Administration: Morales to cooperate "positively" with Repsol

Spanish foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said last weekend that Bolivian president Evo Morales had personally promised Spanish secretary of state for foreign affairs Bernardino Leon that he would do everything possible to seek a "satisfactory solution" to the incident caused when a Bolivian judge ordered the arrest of two Repsol executives. According to the Zapatero administration, Morales showed his willingness to maintain "positive dialogue" with Repsol.
Moratinos spoke at a press conference in Salzburg, Austria, where he attended an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers. He said, "Evo Morales has shown his commitment to help, always within respect for the judicial authorities."

Morales and Leon met last weekend in Santiago de Chile, where they attended the inauguration of Michelle Bachelet. Moratinos said he "appreciated" that meeting, calling it "fairly positive. Morales told Leon that "he wanted Spain to be one of Bolivia's chief partners out of mutual respect, and that Spanish companies be present in the country, including Repsol, and investing in Bolivia." Morales added that Repsol's legal problems are due to a case which began under the previous government of Bolivia, and arenot new. He reiterated his commitment to seek a a satisfactory solution.

Morales denied to Leon that his government had any desire to persecute Repsol, and added that deciding whether company executives broke the law is the responsibility of the courts. He said that it is "important" that companies that "might have broken the law" be investigated, but stressed "that is the role of the courts and the prosecutors. Let Bolivian justice tell the truth about this company."

Moratinos also said that the Bolivian courts' action against the two Repsol executives does not favor the new Bolivian government in the message that it sends international investors. However, said Moratinos, he hoped that bilateral relations "would not be affected," and he trusted that the problem could be solved through dialogue. "We cannot accept a Spanish company's image being affected by this sort of attitude," he said. Moratinos added, "We respect, but do not agree with" this decision by Bolivian judicial authorities. "We're going to keep talking and hoping there will be a satisfactory solution," he said. "

Bolivian prosecutors and police officers entered the offices of Andina, Repsol's Bolivian subsidiary, on Thursday, in an attempt to detain the company's two chief executives, Spaniard Julio Gavito and Argentinian Pedro Sanchez, to testify in a case of petroleum smuggling. The two were not in the building, Moratinos said he does not know where the executives are, and that they are not hiding at the Spanish embassy. Repsol lawyers filed a habeus corpus writ last weekend. On February 17, Bolivian customs filed charges against Andina for the alleged illegal sale of 230,000 barrels of oil, valued at €7.7 million, between June 2004 and July 2005.