Bolivia candidate vows to scrap China, Russia lithium deals

LA PAZ

Bolivia's presidential candidate Rodrigo Paz speaks in front of a camera during an interview with AFP in La Paz on August 25, 2025.

Bolivian right-wing presidential hopeful Jorge Quiroga has vowed to scrap the billion-dollar deals struck by the outgoing government with Russia and China to develop his country's rich lithium resources.

"We don't recognize [outgoing President Luis] Arce's contracts... Let's stop them, they won't be approved," Quiroga, who has vowed a major shake-up in Bolivia's alliances if elected president in October, told AFP in an interview.

Quiroga came second in the first round of Bolivia's Aug. 17 presidential election, behind center-right senator Rodrigo Paz.

The ruling Movement Towards Socialism, in power since 2006, suffered a historic rout, with voters punishing the party founded by iconic ex-president Evo Morales over a deep economic crisis.

Quiroga and Paz now face a second-round duel for the presidency on Oct. 19.

The fate of Bolivia's lithium deposits, among the world's largest of the mineral used in batteries for smartphones, laptops and electric vehicles, is a hot topic in the campaign.

Indigenous groups living close to the Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest salt flat, where Bolivia's lithium is mainly found, have opposed two major extraction deals signed with Russia's Uranium One and a subsidiary of Chinese battery manufacturer CATL.

Quiroga claimed the two companies were selected "behind the back" of local authorities in southwest Bolivia, where the Salar de Uyuni is situated, and said he would propose a new law on mineral deposits that precluded "favoritism."

He has said he would break off ties with authoritarian leftist governments in Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua and pursue free trade agreements with Europe and Asian powers.