Bolivia is rich in lithium reserves and is part of the lithium triangle. Lithium is a finite resource crucial for the production of electric batteries.
Evo Morales, Bolivia’s first Indigenous president, was in power from 2006 to 2019. His presidency was marked by significant economic growth and reductions in poverty. He’s another Latin American president that’s connected with anti-American sentiments and socialist policies. He even offered asylum to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
In October 2019, Morales ran for a fourth term in office. The election results were contested, with the Organization of American States (OAS) declaring that there were irregularities in the vote count. Morales initially agreed to hold new elections, but protests continued to escalate.
On November 10, 2019, the Bolivian military publicly called for Morales to step down. He resigned the same day, denouncing the events as a coup. Morales went into exile, first in Mexico and later in Argentina.
The U.S.’s role in these events is a subject of debate. The U.S. government, under President Donald Trump, was quick to recognize the interim government headed by Jeanine Áñez that took power after Morales’s departure. This led some to argue that the U.S. had supported the coup. Additionally, critics point out that the OAS, which played a key part in questioning the election results, receives a significant portion of its funding from the U.S.
In 2020, a year after Morales was forced out, his political party MAS (Movement Toward Socialism) returned to power in Bolivia with the election of Luis Arce. Morales returned to Bolivia shortly after.
In July 2020, Elon Musk tweeted “We will coup whoever we want! Deal with it” in response to a comment accusing him of engaging in a coup over lithium. Although Musk later clarified that his company gets most of its lithium from Australia, the tweet stirred controversy and speculation about Tesla’s potential benefit from a more business-friendly government in Bolivia.
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