Chapare: compensation of US$1.6 million is added to mega-projects

Maria Mena M. / Cochabamba

To the Chimoré airport, the Urea and Ammonia plants, the public companies Ebococa and Lacteosbol, the High Performance Center (CAR) and dozens of projects carried out in the Chapare, is added the recent economic compensation of 1.6 million dollars for the coca growers of the Six Federations of the Cochabamba Tropics who were paid by the Bolivian Fiscal Oil Fields for the environmental impacts of the Carrasco-Cochabamba Gas Pipeline.

For more than a decade, the Chapare -a coca-producing region and a bastion of the MAS- has benefited from mega-projects, large-scale projects and million-dollar investments, becoming the most benefited from the “process of change.”

“The government has made many and very large investments in the Chapare and surely something must have reached the peasants. But, I think that in general they have been bad investments, without a positive impact. They highlight the urea plant and the Chimoré airport, which are of no use or benefit to the coca growers,” says analyst Roberto Laserna.

The compensation

The compensation of 1.6 million dollars was revealed by the former president and leader of the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) Evo Morales last week, in an extended evaluation carried out in the Cochabamba tropics.

“We just got our legal status and now we have a bank account that was necessary (for the deposit). I want you to know, comrades, we have collective compensation to the six federations of more than one million dollars from YPFB Transporte, “said Morales.

A few days ago, the state oil company confirmed the compensation and clarified that in December 2021 it had already disbursed 50% of the 1.6 million dollars to the account of the six coca grower federations.

“The US$ 1.6 million, an amount established as a product of the compensation for socio-environmental impacts of the project, should be invested in projects of service stations for the provision of natural gas, gasoline and diesel. 50% was already transferred in December 2021 for the start of the aforementioned projects and the remaining 50% will be transferred once the corresponding physical and financial progress of the same is demonstrated, ”says the official statement from the oil company.

That money should be used for the construction of service stations or pumps that supply the demand for fuel after the growth of the vehicle fleet in the region.

Marcial Carlos Córdoba, substitute councilor for the Third System Movement (MTS) in the municipality of Entre Ríos, in the tropics, points out that in the Chapare there are between 12 and 15 pumps that are unable to supply the demand, which drives fuel smuggling, gasoline mostly.

“In my municipality we have two pumps, but more is needed because a lot of traffic is generated at the stations,” he says.

Regarding the execution of the projects, Córdoba specifies that neither the coordinator nor its federation have yet given details; They also do not report how the resources will be invested or how they will be distributed to the unions or municipalities.

“At the moment they are not informing the unions, I think they are still seeing it in the Cabinet. Here they are commenting on those resources of 1.6 million dollars. They have not yet made official to the bases what they are going to invest it in, although they said it will be for pumps, ”says Córdoba, who belongs to the Mamoré de Bulo Bulo Federation of Entre Ríos.

Mega projects in the Chapare

According to data from the Ministry of the Presidency, between 2011 and 2019 the MAS government benefited the coca-producing municipalities of the tropics with 417 projects of the Bolivia changes, Evo fulfills program for 1.4 million Bolivians.

“As part of the projects in the Chapare is the combined cycle, which is a huge plant, then -in importance- we have the Urea and Ammonia Plant. We also have projects with Bolivia Cambia Evo Fulfills, such as educational modules that cost between eight and 10 million Bolivians. The Ebococa company, where they had to make coca teas and cakes, hasn’t worked so far and has become a white elephant. We don’t know what happened,” says Córdoba.

Other major works are the Soberanía airport in the Chimoré municipality, which cost the State 34.5 million dollars and which in 2018 and 2019 registered a deficit of more than 20,000 Bolivians, according to data from the Ministry of Public Works.

The Bolivian Coca Company, Ebococa, was inaugurated in 2010 and for three years it operated at 20% of its capacity, until it suspended operations in 2014. In 2021 there was an intention to reactivate it, but to date it continues without operating. The Chapare is also headquarters of the dairy plant (Lacteosbol) and the paper processing plant (Papelbol).

In the municipality of Villa Tunari is the CAR, which has an Olympic swimming pool and a first level stadium. In Shinahota and Ivirgarzama, luxury sports stadiums were also built.

The Urea and Ammonia Industrialization Plant, in the municipality of Entre Ríos, another of the MAS’s mega-projects, registered various stoppages and has been observed due to its location and the lack of external markets for fertilizers.

Page Seven sought the opinion of the president of the Mancomunidad del Trópico, the mayor of Puerto Villarroel Limber Cossío, but received no response.

Big projects

ebococa • The Bolivian Coca Company was inaugurated in 2010 and for three years it operated at 20% capacity; in 2014 it suspended operations.

Airport• The Soberanía airport, in the Chimoré municipality, cost the State 34.5 million dollars. In 2018 and 2019, it registered a deficit of more than 20 thousand Bolivians.

Urea• The Urea and Ammonia Industrialization Plant, in Entre Ríos, registered various stoppages and has been observed due to its location.

Plants • In the Chapare are the dairy plant (Lacteosbol) and the paper processing plant (Papelbol).

Laserna: “They seek to strengthen the power of coca growers”

“Compensating the unions for the oil pipelines seeks to continue reinforcing that system of power and domination of the coca growers,” says political and economic analyst Roberto Laserna about the 1.6 million dollars that YPFB Transporte will transfer to the Six Federations of the Tropics as compensation environment due to the construction of the Carrasco Gas Pipeline in 2007.

For Laserna, the million-dollar compensation to coca growers is irregular, which is why she urges the Comptroller’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office to investigate the case.

“I think it is an irregular initiative that requires further explanation from YPFB. In addition, the Comptroller’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office should be acting to clarify this situation. YPFB has not yet given clear explanations about this compensation, how it was calculated, when it was negotiated, with whom, which are the affected communities and how they will benefit from the compensation. The country must know why the Yuracarés and Yuquis indigenous communities are excluded from compensation,” Laserna questions.

Opposition lawmakers also noted the resources allocated to coca growers’ unions. The deputy of the Citizen Community Marcelo Pedraza declared that Evo Morales “is not satisfied with the squandering of 14 years, where he spent state money on little canchitas or on ghost projects such as the Fondioc case, he continues to loot Bolivians.”

While the senator from Creed Centa Rek argued that this type of compensation should be to repair the damage caused by certain works to ecosystems and not to benefit a particular sector.

Given these criticisms and others, the ruling senator Leonardo Loza filed last Thursday in the Chapare Court a complaint for defamation and slander against three opposition deputies who questioned the payment of compensation made by YPFB to the Six Federations of the Cochabamba Tropics. (MMM)