As if it weren’t enough that popular opinion is going to broom these “autonomist” butts out of office (and a landslide is going to confirm Evo), there’s this little bombshell from off the coast of, of all places, Uruguay:
Uruguay says it may have found a large natural gas field that would change it from an importer to an exporter of gas.
The announcement of the possible find, which could also contain oil, was made by President Tabare Vazquez in a note on his official website.
Local reports say that the field could contain as much as three trillion cubic feet (85bn cubic metres) of gas but there has not yet been any drilling.
Link added.
The Beeb goes on to note that the gas field could provide for as much as 827 years’ worth of domestic needs, based on the amount of gas Uruguay used last year. This means Uruguay will not only become a net exporter; it could become to natural gas what Venezuela is to petroleum. If Tabare Vazquez is as smart as I think and hope he is, he’ll copy Chavecito and put the proceeds from that gas to use serving the Uruguayan people, who have been hit hard by the vagaries of the markets over the last 40 years. All in all, it looks very good for Uruguay.
But what, you ask, does this have to do with the Media Luna in Bolivia?
Good question, and I’m glad you asked.
Take a good look at any map of South America, and you’ll see that at least one of the Media Luna provinces of Bolivia borders on a very large country: Argentina. Which imports a lot of its natural gas from Bolivia via pipelines through…drumroll please…the Media Luna region.
And since the Media Luna prefects are trying to claim “autonomy”, meaning absolute control over Bolivian natural gas resources, that presents a problem. Not so much for Bolivia as for the Media Luna, since Argentina will buy gas only from the feds in La Paz, not some provincial prefect in the Media Luna. That means they deal with Evo, not the “autonomists”–and will go on doing so.
But, if Uruguay gets in the business of selling natural gas, guess where else Argentina could go to buy? Uruguay, if you consult your map, is also parked right next door to…drumroll please…ARGENTINA!
And do you know what means for the Media Luna?
Well, even if their “autonomy” drive succeeds–which is highly doubtful–Argentina could still turn its back on them and go to Uruguay for natural gas. And that would put the Media Luna prefects in a most uncomfortable spot.
Assuming, of course, Evo doesn’t put the boots to them first.
(h/t The Scarlet Pimpernel for the news link.)
