Bolivia: Tin Soldiers

The BBC reports that the controversial Vinto tin smelting plant (owned by Swiss company Glencore International AG) has been seized by troops and nationalised on the orders of President Evo Morales who said there were no immediate plans to pay compensation to the site's owners.

The decree enabling the seizure states "The Vinto Metallurgical Complex returns to the control of the Bolivian state with all its current shares, allowing the [state] Vinto Metallurgical Company to assume immediate administrative, technical, legal and financial control,"

This comes literally a few days after workers from private mines staged militant demonstrations in La Paz against increased taxation. A plan Morales is pressing ahead with, although he agreed concessions on Wednesday.

The Vinto smelter is an important point in the Bolivian export of tin because it is the only functioning smelter in the country which had somehow found itself moving from state control and mysteriously appearing in the assets of the serving President of the time, Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada (or Goni as he's more usually referred to) - who is now in hiding in the United States, avoiding a campaign to bring him to justice (pictured).

Goni, having "somehow" acquired the smelter promptly sold it for $100 million to Swiss owned Compañía Minera del Sur (COMSUR). That's more than a nice little earner don't you think?

Now the Bolivian government, which is reaping the rewards of high tin prices due to rising demand from China, no longer has to hand the raw materials over to a multinational for smelting and export.

This is bound to bolster Morales' reputation as an opponent of neo-liberalism, mark him out as a clear break from the corrupt regimes of the past and, hopefully, the financial benefits will allow the Bolivian government to make further investments developing the infrastructure and pushing on with literacy, health and social programmes.