If you haven't been to Bolivia, it would be worth while to go there and see the conditions in which people must exist.
The entire country is controlled by an elite that holds the wealth of the nation. Expect soon an assasination attempt on this new President. He is upsetting the apple cart.
And in a commie country the government becomes the new elite which holds all the wealth which is a much worse case scenario.
The same can be said for most of Latin and South America. The majority of the people living subsistence level lives, in abject poverty, with a small elite actually running the country.
Imagine yourself as an entrepreneur, trying to build wealth in a country where a mob or a politician or a band of rogue cops or wannabe guerrillas can take it from you. Imagine the relationships you would have to build to protect it, and the personal security steps you would have to take, and you will understand much better why these countries are the way they are.
Now imagine that your investment is seized. Imagine, now, what you will have to do to get it back.
If you've been salting some of it away in south Florida, you may just decide its not worth it, and just go there. Imagine that generations of entrepreneurs have had to protect themselves by making investments outside the country, just in case, and again you will understand why these places are the way they are.
Morales has the upper hand, and he is cashing in. Tomorrow someone will pop him, and take over. The day after, someone else will push him aside, and take over. Not many people can survive and build any kind of wealth in such a place, and in fact there isn't much industrial wealth there. Who would risk it? BP risked it, and they are paying a price now. If BP isn't prepared to play the game the way its played there, they will not get it back, and they would be better off to focus their investments in countries that have laws.
Morales and his gang will suck the life out of wealth that others built, and build nothing themselves. And then they will disappear into history, just like all the others.
Isn't Bolivia one of the world's poorest nations?