Between the energy interests of some and others' opposition to the "Yankee" enemy, Bolivia enjoys the "unanimous" support of Latin American countries.

    If Evo Morales received the unanimous support of his Latino UNASUR (Union of South American nations) homologues Monday in Chile, it's obviously because "no situation of rupture with the Constitutional order" will be tolerated. But there is also a "subterranean" reason: in fact, Bolivia's geologic substratum harbors the continent's second-largest natural gas reserves after Venezuela. Under the circumstances, there can be no question of abandoning such a rich neighbor.

    That's the case most particularly for Argentina and Brazil, since La Paz supplies the bulk of its gas to Buenos Aires and, to a lesser extent, to Brasilia. That is to say that if the present Bolivian crisis were to last, it could have serious consequences for the continent's two biggest economies.

    Moreover, Bolivia's customers have already been scalded by the fall of two of Evo Morales's predecessors, Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada in 2003 and Carlos Mesa in 2005, because of the problem of natural resource redistribution.

    A former coca grower, Morales came to power in January 2006 on the promise of redistributing profits from natural gas of the poorest country in South America to the most destitute populations. But the five opposition governors of the rich provinces of Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando, Tarija and Chuquisaca don't agree. They intend instead to increase their regions' autonomy and prevent any sharing of what they consider "their" wealth.

    Fortunately for Morales, he may count on his South American homologues. Even before the UNASUR meeting Monday, Venezuela, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Paraguay had openly taken his side. As did the Rio Group - which brings together 22 Latin American and Caribbean countries - and which reasserted its attachment to the "principle of territorial integrity," tackling Washington - which is close to the Bolivian opposition governors - along the way.

    The point was to communicate its four truths to the Bush administration as it lives out its final days. And, above all, to warn his successor. The days when the United States calls the shots on the Latin subcontinent seem well and truly over. That, in any case, is the message launched at John McCain and Barack Obama.

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    Translation: Truthout French language editor Leslie Thatcher.