President Evo Morales' ambitious plan to nationalize Bolivia's energy sector suffered another setback as the minister spearheading the effort resigned after his government backed down in a dispute with Brazil's state-run energy company.
Bolivia's populist government vowed to proceed with the takeover of the Andean country's natural gas and oil sector despite the resignation on Friday of Andres Soliz as hydrocarbons minister, but the move cast a cloud of doubt over the energy sector.
Soliz said he was stepping down for personal reasons and the government immediately named Minister of Planning Carlos Villegas -- an economist -- to replace him.
PHOTO: AFP
Soliz announced his resignation while President Evo Morales was at the Nonaligned Movement summit in Cuba. In Havana, Morales declined to comment and said he would issue a statement later.
The resignation came a day after Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera said Bolivia was suspending a measure -- decreed by Soliz two days earlier -- that would have exerted nearly total control over foreign extraction and refining of Bolivian natural gas and oil.
The move had angered Brazil's state-run oil giant Petroleo Brasileiro SA, the key investor in the sector.
Late on Friday, Garcia Linera said the change of minister would not slow down completion of nationalization's "historic mandate."
"Whatever happens, nationalization is irreversible," Garcia told Bolivians in a nationally televised address.
"It is our commitment to history, our commitment to you and our commitment to our country."
The vice president also said the change would not affect the terms of nationalization, which require foreign oil companies to sign new contracts ceding control of their operations by Nov. 1 or leave the country.
But one industry analyst said Soliz's departure adds to the uncertainty surrounding the future of Bolivia's petroleum industry, and will only hurt its position at the bargaining table.
Soliz said in his resignation letter that the nationalization effort, which he claims has slipped from its initial timetable amid testy negotiations with foreign energy companies, had "initiated in a decisive manner the process of recuperating the dignity and self-esteem of our people."
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