Oil tensions in Bolivia and Ecuador:
Minister: Ecuador to Review Oil Contracts Mon May 16
QUITO, Ecuador - Ecuador will review all of its current oil contracts with foreign companies, the country's self-described "nationalist" energy minister said in an interview published Monday.
In an interview with the daily Expreso, Energy Minister Fausto Cordovez said if the contracts "are well formulated and within legal and ethical norms ... they will be respected."
He added that he was not trying to cause panic, but that "if the multinationals believe that a nationalist minister is going to do them harm, they will have to make a decision. I'm not going to be frightened by the threat of someone leaving."
Ecuador's government has sounded a more populist tone since Congress ousted ex-President Lucio Gutierrez, a fiscal conservative, and replaced him last month with his elected vice president, Alfredo Palacio, who advocates greater spending on social programs.
Oil exports, which account for 43 percent of Ecuador's national revenue, brought in $2.13 billion in 2004. Many economists fear Ecuador is overly reliant on oil revenue, which has flooded the country with hard currency, but could just as easily recede if international oil prices drop.
In Bolivia, where President Carlos Mesa has refused to sign a law increasing taxes on foreign oil companies, tens of thousands of protesters marched in the capital Monday to demand the nationalization of the oil industry.
The protests were mostly peaceful but police used tear gas in some points to disperse the marchers,and police commander Gen. David Aramayo said "some people were detained, some drunk types," He did not give a figure.
Authorities said groups of peasants, miners and natives supported the protests by blocking two key highways south and south west of La Paz. The blockade of roads is a traditional way of protest in Bolivia.
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