By Aldo Aguilera, El Día:

Reactions to the YPFB Intervention: Political Show, Failure of the State-Controlled Model, and More Bureaucracy

YPFB headquarters building in La Paz. Photo: APG

The government’s decision to intervene in YPFB was met with skepticism, criticism, and doubts from political and social sectors as well as analysts, who believe it is not the solution to the severe fuel supply shortages the country has been experiencing for several years.

“Bolivia’s state-controlled model has failed. After the so-called false nationalization, that model died,” said Agustín Zambrana, First Vice President of the Pro Santa Cruz Committee, who questioned the effectiveness of the measure. “We do not want an intervention that merely replaces one group of crooks with another and then leaves everything unresolved,” he emphasized.

The leadership of the El Alto drivers’ union and Popular Alliance lawmaker Rolando Pacheco described the measure as a political show by the government. The legislator also suspects it is part of a plan to privatize YPFB and that the intervention is intended to declare the company bankrupt as a step toward that objective.

Analyst Francesco Zaratti believes the intervention amounts to an audit conducted by government bodies of a state-owned entity, rather than by a specialized independent firm. He stressed that there is a presumption of corruption in fuel commercialization, but this must be proven by identifying the officials and departments within the state oil company that may be involved.

“The real measure should be to eliminate the fuel subsidy. There is no debate about that. Obviously, it should be accompanied by other mitigation measures for the population that would be most affected,” Zaratti said in an interview with Unitel.

Carlos Alarcón, a lawmaker from the Unidad alliance, stated that ideally the intervention commission should have been made up of independent figures rather than government ministers. He hopes the commission will implement substantive changes rather than mere “cosmetic fixes,” including the removal of personnel from the previous administration who are undermining the company.

“YPFB has failed. And the government’s response is to add more bureaucracy,” Senator Branko Marinkovic wrote on social media. He criticized the creation of a commission made up of five ministries “to intervene in a company that everyone already knows is corrupt and dysfunctional, while Bolivians continue standing in line to buy fuel.”

He emphasized that an army of YPFB employees, whom he describes as inefficient and incapable of importing fuel, costs the country Bs 2.4 billion in salaries. Among the long-term solutions he proposes are ending YPFB’s monopoly and liberalizing fuel imports.