The Bolivian president stressed that his country has developed an independent and sovereign policy to industrialize lithium. | Photo: Sputnik

La Paz, April 29 (RHC)-- The president of Bolivia, Luis Arce, warned of the danger to peace in the region if Argentina becomes a global partner of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

During an interview in La Paz, Arce asserted that the true interest of the United States in the region is to seize natural resources such as Bolivian lithium, the largest reserve in the world.

He recalled that the head of Southern Command, General Laura Richardson, recently visited the area.  He explained: “For a long time, the United States has had its eyes on what we were building, which was called the Lithium Triangle, between Argentina, Chile and Bolivia -- where we wanted to form a kind of OPEC to regulate the price of lithium at the time.  It was a job that was done with three governments, but now the situation has changed [with respect to Argentina]."

He also referred to Chinese companies working in the country in the exploitation of lithium, respecting national laws and rules, and mentioned that Russia will soon join.  “The Russian company is also on the way, which has to meet some more requirements to be able to obtain the contract that will allow it to work in the Uyuni salt flat, which is a lithium powerhouse, to exploit and produce lithium carbonate and its derivatives.” 

Regarding Bolivia's proposal to make Palestine a full member state of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America - People's Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP), the head of state stated that it seeks to soften the injustice of United States to veto its entry into the United Nations.

Arce made it clear that Bolivia strongly disagrees with the genocide that Israel commits against the Palestinian people.  “We cannot, as humans, stay away from it.  And if the United Nations does not want to recognize Palestine through a veto, I have stated that here in the ALBA-TCP, which is a group of countries that think differently, that knows how to respect the sovereignty of countries, that knows how to respect the self-determination of peoples -- we can do it.   We have a way that is even nominal, but that the Palestinian brothers and sisters feel that there are countries that recognize them and that of course we would like to have all types of economic and international relations with this country."

Argentina's approach to NATO is linked to the new foreign policy developed by the government of ultra-reactionary Javier Milei, which has the United States and Israel as references, in addition to Richardson's recent visit to the South American nation.

Since coming to power, Milei has assumed a policy of submission to the United States and has expressed on several occasions his support for Israel's genocide against the Palestinian people, the recent crisis unleashed against Iran and the position of Ukraine, a proxy country for the NATO, in its conflict with Russia.