them.
The decision to shelve the gas plan "is not enough for the Bolivian people," Morales told Radio Cooperativa of Chile. "What the Bolivian people want is that the gas remain in Bolivia, for the benefit of Bolivians."
Opponents are especially upset that the government might pick a port in Chile to ship the gas. Bolivia has been a landlocked nation since it lost its coastline in an 1879 war against Chile, and resentment against its neighbor is still strong.
Sanchez de Lozada has said he would prefer a Peruvian port, but admitted one in Chile would be technically and economically more convenient for the now idled project, which would involve a $6 billion investment by an international consortium.
Notice the usual stuff happens here that holds back countries. Lets see, they want to keep gas in Bolivia for their use. How is this to be achieved??? Reports say that virtually none of the country is capable of using natural gas, yet these protesting groups think they can use it. Fat chance, changing a country over to use natural gas costs billions upon billions of dollars, and in this case the amount of gas they are talking about is probably 10 times what they could ever use. Nationalism at its best, lets stay poor, but at least we are being poor the right way. And to object to a plan because of grudges against your neighbor really just sums it all up. We will be dirt poor (Bolivia is one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere after all), but we will do it our way with dignity. Any wonder countries like this stay poor forever?
I can't blame people though for expecting corruption to be a big problem with this, but in the end leaving gas sitting in the ground hoping it will do you some good is very crazy thinking. This will next lead to people calling for Bolivia to use the gas, but once again there is no money to make this happen. What will they do then, argue the government should be kicked out for lacking money to invest in this since you turned away the foreign dollars? If I were the President I would definitely just step down, who needs to run an ungovernable country with people that have no concept of reality?
