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Morales nationalises gas, telecom companies

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• published: 21 Jul 2015
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SHOTLIST La Paz, Bolivia - 1 May 2008 1. Various of May 1st celebrations outside government palace in La Paz 2. Various of locals with Bolivian flags 3. Wide of Bolivian President, Evo Morales at podium 4. Cameraman filming Morales 5. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Evo Morales, President of Bolivia: "Starting today, at this moment, at this hour, the control of the management of these companies is in the hands of the president, of our oil company and of the workers... not only the control, but also the decisive participation in operations." 6. Mid of Morales signing documents 7. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Evo Morales, President of Bolivia: "Today we nationalised Entel, starting today, Entel goes back to the hands of the Bolivian people." 8. Mid of Morales supporters 9. Various of police presence outside Entel headquarters Santa Cruz, Bolivia - 1 May 2008 10. Various exteriors of Transredes headquarters 11. Tilt up from police to headquarters 12. Various of police outside headquarters 13. Various of Transredes refinery STORYLINE President Evo Morales celebrated May Day on Thursday by announcing the nationalisation of Bolivia's leading telecommunications company, Entel, and returning four foreign-owned natural gas companies to state control. Morales said his government would take the former state telephone company, in which Telecom Italia SpA owns a 50 percent share, "back to the hands of the Bolivian people." Morales announced plans to buy back Entel last year, but negotiations with Telecom Italia have dragged out. Following Thursday's decree, Bolivian police were dispatched to stand guard outside Entel offices in La Paz and the eastern city of Santa Cruz. "Starting today, at this moment, at this hour, the control of the management of these companies is in the hands of the president, of our oil company and of the workers... not only the control, but also the decisive participation in operations," Morales told crowd outside his presidential palace during celebrations of international workers' day. Terms of the nationalisation are not immediately clear, though Morales said the company's employees would keep their jobs. Morales also announced the return to state control of four former pieces of Bolivia's state energy company YPFB, which was privatised during the 1990s. He had announced plans for that move when he declared the nationalisation of Bolivia's oil and gas sector on May Day 2006. The president said he has signed an agreement to purchase a majority share in the gas production company Andina from Spanish company Repsol YPF. Hydrocarbons Minister Carlos Villegas said the deal gives YPFB, long a bit player in its own country, an active role in Bolivia's two largest gas fields, San Alberto and San Antonio. Morales commended Repsol as the "symbol of a business that negotiates", while announcing the nationalisation of three other foreign-owned energy companies that failed to work out a deal before his April 30 deadline. Gas production company Chaco, controlled by British Petroleum; the pipeline company Transredes, controlled by the Houston-based Ashmore Energy International, and German-Peruvian owned distribution company CLBH will all be returned to state control. Terms of the nationalisation were not immediately available. Bolivia privatised the struggling Entel in 1995, handing 50 percent of the company to Stet International in exchange for the Italian company's promise to invest 608 (m) million US Dollars to modernise its services. Stet later merged with Telecom Italia. Telecom Italia says it has spent more than that to build Bolivia's largest cell phone and Internet networks while maintaining a commanding share of the now-deregulated telecommunications sector. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/502d9df9c294177ec4c4465ffe2cc24d Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork