Sitting on top of vast amounts of lithium, an element essential for electric cars and mobile phones, may be a bad thing. Just ask Bolivian President Evo Morales, who was forced flee from a US-backed military coup, Lee Camp says.

There is a well-established trend for heads of state in Latin America, Camp argued in the latest installment of “Redacted Tonight”. If your profits from extracting mineral riches to reduce poverty and curb the influence of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, you get ousted. And the people who replace you are often right-wing, corporate friendly and have training form the US Army’s School of Americas.

Morales fits the pattern perfectly, and his fate may have something to do with Bolivia having vast amounts of lithium, the material crucial for production of electric batteries, the host said. In fact, just before his ouster, a major joint project with a German firm to develop Bolivian lithium was canceled due to public protest.

The theory is not without its critics, but seeing Washington stage a coup over batteries his hardly a stretch, Camp jokes.

I knew that one day we would be at war because of Instagram. ‘My battery died and now I can’t look at pictures I took of my breakfast!’ Well, I guess we should just invade Bolivia then.

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