Bolivia Picks a Brawl with “Green Imperialism,” on Eve of Pope Visit

With Pope Francis set to visit Bolivia this July as part of a three-nation trip to South America, President Evo Morales has declared that his government does not accept “green imperialism,” and is prepared to kick out any NGO which tries to stop Bolivia from developing its natural resources.

Morales announced on June 18 that the state oil company will develop a new oil deposit located inside a “nature reserve” in the department of Santa Cruz, and any NGO or foundation which stands in the way of exploiting this oil, will be expelled from the country.

That was the same day Pope Francis issued his encyclical espousing British imperial environmentalist genocide, and the Catholic Archbishop of Sucre, Jesus Juarez, immediately protested that President Morales was violating the tenets of that encyclical, demanding that “these reserves, which are the lungs of a nation, have to be respected, and the Government should look for a way to not destroy this work created by the Lord, so beautiful and fair for the Indians.”

This is shaping up as big fight. In a June 10 address to the EU-CELAC summit in Brussels, Morales called climate change a real danger, but added, that

“those of us who live in the South do not accept, nor will we accept that we be the park rangers for those who live in the North. That is a colonial mentality; that is green imperialism which is not going to bring any solution.”

Prince Philip’s environmental hit-squads were already on the warpath against him, taking the government to court, and mobilizing “indigenous” people against the government decree issued on May 20, which allows the exploitation of hydrocarbons found in the seven million hectares (more than 17 million acres, or about 26,560 square miles) of Bolivian territory removed from productive use under such “nature reserves.”

The Pope will be in Bolivia July 8-10, accompanied by Cardinal Peter Turkson, the head of Justitia et Pax, who, along with Commander of the British Empire Hans-Joachim Schellnhuber, played a leading role in preparing the Pope’s “Mother Earth” encyclical. Bolivia’s Vice Minister of Coordination with Social Movements, Alfredo Rada, announced on June 18 that Turkson is coming to promote the encyclical at the big international meeting of social movements on July 9, and that Pope Francis and President Morales will attend the closing session.

Pope Francis’s trip begins in Ecuador, from July 5-7, and concludes in Paraguay, from July 10-11.