1. Pipelines in Bolvia
By: Rachel and Randy

2. Background - Bolivia Colonized since the 16th century
Comparatively less indigenous population loss than most of Latin America
Won independence in 1825 and named after liberator, Simon Bolivar
War of the Pacific ( )
Land given to Chile
So a quick background on some Bolivian history. Bolivia was colonized in the 16th century and they did not lose a lot of indigenous people compared to other countries that lost population.
They won their independence in 1825 when Simon Bolivar was the leader of the rebellion.
So in 1879 the countries of Peru and Bolivia engaged in a war on Chile. I did not look into too much specifics on what the war was about but in the end Chile came out victorious and took land from Bolivia and Peru. From there the Bolivians became landlocked and having a port can mean so much to an economy, that they are still upset with them and do not have the greatest relations with Chile. We will come to talk about the topic more when we look at why Bolivia is so poor.

3. Geography of Bolivia Population : 10,631,486 Landlocked
Natives ⅔ of population
Landlocked
⅔ of land is in The Oriente
Northern and Eastern parts of the country
Lowlands; grasslands and rainforests
50% the country lives in the Western Plateau of the Andes
Average altitude of 12,000 ft
Poorest country in South America
38% of population lives in poverty
Largest Exporter of Natural Gas in South America
So the geography of Bolivia is pretty simple. The have a population of 10.6 million and out of that 10.6, around 7 million are indigenous population, or ⅔. Bolivia is one of 2 landlocked countries in Latin America, the other being paraguay. ⅔ of the land is in “the oriente” which is a lowlands parts of the country which is around the north and east part of the country. The other ⅓ of the country is located in the Andes Mountains. Half of the population lives in the western plateau of the Andes mountains. Bolivia is the poorest country in South America where nearly 40% of the population lives in extreme poverty. 82% of the rural population lives poverty and 54% of the urban population lives in poverty. Finally, they are the largest exporter of natural gas and currently have the second largest reserves of natural gas behind Venezuela in South America.

4. Background - Pipelines
“Resource Curse”
Countries with Natural Resources are more likely to have slower developing economies and larger impoverished populations.
Wealth is usually very unevenly distributed
Rich get richer, poor get poorer
Rural populations exploited
Compromised Environment

5. Pipelines in Bolivia Gasbol Pipeline 1960 mile long pipeline to Brazil
Estimated >$2 billion cost
Argentina - Bolivia Pipeline
31 miles
Estimated $95 million cost
There are 2 major pipelines in Bolivia. The biggest being the Gasbol pipeline which exports natural gas from Bolivia to Brazil. It roughly cost over 2 billion dollars to create the pipeline, which would run over 3000km long. This pipeline was introduced to the government in the mid 90’s and finished in The Gasbol pipeline was invested by several companies and Brazil, this caused the pipeline to be privatized until the government enacted law to govern the amount of natural gas flowing through the pipeline.
The second pipeline is much smaller and is called the Argentina-Bolivia Pipeline. This pipeline is significantly shorter and less costly but both are the largest pipeline exports Bolivia uses. These two pipelines make up a third of Bolivia’s exports.

6. Pipelines in Bolivia (continued)
YPFB Transporte S.A. (YPFBT)
Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) is a Bolivian state-run company engaged in the areas of oil and gas and derivatives exploration, production, refining, transportation and distribution.
Headquarters in La Paz, and founded in 1936 (After Chaco War). The company was later privatized before being nationalized in 2006.
YPFBT currently operates more than 6,200 kilometers of pipelines
Geologically active terrain that's subject to landslides and earthquakes.

7. Politics of Pipelines in Bolivia
Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada ( )
Resigned after large scale protests
Wanted to export to Chile
Carlos Mesa ( )
Wanted to export to other countries
Indigenous did not like
Evo Morales (2006- Present)
First Indigenous President
Rhetoric of environmental protection and indigenous rights
Nationalized Industry
Political instabality; 6 presidents between 2000 and today. 3 of which only lasted about a year each.
2001 January - Government declares almost half of Bolivia a natural disaster area following heavy rains.
President Gonzalo replaces president who worked for 1 year before dying. Worked mostly on War on drugs
(Socialist start breif presidential “caretaker” rodriguez)
Rhetoric to justify oil, gas, mining, and road development in indigenous territories and ecologically valuable areas

8. Conflicts and Indigenous Land Rights
Environmental Issues
Implications of previous pipelines in Ecuador, Peru, and Colombia suggest a cause for concern
Gas War (September - October 2003)
Estimates between 70 and 90 people killed (hundreds more injured)
Rural protests
Second Gas War (May - June 2005)
Highland protests
2016 Pipeline Explosion
Intended to halt fuel supplies nationwide

9. Current State of Affairs
Wealth is not reaching indigenous population
Protests to keep domestic
Political unrest due to Presidential resignations
No middle class
The current state of affairs in Bolivia is that the country or groups of people in the area are divided much like the area where the mines were in Gold Fever. However, they are not arguing that pipelines are bad and are affecting their health and resources. The indigenous people of Bolivia is are not receiving the wealth distribution that they should. As we have talked about, Bolivia is the poorest country in South America, and some of that is due to the resource curse that we mentioned. Overall the natural gas exports are over $620 million and yet they still have a significant amount of people in poverty, especially in the rural areas. Yes, $620 million does not seem like a lot to us in comparison to our economy, however, since natural gas is one of their largest exports, let alone the Gasbol pipeline and the pipeline to Argentina makes up ⅓ of total exports, it is a lot to Bolivia since they are on a smaller economic scale.
Another thing that was happening is the protests to keep it domestic. The indigenous people are advocating for natural gas to be used to create jobs in different industries domestically and improve standards of living. With former presidents threatening to run a new pipeline into Chile to export to countries like the US and Mexico protests have erupted where 70 people have died. This has also led to President Sanchez to resign from office and Vice President Mesa to take office. Mesa, however, faced similar issues over where to export natural gas and resigned a short two years later. Evo Morales was then elected president, and he is their first indigenous president in Bolivia. Morales has brought down the poverty level within the country from nearly 60% to in the 40%.
All of this leads to the fact that there is no middle class. Morales has not responded to the request of the indigenous population to keep the natural gas domestic, nor has the money been distributed enough to create a middle class. With no middle class, the rich and eastern part of the country continues to profit from natural gas exports and the indigenous population continue to suffer from not receiving help from the government.

10. Discussion Questions
What role should the Bolivian government be playing in this land dispute between Indigenous peoples and corporations?
Should the natural gas reserves be used to gain income from outside sources, or should it be used more to create internal jobs in order to improve overall standards of living in the country?

11. Resources Information
Ignacio Arana. Derrick Hindery. From Enron to Evo. Pipeline Politics, Global Environmentalism, and Indigenous Rights in Bolivia. Bolivian Studies Journal, 01 November 2014, Vol.20(0), pp
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