Weekly Report - 18 May 2004

At a meeting last week of Bolivia's oil-producing regions, which discussed the government's planned new hydrocarbons law, the representatives of the southern department of Tarija went beyond the agenda to threaten a boycott of the referendum on the future of Bolivia's gas industry, unless the central government meets some of its demands. Chief among these is that the vote should not be carried out in a single, nationwide constituency, as planned. As Tarija has only 4% of Bolivia's population but 90% of its gas, the locals maintain that their opinion will not be properly represented. The government's line is that it is not Tarija but Bolivia as a whole which owns the gas.