President Evo Morales sent troops Saturday to break up a protest by Guarani Indians who threatened to shut the valves at one of Bolivia’s largest natural gas pipelines.
It was the second time in less than a week the Bolivian leader dispatched soldiers to break up demonstrations at pipelines in the country.
Early Saturday, about 50 soldiers dispersed dozens of demonstrators occupying the Parapeti natural gas pipeline control station, according to protest leader Demecio Canduari.
The occupation has proved a politically sensitive issue for Morales, pitting demands from his poor Indian base against businesses worried about his decision to nationalize the country’s energy sector May 1.
The move to reassert state control over the gas and oil industry has particularly raised tensions with Brazil, its top customer, which imports 26 million cubic meters of natural gas a day. Bolivia is also seeking to raise prices on gas exports to Brazil by as much as 75 percent.
For days, indigenous leaders also threatened to take control of Bolivia’s largest gas fields—operated by Brazil’s state energy firm Petrobras , Spain’s Repsol YPF and France’s Total .
Located 683 miles southeast of La Paz, the Parapeti station is run by Transierra—a Petrobras, Total and Repsol YPF joint venture—and controls the flow of about 60 percent of exports to Brazil..
The Indians say Transierra has failed to fulfill a promise to invest about $9 million in development projects in the gas- and oil-rich territory. Company officials say it regularly contributes to community initiatives as laid out in a 20-year plan.
Indian leaders said they were angered by the government’s response to the protest and were considering resuming the demonstration.
“Now we are fighting not only against the multinational enemies, but our own government,” said Canduari.
On Tuesday, Bolivian troops intervened to restore the flow of natural gas to Argentina, putting an end to a protest that interrupted exports between the two South American countries for several hours.
Demonstrators had cut off the flow of gas to Argentina to protest new migration rules restricting border crossings by Argentines into Bolivia.