What does the Bolivian failed coup says about the minerals for electric vehicles?
What does the Bolivian failed coup says about the minerals for electric vehicles?
With the rise of electric vehicles (EVs), especially due to the need to eliminate the use of fossil fuels, some mineral resources have gained extreme prominence in recent years. Cobalt, lithium, nickel are examples of metals coveted by the market, as they are vital components for the production of high-performance batteries for electric cars.
Two particularly strategic countries in this scenario are Bolivia and DRC, which have the world's largest reserves of lithium and cobalt, respectively. Another point that unites them is that both suffered coup attempts in the period of almost just a month.
In the early hours of May 19th, a Sunday, Christian Malanga, a Congolese citizen raised in Utah, in the United States, was determined to seize power in the DRC and overthrow the government of President Felix Tshisekedi. In the aftermath of the shootouts that ensued in Kinshasa, DRC’s capital, Malanga himself would be dead, along with many other of his followers, and the surviving ones would get arrested, including three Americans – amongst them, Malanga’s son himself.
The whole situation is still surrounded by mystery, of how a man who was living in exile was able to, amateurish as it may be, gather dozens of armed men that managed to breach the president’s offices and hold sway for about two hours. More importantly, who could’ve really been behind it.
In the case of Bolivia, the motivations of General Juan José Zúñiga, who tried to overthrow the democratically elected government of Luis Arce, have also not yet been clarified. However, the South American country has a recent history that allows theorizing about conspiracies.
In November 2019, far-right coup mobilizations forced the resignation of then president Evo Morales. Some of the protests against Evo had the mineral as its flag. They took place in Potosí, a region in the center-south of the country where the largest Bolivian reserves are located, in the so-called Salar de Uyuni.
Never missing an opportunity to remain silent, Elon Musk, owner of Tesla, one of the main EVs manufacturers, wrote “We will coup whoever we want! Deal with it”, after a provocation from a user saying that the US organized a coup in Bolivia for him to obtain the country's lithium. In a new tweet two days later, he posted Nirvana's song Lithium, saying “Great song.”
Even if taken as typical provocations by the billionaire, the fact is that the USA – which does not have the best relationship with Bolivia – has already confirmed that its eagle eye is there. In 2023, the Gen. Laura Richardson, the head of U.S. Southern Command, recently said she had met with embassies and U.S. lithium companies to discuss investing in the region and to “box out our competitors”, namely from China and Russia, which are supposedly investing in the region “to undermine the United States and to undermine democracy.”
Although there is no confirmation that the attempted coup in Bolivia is related to lithium, history shows that corporations and foreign governments are not shy about interfering in countries in the Global South in the name of their economic interests.
