“This is not the first time the United States has protested about our natural wealth. And I want to emphasize that they are our natural resources”, said Bolivian President Luis Arce in an interview with the Telam news agency in Argentina.

During a speech before the Atlantic Council in Washington, Richardson stated Latin America is of interest to the United States as part of its national security.

On the basis of an alleged threat to democracy in this area by Russia and China, Richardson justified Washington’s ambitions over hydrocarbons, other minerals and Amazonian biodiversity.

“But why is this region so important? Because it is rich in resources and rare earths, with the so-called Lithium Triangle (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile), a metal too necessary for technology”, Richardson expressed.

Luis Arce recalled in the interview with the Argentine agency that Bolivia nationalized hydrocarbons in 2006, so they are part of the full sovereignty of the people, as stated in the Political Constitution of the Plurinational State, enacted in 2009.

“The history of our country has been that of plundering our natural resources and has not left any profit for Bolivians. Since gas nationalization (May 1, 2006) and lithium industrialization, Bolivia has made a difference in its economic model,” Arce stressed.

After participating in the 7th Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in Buenos Aires, Luis Arce described this path as “strategic for our development, not to keep exploitation of one country to another”.

“We´re currently facing multiple and systematic capitalist crisis that increasingly puts at risk the life of humanity and our Mother Earth; food, water, energy, climate, health, health, economic, commercial and social crisis,” he described.

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