Minister: With Petrobras, Brazil was sub-imperialist in Bolivia.
According to Gilberto Carvalho, from the General Secretariat of the Presidency, the country needs to rethink the relationships of its transnational companies in other countries. He argues that in the 2006 episode, when President Evo Morales announced the nationalization of the hydrocarbon sector, the state-owned company reproduced the same behavior of the great imperialism of the first world with respect to us.
247 The Chief Minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic, Gilberto Carvalho, suggested that Brazil rethink its national development model and the relationships of Brazilian transnational companies in other countries.
"We have to be self-critical and recognize, for example, that Petrobras' presence in Bolivia was indeed a model that gave substance, gave reason, to what they called sub-imperialist behavior. Brazil reproduces in relation to its neighbors the same behavior that the great first-world imperialism exhibits in relation to us," he assessed. He is referring to the episode of May 2006, when President Evo Morales announced the nationalization of the hydrocarbon sector, which directly impacted the Brazilian oil company.
The issue was raised at the Ethos Conference 2013 in São Paulo.