Bolivia candidate promises China to delete, Russia Lithium Deals
Bolivian right-wing presidential hopeful Jorge Quiroga sworn on Monday to cancel lithium extraction deals of billion dollars, hit by the departing government with Russia and China if chosen leader.
“We acknowledge (departing President Luis) not Arce’s contracts … Let’s stop them, they will not be approved,” said the Quiroga, who has promised a great commotion in the alliances of Bolivia as chosen president in October, told AFP in an interview.
Quiroga became second in the first round of Bolivia’s presidential elections on 17 August with 26.7 percent, behind Center-right senator Rodrigo Paz at 32 percent.
The movement to socialism (MAS), in power since 2006, suffered a historical rout, in which voters punish the party that were founded by iconic ex-president Evo Morales about a deep economic crisis.
Quiroga and Paz are now confronted with a second round game for the presidency on October 19.
The fate of Bolivia’s lithium deposits – one of the world’s largest of the metal used in smartphone and electric vehicle batteries – is a hot topic in the campaign.
According to the US Geological Survey, the so -called lithium triangle, which is spanning parts of Bolivia, Chile and Argentina, is the home base of 60 percent of the world’s lithium reserves.
But in the case of Bolivia, almost all is still underground, at an altitude of 3,600 meters (12,000 feet) in the huge Salar de Uyuni -Zoutflat, one of the best tourist attractions in the country.
In 2023 and 2024, the government of Arce Deals with the Russian Uranium One and the Chinese CBC, a subsidiary of battery manufacturer Catl, signed to remove lithium from the salt pan.
Worth a combined $ 2 billion, the deals were intended to help Bolivia catch up on the race to mineral mineral.
But they were blocked in the congress by a fight in the ruling party.
In the meantime, native groups went to court to have them deleted at environmental areas.
Quiroga claimed that Uranium One and Catl “behind the local authorities were selected and said that he would propose a new law on mineral deposits that excludes” favoritism “.
– From gas to lithium –
Bolivia enjoyed more than a decade of strong growth under Morales (2006-2019), who nationalized the gas sector and plowed the proceeds into anti-armed programs.
But sub -investment in exploration ensured that the gas revenue implodes, so that the foreign currency reserves of the government were eroded and lead to acute shortages of imported fuel, commonly used dollars and other basic principles.
Inflation rose to 24.8 percent on an annual basis in July, the highest level since at least 2008, leaving voters left in large numbers on the left.
Quiroga, who briefly served as president in the early 2000s, has promised a radical overhaul of Bolivia’s Big-State Economic Model if chosen, including steep cuts.
His challenger Paz, who campaigned as a moderate, excluded strict austerity measures on Monday to save the country from the edge of bankruptcy.
“There will be a stabilization process, we don’t call it an adjustment,” the 57-year-old Senator told AFP.
He nevertheless revealed that he would reduce $ 1.2 billion in annual fuel subsidies – a large drain on the public wallet – and saves another $ 1.3 billion in non -specific “superfluous expenses”.
Paz added that he would create tax stimuli to make Bolivians banking and hidden dollars under their mattress, but initially would not seek international salvation, as proposed by Quiroga.
“People understand that we first have to get our house in order,” said Paz, whose father Jaime Paz Zamora Bolivia led from 1989 to 1993.
