Five questions
bolivia | by Miguel Centellas | 20 May, 2004 at 04:13 PM | comments (1) | trackback (0)
President Mesa finally announced the questions for the gas referendum. And although there are five of them, they seem rather vague & almost destined to win a "yes" vote by their very wording (which, I'm sure, was the point). But. Despite that, the questions are unclear as to what they actually mean. So. Here are the questions (my translation):
The first question is rather redundant, since there are already three different new hydrocarbons laws in discussion in parliament (including the president's proposal). Adopting a new law would automatically abrogate Law 1689. A referendum vote to abrogate Law 1689 does nothing to determine what kind of law people want to replace it. The second question is confusing. If Bolivians vote to recover state property rights for gas "at well mouth", it says nothing about what the state property rights become immediately after the gas/oil leaves the well mouth (which is an issue for the COB & other groups). The third question is confusing. I think most people want YPFB to participate in decision-making (something it already does). The question for most people is what kind of role, what percentage of voting power, etc. The part about recovering Bolivian "actions" (essentially stock) indirectly implies that re-nationalizing the industry is not an issue for discussion. The fourth question implies Chile, of course, but it's interesting that it doesn't mention it. So supporting Mesa's policy doesn't explicitly negate selling gas to Chile at all. Nor does it explicitly mean using the gas resource to gain access to the sea through Chilean territory. The fifth question is long & rambling, let alone confusing. Although the question mentions gas industrialization, it doesn't do anything about it. Notice that it just asks if voters support a policy that "foments" (i.e encourages) industrialization. It also says the state would charge taxes/regalías "as high as" 50 percent (so they could be much lower). And the final part of the question just states the obvious: the state has the right to spend state coffers on domestic policies. Currently, there's a great deal of confusion among voters, politicians, and others as to just what the questions are supposed to mean. In just under two months, voters must go to the polls to vote "yes" or "no" to each of these questions. The media campaign is just gearing up. It should be an interesting two months. Nice summary. Thanks.--s Posted by J.Scott Barnard | May 21, 2004 11:48 AM
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"President Mesa finally announced the questions for the gas referendum. And although there are five of them, they seem rather vague & almost destined to win a "yes" vote by their very wording (which, I'm sure, was the point). But. Despite that, the questions are unclear as to what they..."
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