Bolivia’s Paz Heads to US Next Week to Address Fuel Crisis Aid
(Bloomberg) -- Bolivia’s President-elect Rodrigo Paz said he would travel to the US next week to manage aid from multilateral organizations aimed at easing the fuel crisis in the country.
“We have had arduous, intense contacts” with organizations such as the Inter-American Development Bank, regional development bank CAF and the World Bank, Paz said in remarks during his first meeting with the country’s producers and entrepreneurs in the city of Santa Cruz, according to a video posted on social media and reports by local media.
The severe fuel shortages in Bolivia have reached a critical point, drawing urgent warnings from the nation’s key productive sectors just ahead of the Nov. 8 government transition. On Friday, the country’s lower house approved a bill allowing private operators to import fuel in emergency situations for up to three months.
On Saturday, Paz thanked the US government and other South American nations for their support to guarantee fuel supply for Bolivia without giving further details. “Once we take office, gasoline and diesel supply will be guaranteed,” he said.
Replenishing fuel supply that the outgoing administration of Luis Arce ran out of money to pay for has become Paz’s first major test. Bolivia normally imports fuel through neighboring Chile, with which it broke diplomatic relations in 1978 because of a longstanding dispute over sovereign access to the Pacific.
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