Weekly Report - 27 July 2004

BOLIVIA | Clouds over gas future. The Mesa government's hopes, endorsed by the recent referendum [WR-04-28], to use the promise of gas exports as a geostrategic bargaining chip may be doomed from the outset. President Carlos Mesa last week proclaimed that Peru was the only option as a route for the export of Bolivian gas via the Pacific, an assertion many interpreted as an opening gambit to persuade Chile to enhance its own offer by throwing in Bolivia's sovereign outlet to the ocean. Mesa's claim, however, was shot down almost instantly in both Santa Cruz de la Sierra and Madrid.

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