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Just an ordinary day in Santa Cruz

• Paul Mason
• 17 Mar 06, 02:50 PM

Great steak, checked shirts, coiffured wives, the odd Stetson on display: it could be Texas, or (minus the Stetsons)Norfolk 鈥� but this is Santa Cruz, Bolivia, and it is defying all stereotypes about the poorest country in the Americas.
The city鈥檚 middle class 鈥� feasting in force on filet mignon at the Chalet Le Suisse restaurant 鈥� is living a different dream. It grew rich on those three great addictions of the late 20th century 鈥� neo-liberal economics, World Bank money and cocaine: but that was just the start. Santa Cruz is the centre of a massive agribusiness sector producing soya and beef for export. And there is gas 鈥� one trillion cubic metres of it, sitting right here under the scrub and pasture.
It is the gas that pays for the Toyota Land Cruisers, the obligatory status symbol in this town. The gas pays, too, for the private schools and the private university, the prom-queen lifestyles of the teenage girls who flirt their way along humid, palm-lined streets at night-time. Now Bolivians have voted in favour of doing something different with the gas 鈥� namely using it to develop the rest of the country...

They made the foreign gas companies鈥� pips squeak last year, when they upped the tax rate from 18% to 50% - 鈥渋t鈥檚 effectively 70% if you count the tax we pay on the tax,鈥� one local hydrocarbon boss tells me. Now Evo Morales proposes to go further 鈥� his election platform pledged to nationalise the hydrocarbon industry.
And the white elite of Santa Cruz is angry. Over glasses of Bolivian sauvignon blanc the 鈥渃rucenos鈥� speak of autonomy. The country鈥檚 going Indian and left wing; the crucenos are white, speak Spanish and feel increasingly oppressed. We are less than 100 days into the presidency of Evo Morales, but the blocking forces are gathering in this city of four-wheel drives and mirror sunglasses.
Dr Carlos Dabdou is the city鈥檚 鈥渄irector of autonomy鈥�. He tells me there are 鈥渢wo Bolivias鈥� 鈥� one facing the world market, dedicated to democracy and the rule of law, the other inward looking, prone to violence and poverty 鈥渆conomic and intellectual鈥�. Santa Cruz has all the oil and gas and most of the agribusiness. It is low, hot, lush, ethnically white 鈥� Dr Dabdou tells me they refuse to call the local Indians 鈥渁boriginals鈥� because the conquistadores and the Guarani people colonised this hazy plain at the same time. The altiplano, by contrast, is high, cold, bleak and ethnically indigenous. There are communal economic structures here that date back to before Spanish colonisation.
The Aymara, together with the Quechua and two dozen smaller indigenous groups make up 62% of the population. They have survived repression and centuries of bonded labour to become the popular voting base for Evo Morales, and they want more than a symbolic victory: they want the wealth transferred from the white gas and soya elite to themselves.
On the day we arrive in Santa Cruz it is business as usual: there is a demo, by Evo鈥檚 supporters, aimed at wresting control of the local trade union federation from people accused of links with the cruceno elite. The people on it are small, bedraggled and 鈥� given the chance to queue for free food at the end 鈥� do so with great determination. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been a laboratory for 20 years 鈥� a laboratory for neoliberalism. Now the country has voted for change and there has to be change in Santa Cruz as well,鈥� says Antonio Pinto, who leads the union in the local council.
The union office being fought over is substantial complex of gritty offices and meeting rooms. At present it has a large contingent of riot police in situ in the courtyard, there to protect Evo鈥檚 people from his cruceno challengers. In the main HQ there are posters of Che Guevara, commemorating the 30th anniversary of his death 鈥� it was within a short drive of here that Che launched his ill-fated guerrilla war in 1966. Pride of place on the wall goes to the diamond-shaped tapestry banner of the Central Obrero (the local TUC). The pro-Evo union committee poses in front of it for a photo, fists clenched, but they seem beleaguered amid the wealth of Santa Cruz.
The next time I see the banner, just a few hours later, Evo himself is standing under it. He has arrived, unannounced, in Santa Cruz. He is not here to visit the gas companies who are threatening to disinvest, nor Dr Dabdou: he is here to visit an indigenous people鈥檚 centre, outside of town and in the heart of the shanty-belt that surrounds it.
What happens next encapsulates the whole Bolivian situation. He is met at the gate with an angry demonstration by a group of Indians who support him, but are fed up that he has not visited their project as well. One woman in Indian dress delivers a ferocious speech: the only two words I can make out are Che Guevara, and she has uttered them contemptuously.
Inside the compound Evo is being cheered by supporters and handed an Indian bow and arrow 鈥� as a symbol of the fight against corruption, says the chairman.
Evo is, as befits a president, surrounded by armed guards, fingers on the triggers of both assault rifles and gas launchers. The rumour is the Venezuelans have paid for Evo to have fulltime Cuban minders. I cannot vouch for this, but way they manhandled the press corps out of the way as he heads for the exit had a distinctly non-Bolivian air of efficiency about it. This too speaks to a wider issue: some of Evo鈥檚 supporters 鈥� notably vice-president Alvaro Garcia Linera, are on record that the new regime must 鈥渂ecome Bolivarian鈥� or face failure 鈥� Bolivarian, in this instance, meaning the political stance adopted by Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. If it happens, there will be a lot more green uniform and a little less stripy jumper.
Evo鈥檚 convoy speeds off, leaving only a small crowd of journos and well wishers standing in the dust. Among them is Roberto Gonzales Peraez 鈥� a former Citygroup banker, and co-author with the new energy minister of a proposed new strategy for handling hydrocarbon nationalisation.
鈥淚 am not against foreign oil companies. I was a banker,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut if I was one of the shareholders of the western oil companies I would ask them what their executives here have been doing for 20 years. They have not been doing their homework: they should have sent the big wave coming 鈥� instead they told themselves, it will not happen. They spent their time partying. Look at these people,鈥� he gestures to a lane of shanty-dwellings, 鈥淭hey have no school, no hospital, no water 鈥� how long do you think they will stand for that while the country has oil and gas?鈥�
Tonight鈥檚 local newspaper, El Deber, carries the headline 鈥淩epsol鈥檚 top executives arrested鈥� 鈥� and has a paparazzi picture of the 3am raid on the Spanish oil giant鈥檚 offices in the town. The chief executive and technical officer are being held on $9m oil smuggling charges. Like I said, just an ordinary day in Santa Cruz.