Bolivia braced for more unrest over gas field

A gas-rich border region in southern Bolivia that has been gripped by violence in recent days is bracing itself for further unrest after a local judge on Thursday came out in favour of one region that claims the giant Margarita gas field falls under its jurisdiction.

Residents of two rival provinces in the southern region of Tarija have been in dispute over who should receive a greater share of tax revenues from the Margarita field, which is controlled by Repsol of Spain. Some $45m is at stake.

On Thursday the government secured the release of more than 70 police who had been taken hostages by a crowd of locals in the city of Yacuiba, near the Argentine border, on Wednesday night.

The lawlessness is a serious challenge for the government of President Evo Morales. It suggests Bolivia might not be able to ensure gas supplies to its neighbours and threatens to overshadow the May 1 anniversary of Mr Morales’s dramatic nationalisation of the sector.

The administration admitted on Wednesday that it had in effect lost control of the situation. However, it said it could not intervene in what remained a local issue and reiterated that it held Mario Cossío, governor of Tarija, responsible for not having prevented the violence. Mr Cossío responded that the government had intentionally neglected the conflict to weaken his administration, which has been demanding La Paz devolved more power to the region.

“The government acted to bring pressure on this departmental government and damage it,” he said. “The only crime [the region] has committed is that it does not share the government’s ideological vision of the country and that it represents one of the autonomous regions of Bolivia.”

Miguel Angel Guzmán, president of Tarija’s electoral court, said on Thursday that, in terms of electoral boundaries, the Margarita field clearly fell within the bounds of O’Connor province. The statement is bound to embolden that province’s residents and anger activists from Gran Chaco, the rival province.

This disagreement turned violent earlier in the week, when thousands of demonstrators overpowered troops at a pumping station in Yacuiba and threatened to cut off the gas supply to Argentina.