Reply #6: Would you explain what kind of concessions you believe Bolivia has made to Venezuela? [View All]

Everything I've read, up until now, has indicated Bolivia has received some excellent assistance from Venezuela, including some essential loans, which, in earlier times, as with the racist dictator Banzer, came from the World Bank, etc., at exorbitant costs, and hideous effects within Bolivia.

A quick look for links provides things like:

Venezuela, Argentina Sign Bolivia Energy Accords
BOLIVIA: August 13, 2007


TARIJA, Bolivia - Argentina and Venezuela pledged new oil and natural gas investments on Friday in their neighbour and leftist ally Bolivia, which is seeking new investors after nationalizing its energy sector last year.

Leaders from the three countries met in Tarija, Bolivia's natural gas capital, where President Nestor Kirchner said Argentina would give Bolivia soft loans for a $450 million processing plant to ship more natural gas to Argentina.
Bolivia and Venezuela launched an ambitious energy alliance earlier in the day, announcing $600 million in oil exploration by a new binational company, YPFB-Petroandina.
(snip)

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who this week toured the region promising new energy investments in Argentina, Uruguay and Ecuador as well as Bolivia, has used wealth from his country's oil exports to extend his regional influence.

His new joint venture with Morales -- 60 percent Bolivian and 40 percent Venezuelan -- will explore in the unexplored Amazon region north of La Paz and in blocks in Chaco, in southeastern Bolivia.

Chavez also pledged financial backing for Bolivia to start developing a petrochemical industry.
(snip/...)

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/43655/newsDate/13-Aug-2007/story.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Venezuela, Bolivia deals include iron joint venture
Sun Sep 9, 2007 3:53pm EDT

CARACAS, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Venezuela and Bolivia on Sunday signed a preliminary joint venture agreement for Venezuela to participate in the development Bolivia's massive El Mutun iron deposit believed to hold some 40 billion tonnes of ore.

During a visit to Venezuela to boost ties between the two leftist allies, Bolivian President Evo Morales joined Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to ink the deal on a Sunday television broadcast.

Bolivia's parliament is currently reviewing an agreement for India's Jindal Steel and Power (JNSP.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) to invest $2.1 billion to develop 50 percent of the Mutun Reserve.

Bolivia and Venezuela also inked an agreement to build a petrochemicals plant in the Bolivian region of Cochabamba that would process natural gas from nearby fields.

They also signed accords to develop a cement production facility and a forestry joint venture.

Chavez said the agreements would help advance the ALBA trade initiative meant to promote integration among Latin American countries that the leftist leader has presented as an alternative to U.S.-backed free-trade deals.
(snip/...)

http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/idUSN0926949320070909

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Venezuela to give up UN candidacy for Bolivia: Morales
by Leonard Brody | October 25, 2006 at 04:43 pm

Venezuela has agreed to drop out of the hotly contested race for Latin America's open seat on the UN Security Council and asked Bolivia to run in its place, Bolivia's president said.

"Comrade (Venezuelan President Hugo) Chavez says that to find a consensus he leaves the candidacy to Bolivia," President Evo Morales said at a ceremony with small business owners in the La Paz suburb of El Alto.

US critic Venezuela has battled for the seat against US-backed Guatemala but neither country was able to win the two-thirds majority needed to win the spot after three-dozen polls at the UN General Assembly.
(snip/...)

http://www.nowpublic.com/venezuela_to_give_up_un_candidacy_for_bolivia_morales

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Venezuela, Bolivia form oil exploration venture
Fri Aug 10, 2007 3:38pm BST
Market News
HK shares open firm, but HSBC weighs on blue chips
Randgold files shelf for 6 mln ordinary shares
Wells Fargo drops on news of charge
More Business & Investing News... By Carlos Alberto Quiroga

LA PAZ, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Bolivia and Venezuela launched early on Friday an ambitious energy alliance, announcing $600 million in oil and natural gas exploration by a new binational company, YPFB-Petroandina.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, on the last stretch of a tour announcing energy investments in four South American countries, made the announcement with his ally and fellow-leftist, Bolivian President Evo Morales, after a late-night meeting in La Paz.

Chavez and Morales signed an agreement to form YPFB-Petroandina -- a joint venture 60 percent controlled by Bolivian state oil firm Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos and the rest by Venezuelan state oil firm PDVSA.
(snip)

"We said we wanted partners and not bosses, and now we have a partner," said Morales, who nationalized Bolivia's energy industry in May 2006, hugely increasing the government portion of profit from foreign oil companies operating in its large natural gas fields.
(snip/...)

http://uk.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idUKN1046925220070810

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This does NOT sound as if Bolivia is being exploited, forced into "concessions," as it used to be, in the grips of foreign multinationals, and the World Bank, etc. During those days it was raped endlessly, and brutally, deriving only a fraction of the profits it should have been realizing all the way along, while its people were worked mercilessly for next to nothing.