Tor Lindbaek

Bolivia: A Blizzard of Misinformation on Mining and Everything Else

Excellent artcle, but I want to point out that Gonzalo Sanchez de Losada did not own Comsur when Comsur bought Vinto, as the company had been sold to Glencore before he became president the first time. SdeL built up Comsur from nothing to become the largest private mining company in Bolivia. It was characterized by its excellent and enlightened management and good labour and community relations. SdeL's second presidency ended badly when circumstances developed beyond his control, but that's another story.
When it comes to Bolivia, it should always be remembered that the Aymara community is very conservative and absolutely no fertile ground for revolutionaries - as Che Guevara learned too late and to his dismay.
And Evo Morales is undeservingly getting a bad rap for trying to right old wrongs, especially in the US press and the Bush administration which has no real understanding of this country and its history.

For the sake of order, I was on the BoD of Comsur in the early 1970's.