Former Bolivia president Evo Morales told AFP on Tuesday that he was forced from office by a United States-backed coup d’etat aimed at gain access to the South American country’s vast lithium resources. Demand for lithium is expected to grow globally as it is one of the key components in batteries used in high-tech equipment such as laptops and electric cars. Morales said Washington had not “forgiven” his country for choosing to seek lithium extraction partnerships with Russia and China rather than the US.”We as a state had begun industrializing lithium… As a small country of 10 million inhabitants, we were soon going to set the price of lithium,” he said.
— source afp.com | 24 Dec 2019