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GUEST: Mark Weisbrot, Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Waltraud Q. Morales, Professor of Political science at the University of Central Florida. She is the author of Bolivia: Land of Struggle and more recently A Brief History of Bolivia

Bolivia’s indigenous president Evo Morales has decided to nationalize his country’s natural resources. The move was announced this Monday in Cuba during Bolivia’s admission to the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas or ALBA. ALBA is a Latin American integration initiative between Cuba and Venezuela. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was present at the admission and said, “This century marks the end of US imperialism and the birth of our new and great homeland, free and united, where all of us will be able to live with the most happiness possible.” Bolivia has the second-largest natural gas reserves in South America after Venezuela. The decision to nationalize these reserves has been met with dismay by Brazil’s Petrobras corporation, and Spain’s Repsol-YPF, the biggest foreign investors in the Bolivian energy sector. The corporations have seen their installations seized by Bolivian troops. In response, the Spanish government is sending a delegation to Bolivia. Morales has said that energy companies were not going to be expelled or expropriated – but that contracts with foreign energy companies would be completely renegotiated.

Sonali’s Subversive Thought for the Day:

“The hour has arrived where we liberate ourselves completely. I feel a wave of uprising and rebellion all around Latin America and a growing courage to stop our subjugation at the hands of the North American empire.” – Evo Morales