Bolivia Is Ransacking Lithium From Its Indigenous People
July 27th, 2020 by Johnna Crider
In a tweet back in may by Kawsachun News, a video shows indigenous natives of Bolivia standing up for what’s been happening to them in this industry. “Authorities from Chayanta, Norte Potosí say Bolivia’s lithium is being ransacked from the indigenous people,” the caption read. Today, for the natives in Potosí, lithium is the new silver.
In the video embedded in the tweet, the native took a stand for her beautiful people, a stand for the people of Potosí Villa Imperial de Potosí, where Native American workers were forced to work in the silver mines for silver that they never saw. Not only did they never get access to this wealth, but they were also enslaved. The history for this region is brutal and the people suffered terribly. The colonizers forced the natives into slavery to mine the silver.
Native American Slaves Died For Silver
Many died from the harsh conditions they were forced to endure as well as from natural gases. Whether it was pneumonia or mercury poisoning, those involved in the refining process died. In fact, their deaths were so numerous that the colonizer requested African slaves from the Madrid Crown to help mine the precious metal. Although this was back in the 1600s, today, to an extent, it appears that lithium is the new silver for the descendants of those who survived, and they are not about to allow a repeat of history.
“How much is lithium? How much of our money/resources has been exported from Potosí? And us? Potosí, what about us? We’ve been receiving nothing. How is it that the U.S. has been enriched? Spain has been enriched? But Potosí, Bolivia — what about us? Look at how our people are suffering. Here, the poverty is lamentable. Here, is entirely too much poverty. Brother reporter, maybe we have never been far enough inside (the community) the (standard of life) is regrettable but we will defend lithium because lithium belongs to Bolivia. Lithium belongs to Potosí. It belongs to the native indigenous peoples,” she said.
More:
https://cleantechnica.com/2020/07/27/bolivia-is-ransacking-lithium-from-its-indigenous-people/
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Morales claims US orchestrated 'coup' to tap Bolivia's lithium
25 Dec 2019
Morales resigned as president in November after almost three weeks of protests [File: Agustin Marcarian/Reuters]
The remarks came in an exclusive interview with AFP news agency on Tuesday, weeks after Morales resigned as president on November 10 following protests against his controversial re-election to an unconstitutional fourth term in a poll widely denounced as rigged.
Since then, Morales - Bolivia's first Indigenous president - has claimed to have been the victim of a coup d'etat.
"It was a national and international coup d'etat," Morales told AFP in Argentina's capital Buenos Aires, where he has been living in exile since claiming asylum. "Industrialised countries don't want competition."
Morales said Washington had not "forgiven" his country for choosing to seek lithium extraction partnerships with Russia and China rather than the US.
"That's why I'm absolutely convinced it's a coup against lithium," he said.
"We as a state had begun industrialising lithium ... As a small country of 10 million inhabitants, we were soon going to set the price of lithium."
"They know we have the greatest lithium reserves in the world of 16,000 square kilometres (more than 6,100 square miles)."
. . .
'Responsible for massacres'
One group Morales did not include in his observers wish list was the OAS, whose Secretary General Luis Almagro accused the socialist leader of being the orchestrator of a coup by standing in the last election despite being constitutionally barred from doing so.
Dozens of people were killed in clashes after the OAS audit's findings were published.
"Luis Almagro deserves to be put on trial for being responsible for so many massacres and deaths in Bolivia," said Morales.
Almagro has said Morales pleaded with him not to publish the audit's results as he feared it would lead to civil unrest.
More:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/12/morales-claims-orchestrated-coup-tap-bolivia-lithium-191225053622809.html
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