Reuters reported that Jorge Alvarado, head of state company YFPB, stood accused by Energy Minister Andres Soliz of fraud, “over a barter deal to exchange crude oil for diesel with Brazilian company Iberamericana at a price well under market value”.

MSNBC noted that “Bolivia’s energy regulator accused him of signing an illegal contract in June”, and so Alvarado “bowed to pressure to step down”.

Yet despite the allegation, President Morales was quoted by MSNBC as insisting the oil chief had “committed no act of corruption nor harm to the state”.

Alvarado, meanwhile, was quoted in the Houston Chronicle as claiming the accusations are “an attack of the oligarchy and the reactionary right wing” aimed at halting the nationalisation process.

Alvarado was a key figure in May’s oil nationalization, according to Yahoo! News. “The corruption scandal has tarnished the nationalisation drive by Morales, who took office pledging to … stamp out graft,” it reported.