[A-List] Bolivian COB Sends Open Letter to Evo Morales Demanding Nationalization of Hydrocarbons

[grok@xxxxxxxxx]

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[I believe that this non-ultimatum-sounding ultimatum was
stated earlier, at election-time, and gave Morales something
like 100 days or less to follow thru. I think it was a LOT
less than 100 days...

Support the masses -- not Morales. We already know where
he's going: same place Lula is, and Bachelet is going.

- -- grok.]




International Liaison Committee of Workers & Peoples (ILC)
P.O. Box 40009, San Francisco, CA 94140.
Tel. (415) 626-1175; fax: (415) 626-1217.
To SUB/ UNSUBSCRIBE, contact ILC at <ilcinfo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
website: ILC section in www.owcinfo.org
- --------------------

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

The following Open Letter was sent by Jaime Solares, General
Secretary of the Bolivian Workers Federation (COB), to
Bolivian President Evo Morales, with a copy to the president
of the Bolivian Senate. Included was a cover letter
requesting a meeting between the leadership of the COB and
Evo Morales to discuss the content of the Open Letter and to
demand the immediate implementation of the demands contained
therein.

This Open Letter was first circulated for massive
signature-gathering at the Expanded National Committee
Meeting (Ampliado) of the COB on January 31, 2006. It has
since been endorsed by the Expanded National Committee
Meeting of the Federation of High School Students (FES).
Hundreds of prominent unionists and activists have signed on
to the Open Letter. As soon as an initial list of
signatories is compiled, the names and titles will be added
at the end of the Open Letter.

In solidarity,

Alan Benjamin,
U.S. Committee of the
International Liaison Committee for
a Workers' International (ILC)

********************


OPEN LETTER TO BOLIVIAN PRESIDENT EVO MORALES

Dear CompaÃero Evo Morales:

On December 18, the people of Bolivia gave you a clear and
precise mandate with an overwhelming vote. This people
called on you to enact the following:

- - the immediate nationalization of the oil and natural gas
  resources (hydrocarbons),

- - the repossession of all our natural resources, and

- - the defense of national unity against all attempts at
  secession under the pretext of "autonomy."

The workers, the native "originary" peoples of the Amazon
and the Andes, the peasants, the unemployed, the youth, the
poor, and society as a whole have, with their historic
mobilizations, opened the road to the defeat of
neoliberalism and the construction of a new society.  This
took place after having ousted ex-presidents Gonzalo SÃnchez
de Lozada and Carlos de Mesa from the government.  We once
again issue our appeal for an immediate response to the
demands of the Bolivian people.

The Bolivian Workers Federation (COB) is correct when it
says that the nationalization of the oil and natural gas
resources is a political measure that can be taken
immediately by the new government. It does not require
hearings, consultations or permission from anybody,
especially from the multinational corporations and the
governments from other countries that protect them. These
are, in fact, the very corporations and governments that
have been stealing our natural resources until now.

President Evo Morales: Our people have not relented in their
struggle for the nationalization of the oil and natural gas
resources; for the annulment of Executive Decree 21060 and
the neoliberal laws with respect to pensions, investments,
capitalization and educational reform; and for a true
agrarian reform. All these demands have been written in
blood in the mobilizations of October 2003, and they were
reaffirmed by a majority of our people in the mass protests
and strikes of May-June 2005. The Agenda of October 2003
must carried out immediately by you, CompaÃero Presidente.

There is no valid reason to postpone enacting the decisions
that are required by the grave situation facing our country.
The immediate nationalization without compensation of the
oil and natural gas resources and the implementation of the
demands of the exploited and the oppressed is the mandate
that the Bolivian people entrusted you with -- and it must
be respected.  The Bolivian people can not continue hungry,
unemployed and landless while the multinationals and the
oligarchy continue enriching themselves to satisfy their
greed.

We therefore demand that you, as President, fulfill the
promises that you made during your campaign. This is what
the people expect.

[Signed by dozens of central leaders of the Bolivian Workers
Federation (COB), the Federation of High School Students
(FES), the National Mineworkers Union  (FSTMB) and many
other of other worker and popular organizations.]


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