Is Bolivia's New Oil and Gas Minister Really that Stupid?

I had earlier talked about how Soliz Rada, Bolivia's Minister in charge of Hyrdrocarbons sounded, almost....ignorant of some really basic things. Now this AFP article, as well as this Bolivian government communique expounds a bit more on what Soliz Rada said. This reminds me of two true stories

At the beginning of the last century a Bolivian lawyer-slash-politician, gave a speech on the record on some controversy going around that body. He furiously demanded an explanation of how the senate had passed the "law of supply and demand" without his knowledge and vote.
My dad in the 80's, went to some conference/seminar for government officials of developing countries in Venice. One of the delegation was this Peruvian political hack, a very pompous and pretentious lawyer. Impressed by some land mark in the Italian city, he gave an impromptu speech, in quite florid language about how Cervantes had seen his first sunset near said monument, or something to that effect. Fortunately for the honor of Peru, Spain, and the entire Iberian-American world, few people present spoke Spanish, and lawyer boy did not speak English. Unforunately for my dad and the few other Latin Americans, they did understand what he was saying. Can't remember if my dad called him out, but I do know that he exrticated himself and instead hung out with some interesting folks from Sri Lanka.

Anyway, Soliz Rada is cut out of that same cloth as the Bolivian and Peruvian lawyer-politicians. Like other some-what educated South Americans (and the old Southern rural politicans in the United States) his grammar is good, his speech florid, and he can pull big words out of his rear. And like them, all he does is blab incessantly and pompously about things he knows nothing about, without any clue that he is absolutely and utterly wrong.

Soliz Rada has no clue part 1.

Here is my own translation of this first nugget.

Bolivia's gas reserves, he claims are used as "backup by some oil companies", "through some sort of "special registrar" in the New York stock exchange.
Quite indignantly he defends Bolivian soveirgnity claiming that if "these reserves (gas) have to be registered with the stock exchange by anyone, it is by us Bolivians".


Soliz Rada As the master of...... 20/20 hindsight, who Knows? .


So the man that Evo says is "an expert" tells us he is glad because the (2002 Gas War causing) Liquid Natural Gas Project to export liquid gas to the US died, because in his view if it had been ratified, the consortium Pacific LNG would have been able to "register" Bolivian gas as its own, much like Repsol did recently.

So genius boy, it is somehow a good thing that Bolivia does not have a pipeline to the pacific and the ability to produce liquid gas for export, because the scary alternative would have been that SEC filing. I mean that piece of paper would have certainly wiped out any benefit received from thge "consortium" which was prepared to spend billions of dollars in infraestructure and improvement. Pity, those poor Russians and Indonesians who ended up getting this and similar contracts, they now have their entire soveirgnity compromised by quarterly statements. Billions of dollars and revenue be damned.


Soliz Rada CPA, Quick Get Spitzer on it!!!

And of course, our corporate finance and accounting expert, then goes on to say that this registration is an "accounting fraud" and I presume that violates Securities and Exchange Commission regulations, the laws of the State of New York, as well as the offside rule in soccer.


Idiot-boi said what? again

Tu Du Duh!! Ask for the special registrar at the stock exchange, yeah just take the short bus from Queens, ask the driver he will get you right there. LOL.


Yeah, the special petroleum and gas police are going to go down to Bolivia to enforce YPF's "Special Registration". This is funny material, where does he get this stuff from?

Tell you what Solis Rada, go ahead and file something with the SEC. Even better, send me a ten grand retainer and I will go ahead and "register your claim" with the "stock exchange", and for a couple of grand a month more, I might even stop callling you a retard.

Soliz Rada's first law of mutual corporate and government benefit through frozen investments in the hundreds of millions of dollars.


He found it logical that BP was stopping its investments in Bolivia, saying that it was good both for the companies and for Bolivia?????? Not only that, but he thought that Repsol YPF freezing 476 million dollars was also a good thing. He suggested that they should freeze their investments, until they have become fully "transparent", and that they do not have those problems. And by "those problems", in his own circular logic, he is again referring to the SEC filings.

So, we now have the most important sector in Bolivias economy, being ruled by a reporter and lawyer, who does not have a frickn clue about basic corporate finance and the gas industry, and whose views of business are colored by blind leftist dogmatism of the worst kind. Hmmm. I am a lawyer and blogger, and according to some of you I am pretty dogmatic, maybe they should have made me kingpin instead of him, I look much better on TV.
Seriously this is not good at all, we are talkikng about compromising the ability to deal toughly, intelligently, and effectively with big oil multi-nationals and their resources. And, it also is embarrasing as all hell, which is probably why it has bugged me so much. This is the type of Tercermundismo you expected to hear in the immediate post-colonial periods in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. At this stage of the game, no one with any serious responsiblity in a modern industry,talks like that, be it in Jakarta, Johanesburg, Almaty, or Trinidad and Tobaggo. Throwbacks like Soliz Rada just show an old bad side to Bolivia in front of the world, and a side that can cost the country dearly in monetary terms.

So Evo has placed Soliz Rada in charge of "refunding" YPFB, before that they might want to try to "refund" the good ministers brain, cause it ain't working.