Lithium and the coup in Bolivia
Evo Morales has assured on several occasions that he was overthrown by a coup d’état, after the elections for interests such as those of the United States for lithium, while in Bolivia there is no evidence that this country bid with others such as China and Germany for the coveted “White gold”.
Morales assured on December 16, 2019 in Buenos Aires that he was forced to resign from power due to a “coup on lithium” and directly blamed the United States.
“As the United States was left out, that’s where the problem began,” he denounced about the exclusion of this country from projects to industrialize this mineral in Bolivia, in favor of companies from China and Germany.
Morales set a record in his country. At the age of 13 years and 9 months, he became the person who has governed Bolivia for the longest time.
During his three terms of government —before being overthrown in November 2019—, Morales helped the country undergo a complete transformation in the economic and social spheres, although not everything can be directly thanks to his management.
On October 22, 2021, during a visit to Mexico —the first country to receive him after his overthrow—, the former president told President Andrés Manuel López Obrador that he had to protect control of the mineral because his industry “must be in hands of the States, not the private sector”, according to a note from The country.
“We decided, as a State, to industrialize lithium. We hire experts… and we start the big industry and then comes the coup d’état. American congressmen recognize that the coup was over lithium,” he said.
The Bolivian president has even pointed to Tesla, the world’s leading electric car manufacturer, as part of those responsible for removing him from power.
With information from EFE