In Bolivien wird der Versuch unternommen, die Öl- und Gasindustrie zu verstaatlichen. Ein größerer Anteil der Einnahmen durch die Bodenschätze soll der armen Bevölkerung zugute kommen. Ein Schritt, der sicherlich in den USA als "not really amusing" gewertet werden wird.

http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/0,1518,414011,00.html

Weiter so Evo Morales! Politische Arschkriecher haben wir genügend...

Da die USA insbesondere deren politische Elite von diesem Schritt ungefähr so betroffen sind, wie von dem berühmten Umfall des Reissackes in China, ist das nur Wunschdenken des Journalisten.

Cuba and Venezuela reach out to Bolivia with helping handsBy Fiona Smith
The Associated Press

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/DADO GALDIERI
Cuban doctor Margarita Ramos checks the eyes of Bolivian Aymara Elias Yujra at the Ophthalmology Institute in downtown La Paz, Bolivia, on Wednesday. About 700 Cuban doctors are in Bolivia to provide free medical care as part of a pact Bolivia made with Cuba. Venezuela is also providing aid.LA PAZ, Bolivia -- Gladys Melani was nearly blind from cataracts. Juana Mamani was illiterate. What these Bolivians had in common was poverty, and help from Cuba and Venezuela in solving their problems.

Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez have made a fast and extensive start in providing President Evo Morales' three-month-old left-wing government with humanitarian aid, winning the thanks of its beneficiaries as well as political points.

It's part of what Morales, in a veiled taunt to the Bush administration, calls an "axis of good."

Melani's cataracts were removed free by one of about 700 Cuban doctors who have gone to the farthest corners of Bolivia. Cuban teaching materials are helping Mamani learn to read and write.

The Bolivian Medical Association objects, saying the country has 10,000 unemployed doctors of its own. But 75-year-old Melani feels only gratitude toward the eye doctors at a newly equipped center in La Paz.

"Thank God the Cuban doctors arrived with all their understanding and care. They operated on me, and thanks to them I can see, I can keep working," she said.

Technology from Venezuela got 17-year-old Mayra the ID card that without which she couldn't travel abroad, vote, enter government buildings or collect a pension. An estimated 1 million poor Bolivians, nearly 10 percent of the population, are expected to get the same help. Venezuela is also helping to set up 109 rural radio stations so Morales can spread his socialist gospel much as Chavez has done.

Morales, an Aymara Indian, won office in December in a landslide of discontent with the traditional ruling class. On April 29, he signed a "trade agreement of the people" with Castro and Chavez, a mostly symbolic alternative to free-trade agreements Washington has reached with other Latin American countries.

The U.S. remains Bolivia's single biggest foreign donor, contributing a bit less than half the $360 million annually with which rich nations collectively pay 60 percent of the Bolivian government's bills.

But Cuban and Venezuelan largesse has mounted as Morales veers to the left. Last weekend, Venezuela offered $130 million in separate funds -- one for social projects, another for infrastructure and development projects.

"What these doctors and workers have generated goes beyond cooperation and is more about interhuman relations," said Alberto Nogales, Bolivia's vice minister of health.

Critics see dangers.

Fernando Messmer, an opposition congressman and former foreign minister, says Venezuela could use the database set up for the ID cards to keep tabs on Bolivians.

Morales' opponents also accuse him of using the Venezuelan and Cuban aid programs to mobilize support in the July 2 elections for an assembly to rewrite Bolivia's Constitution -- a pattern similar to that which helped Chavez consolidate power in Venezuela.

But independent political analyst Cayetano Llobet believes that the fears are overblown.

"There's a prejudiced mentality in the middle class that believes we're practically being invaded by Cuba and Venezuela," he said.

"I don't think it's that serious or alarming."

Bolivia's new benefactors

Since leftist President Evo Morales' election in December:

Aid from Venezuela:

$100 million to finance projects to boost productivity, $30 million to fight poverty.

Unlimited diesel fuel in exchange for agricultural products, chiefly Bolivian soy.

Equipment to provide identity cards to Bolivians for free.

Scholarships to train 5,000 Bolivian health workers and 1,000 university students in Venezuela.

$1.5 million to build 109 rural radio stations.

18 experts to help literacy program.

Aid from Cuba:

700 doctors on extended contracts to provide free medical care to Bolivians.

Equipment and staff for 20 rural hospitals and six centers that provide free eye surgery.

140 experts, 30,000 TV sets and materials for literacy program.

Scholarships for 5,000 Bolivians to study in Cuba.

The Associated Press

Bolivia's new benefactors

Since leftist President Evo Morales' election in December:

Aid from Venezuela:

$100 million to finance projects to boost productivity, $30 million to fight poverty.

Unlimited diesel fuel in exchange for agricultural products, chiefly Bolivian soy.

Equipment to provide identity cards to Bolivians for free.

Scholarships to train 5,000 Bolivian health workers and 1,000 university students in Venezuela.

$1.5 million to build 109 rural radio stations.

18 experts to help literacy program.

Aid from Cuba:

700 doctors on extended contracts to provide free medical care to Bolivians.

Equipment and staff for 20 rural hospitals and six centers that provide free eye surgery.

140 experts, 30,000 TV sets and materials for literacy program.

Scholarships for 5,000 Bolivians to study in Cuba.

The Associated Press

Was hat die USA damit zu tun, dass jetzt brasilianische Bürger höhere Energiepreise zahlen werden, damit der bolivianische Staat höhere Steuereinnahmen hat. ...uws.