Saying that all roads lead to lithium, when referring to the two most recent coups in Bolivia, one that fulfilled its objective, the overthrow of then-president Evo Morales in 2019, and another that failed, that of June 26 against the current president Luis Arce, there is nothing crazy about it, since various analysts point to this mineral of such strategic importance today, as one of the key factors in the origin of both seditious acts.
The fact that Bolivia currently has reserves in the order of 23 million metric tons and is part of the so-called “lithium triangle” along with Chile and Argentina, which represents 75% of the world total of this mineral, has made this country in a desirable territory that many powers and companies want to take over, either by legal means or by other not so legal means.
On March 8, 2023, the head of the United States Southern Command, Laura Richardson, did not hide her interest in the issue by accusing Bolivia of “not investing, but extracting lithium (…), the fight they have over lithium It is very advanced and very aggressive,” in its undisguised interventionist tone.
Shortly after, President Luis Arce declared that “the United States Southern Command, three times already, has sent us a message that they are interested in Bolivian lithium, our lithium reserves.”
Even the magnate Elon Musk, owner of the electric car manufacturer Tesla, whose batteries are made of that material, responded to a protest over the overthrow of Evo Morales in 2020 with the following via Twitter: “We strike wherever we want, get used to it.” There is nothing strange about the association that he maintains with the far-right president of Argentina, Javier Milei, precisely one of the member countries of the aforementioned triangle.
The link
In an interview given to the Russian portal Sputnik on Thursday the 4th of this month, President Luis Arce reiterated that the failed coup attempt showed that “the interests over our natural resources have not disappeared, so we have to be alert, that is what we have been doing.” saying to the different popular organizations.”
The president added that events like those of June 26 prove that there are those who "can even destroy democracy to take over our natural resources and the Government." He stressed that the situation must be analyzed with caution because “this is not a coincidence.”
The Spanish international analyst Aníbal Garzón, in turn, in an interview on Radio Formula.mx, assured that what happened last week, with the military taking over the Palacio Quemado in La Paz, “is not an isolated event; “We already saw a similar blow in 2019.”
Garzón did not rule out the participation of the US Government in the coup:
“The expansionist interests of the United States have been manifested in cases such as Milei in Argentina and Boric in Chile, but in Bolivia they face greater resistance. Three weeks ago, at the St. Petersburg Forum, Luis Arce, president of Bolivia, met with Vladimir Putin to discuss cooperation on the issue of lithium batteries. Three weeks later, the attempted coup d'état took place,” he stressed. He added that “it is a warning: Bolivia is at the center of a geopolitical dispute due to its lithium resources and its international relations,” in addition to its intentions to join the Brics.
Partnerships with Russia and China
The voracity of the market has played a role in the failed seditious action of June 26, in the opinion of the former Uruguayan ambassador to Bolivia, Carlos Flanagan.
“Bolivia was the strongest economy on the continent in recent years, due, above all, to the export of gas that allowed a progressive redistribution of income and lifted a large part of society out of poverty,” he declared after the frustrated attempt.
“This is due to the policy of sovereignty over natural resources when Evo Morales nationalized the oil fields. Then the nationalization of lithium with transcendental economic importance", since "it will end up being worth more than oil."
“When we analyze the causes of this attempt, we cannot help but think about the impact of external factors. In 2021, an international tender was issued for the construction of lithium plants. A Russian company and a Chinese company won, so the American companies were left out and that is evidently a factor that makes imperialism play. There is a policy of destabilization from outside to reabsorb the exploitation” of that mineral, the diplomat emphasizes.
In 2023, Luis Arce's government signed contracts with Qinghai Citic Guoan, an investment of 857 million dollars, and the Russian Uranium One Group, for 450 million dollars, for the exploitation of the coveted mineral in Uyuni and Pastos Grandes. Gold it seems, lithium it is.
That strange and strategic object of desire
They call it “the white gold of the 21st century”, a mineral whose use for the manufacture of batteries is present in almost indispensable objects such as cell phones and computers, among others.
Its main quality is to store renewable energy by gathering high charge densities in a small space. It was discovered by the Swedish chemist Johan August Arfwedson in 1817. It was not until 1990 that it caused a huge impact, when the Japanese company Sony launched the first rechargeable lithium-ion battery on the market.
Furthermore, in medicine, lithium carbonate is a drug that reduces the intensity and frequency of manic-depressive episodes, which is why it is used to treat depression or schizophrenia.
It is extracted from rocks or high salt flats. In Bolivia, the most important is Uyuni, in Potosí, at 3.670 meters above sea level and with an extension of 10.582 kilometers, the largest salt desert on the planet, the “mirror” of the world.
The Bolivian Plurinational State also has the Coipasa salt flat, with 2.510 square kilometers; that of Empexa, with 400 km2 and that of Pastos Grandes, with 120 km2, which further increases its reserves in tons of lithium.
