A Bolivian court on Tuesday ordered the nation’s parliament to suspend its processing of contracts signed with Russian and Chinese companies for the construction of lithium processing plants in the nation, local outlets reported.
The court, citing environmental concerns presented by 50 local indigenous communities, stated that the contracts are not supported by appropriate environmental impact studies.
The administration of socialist President Luis Arce has signed several controversial contracts with Russian and Chinese state-owned companies for the construction of lithium carbonate processing plants in the country.
Bolivia is home to some of the world’s largest lithium reserves, an indispensable material for the manufacture of electric vehicle batteries and batteries used in a wide range of devices. The nation presently has almost no industrial production or commercially viable reserves of lithium. The nation’s lithium reserves are measured at 23 million tons, according to information from the United States Geological Survey. Most of Bolivia’s lithium is located in Uyuni, in the southwestern department of Potosí.
The contracts, which effectively grant China and Russia control of Bolivia’s largest lithium deposits through preferential extraction rights, have been widely condemned and protested by Potosí communities and organizations, who have denounced that the agreements were signed
“behind the people’s back.” These local organizations have accused Arce and the ruling Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) party of being “traitors” for giving away Bolivia’s lithium to Russia and China. Despite the agreements’ preferential extraction clauses, Bolivia must reportedly pay $2 billion plus interest to the companies for the construction of the plants.
On Tuesday, the Mixed Civil and Commercial, Family, Childhood and Adolescence, and Criminal Instruction Court in Colcha K, a village and capital of Nor Lípez, Potosí, ruled in favor of CUPCONL, a non-government provincial central union representing 53 indigenous communities in Nor Lípez, Potosí. The ruling orders the Bolivian parliament to immediately suspend the legislative treatment of the two laws pertaining to the lithium plant agreement that the Bolivian government signed with Uranium One Group, a subsidiary of Russia’s Rosatom, and Hong Kong CBC Investment Limited, a subsidiary of Chinese battery company CATL.
“On May 27, our 53 communities achieved a first judicial victory: the judge issued historic precautionary measures that stop the advance of extractive projects that threaten our collective rights, our water sources and Mother Earth,” the organization announced in a statement.
Additionally, the court ruling ordered the state-owned Bolivian Lithium Deposits (YLB) company and the Bolivian Hydrocarbons and Energy Ministry to “refrain from carrying out any work or administrative action related to these contracts until the merits of the case are resolved and compliance with human rights, environmental, and Mother Earth standards is guaranteed.”
“This decision is the result of the organized struggle and determination of our communities, who were never properly consulted or informed about the lithium contracts and their impacts,” CUPCONL said in its statement.
“At CUPCONL, we support and welcome the measures handed down by the court. We confirm our unwavering commitment to defending water, territory, and life,” the statement continued. “We affirm our demand for transparency, legality, and community participation in any process that may affect our rights.”
Bolivian Congresswoman Lissa Claros explained to the Spanish news agency EFE that the court decision stemmed from a complaint filed by the indigenous communities of southwestern Potosí, who are “directly affected” by the prospective lithium plants. Claros said that “pilot tests” conducted by one of the two foreign companies in the area already caused a “lack of water supply” to the inhabitants.
“Imagine implementing a plant one hundred percent. Basically we would be talking about the extermination of these indigenous peoples, which is why this precautionary measure has been requested,” Claros stressed to EFE.
Claros, who reportedly urged the Bolivian Chamber of Deputies to “archive” the two lithium plant bills, further detailed to the Bolivia’s Radio Fides that, with the ruling, “both the operation works that these transnationals have been carrying out in the Uyuni salt flats and the treatment in the Legislative Assembly would be paralyzed.”
YLB shared a statement with local outlets on Tuesday claiming that it has not yet received a formal notification with any hearing related to a “popular action” or precautionary measures filed by community members of the Nor Lípez province. The state-owned company stated that, once it is notified in accordance with the law, it will present a report with “technical and legal support, in which it will demonstrate that no individual or collective rights have been violated, including those of the indigenous native aboriginal peoples.”
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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