Morales Follows his Friend Chavez

Continuing our Latin American theme today that shows the influence Chavez is having on the region. The Bolivian President Evo Morales has finally signed contracts giving the government control over foreign energy companies’ operations, completing a process begun May 1 with the nationalization of Bolivia‘s petroleum industry.

The deals also give the government a majority share of the foreign companies’ revenues generated in Bolivia. Companies that that signed the new contracts include Brazilian state energy giant Petrobras, Spanish-Argentine Repsol, France‘s Total and British Gas.

Morales also announced Sunday that Royal Dutch Shell PLC had agreed to transfer to his government majority control of its Bolivian subsidiary Transredes, which operates the country’s largest network of gas pipelines. Bolivia‘s natural gas reserves are South America‘s largest after Venezuela‘s.

Morales says he now plans to nationalize Bolivia‘s mining sector. Watch out RTZ, if you are there..