Dear Colleague:
Although I just shared an article with you several days ago, the present email
is to pass to you a new, just published work on a different subject--topic that
receives relatively little coverage (particularly in the US): Chinese
activities in Bolivia.
The present work I am forwarding to you with this email examines the posture of
the Evo Morales government of contracting Chinese firms in a broad range of
sectors in support of national development, from petroleum and mining to
construction, telecommunications, space and military goods development.
It finds that the strategy, funded principally by loans from Chinese banks,
raises questions about the ability of the approach to effectively realize the
nation’s developmental goals, including uneven performance by the contracted
companies, as well as social unrest generated by the clash between Chinese
management practices and Bolivian laborers and communities. The emphasis
of the Morales government on using Chinese-financed projects, performed by
Chinese companies as the cornerstone of the current government's development
strategy has received particular emphasis, not only with the current scandal
involving Gabriela Zapata, but also the opening of a new $7.5 billion
line of credit from China, which would more than double the national debt when
exercised, at a time that prices for the commodities that underpin Bolivia’s
foreign currency earnings are severely depressed.
The work is available here, in .PDF form, and on the website “Latin America
Goes Global,” at:
http://latinamericagoesglobal.org/2016/02/public-procurement-in-bolivia-bolivarian-socialism-with-a-dash-of-chinese-spice/
As always, thank you for the opportunity to keep in touch in this fashion…
Respectfully,
Evan Ellis
Dr. R. Evan Ellis
Research Professor of Latin American Studies U.S. Army War College Strategic
Studies Institute
47 Ashburn Drive
Carlisle, PA 17013
Tel: (717) 245-4085
Cell: (703) 328-7770
Fax: (717) 245-3820
