Bolivia has witnessed a mass uprising in the last number of months against privatisation and the mass exploitation by international capitalism of their natural resources, particularly their gas reserves.

This movement has ousted the president, Carlos Mesa less than two years after he came to power. The new president, Eduardo Rodriguez, is the third president in Bolivia in 20 months reflecting the crisis facing the ruling class.

The movement of workers, peasants and indigenous people blocked 80% of roads to the capital La Paz and occupied oil and gas wells. The main demand of the movement is the nationalisation of the oil and gas sector and to expel multinational oil and gas companies such as Enron, Shell and British Gas among others. These multinationals control the gas industry valued at $100 billion.

Bolivia has been raped of its gas resources for hundreds of years by foreign capital but it is the privatisation of these resources that has sparked much of the anger in Bolivian society. The government in the course of the 1990s lowered the royalty tax (exploration tax) from 50% to 18% which made it much cheaper to explore and extract gas and thereby massively boosted the profits of the multinationals. This in a country where two thirds of the population live in poverty and receive nothing from the vast wealth created from their natural resources.

The mass movement is led by the COB, the trade union federation, and Eva Morales' Movement Towards Socialism (MAS). Morales models himself on the Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, he came second in the presidential election in 2003 losing out by just 45,000 votes. Under pressure from the masses, the royalty tax was raised to 32% however this did not satisfy the movement who want nationalisation. A general strike was organized in El Alto, a suburb of La Paz. Thousands of teachers joined the blockades demanding better wages, transport workers also engaged in a 48 hour strike.

In an attempt to derail the movement Mesa announced there would be elections to a constituent assembly and a referendum on greater autonomy for some provinces. This was a concession to right wing elements and the rich elite in Bolivia who want autonomy for the gas-rich regions of Santa Cruz.

This attempt failed and Mesa was left with no alternative but to resign and he was succeeded by Rodriguez. Since Rodriguez came to power there has been a pulling back by the leaders of the movement from action. Morales has been consistently trying to hold back the movement as have the leaders of Fuejve a neighbourhood organisatioin in El Alto. While they have publicly dismissed the new president they have also scaled back the movement calling off the occupation of oil and gas wells, lifting roadblocks and allowing supplies into cities.

This unofficial "truce" is unlikely to hold for any length of time. The events in Bolivia have gone through a number of lulls in the last five years however the movement has continued to be driven on by the demand for nationalisation of the gas industry.

The aim of Morales is to win the next presidential election and as such whilst he and MAS have participated in the protest movement they have consistently taken a moderate stance.

The masses in Bolivia but in particular in El Alto and La Paz however have continually pushed the leaders of the movement further than they wanted to go.
At the height of the recent movement the ruling class was in utter disarray. In El Alto and La Paz the question of an alternative power structure to the existing government was posed. Local committees were instinctively formed to organise food and fuel supplies during the protests. These committees formed the outline of this alternative power structure. They needed to be developed and linked together on as wide a basis as possible.

These events demonstrate the inevitability of the need to struggle by working class people to defend their living and working conditions. There are lessons in the Bolivian events for workers throughout Latin America in particular but also in countries like Ireland.

For the latest news from Bolivia see the Committee for a Workers' International website.