Editor's note: Alessandro Golombiewski Teixeira is a National Thousand Talent Distinguished Professor of Public Policy at the School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University, and a professor of International Business at Schwarzman College in Tsinghua. He is a former special economic adviser to the president of Brazil and former minister of tourism, and minister of development, industry and foreign trade of Brazil. He was also president of the World Investment Association. The article reflects the author's views and not necessarily those of CGTN.

"We will coup whoever we want! Deal with it," tweeted Elon Musk on July 24. This controversial tweet, since deleted, reignited suspicions of U.S. involvement in a recent Bolivian coup that overthrew President Evo Morales.

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, exchanged blows with a Twitter user who claimed he and the U.S. government were forces behind the coup in order to get access to lithium ore – essential for lithium-ion batteries that power electric cars (such as Tesla).

Lithium demand is expected to nearly triple by 2025 as it is no longer just the production of smartphones and tablets, but also electric vehicles, such as Tesla.

Not long afterward, Morales affirmed his belief on Twitter that the coup that forced him from office in November 2019 was backed by the U.S. and aimed at tapping into the country's natural resources.

At the time, the key motives behind the coup were attributed to opposition from the military and police, ongoing protests, growing radicalization of the political opposition, and the public distaste toward his continued re-election.

However, the concern is that the true nail in the coffin of Morales presidency was in fact opposition to his plans to take control of the lithium extraction and industrialization and  his fierce defense of Latin America autonomy against the U.S. actions in the region.

These very same interests are closely tied to the Bolivian elite and U.S. business world.

Under Bolivia's Salar de Uyuni, a 4,000-square-mile salt flat and one of the country's most magnificent landscapes, lithium-rich brine is pumped from as far as 65 feet beneath the surface.

As the "engine" of the Bolivian economy, lithium is believed to be central in "taking (Bolivian people) out of poverty, guaranteeing their stability in the middle class, and training them in scientific and technological fields so that they become part of the intelligentsia in the global economy," according to the former Vice President of Bolivia Álvaro García Linera.

Over half of the earth's identified resources of lithium are found in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile, South America's "lithium triangle." In Bolivia, lithium reserves were at the center of the economic development plan spearheaded by the Evo Morales government.

In 2010, he declared that he intended to oppose the "neocolonialist" exploitation by foreign multinationals and to promote, instead, national production of the metal.

Any profit from lithium, Morales said, should be shared properly with the Bolivian people – many of whom claim lithium is being ransacked from indigenous people.

Given that Morales was the nation's first indigenous president in a nation where more than 60 percent of citizens are indigenous, the follow-through of this promise was important. The monetary gains coming from mining should go into the public coffers, he said, and then be used to finance much-needed social programs in the country.

However, interests tied up in the mining and sale of the metal turned against the democratically elected president, eventually spelling the end for the Morales government.

Those involved sought to undermine him in every way, for instance, by using forest fires as a pretext to suggest he'd abandoned his commitment to environmental issues.

Part of the reason for this worry is the sudden change in tack on lithium by the newly instated interim President Jeanine Añez. Running with Añez for vice president was Samuel Doria Medina, who actively campaigns for Tesla and proposes opening up the country for Elon Musk to tap into the nation's lithium reserves.

In an unusual tweet, he argued that since Brazilian President Bolsonaro and Musk are discussing the opening of a Tesla factory in Brazil, they should also build a Gigafactory in the Bolivian region of Salar de Uyuni to supply lithium batteries.

Critics believe that Doria Medina's outward approval of Tesla's lithium plant in Bolivia can be translated as official support for the extraction of lithium in a way that fails entirely to help local and indigenous Bolivian people.

In a further twist of fate, in the election scheduled for October 18, economist Luiz Arce, the Movement to Socialism (MAS) candidate running for Evo Morales' party, appears to be a clear favorite.

As a result, Bolivia could very well return to the same plans for "nationalization" of the lithium industry as under Morales.

This time though, there can be no guarantee that a military-backed push – one supported by the Trump Administration – such as the November coup will be successful, especially with Trump preoccupied with his own survival in the upcoming elections against Joe Biden.

What this incident makes clear is that the Trump administration is more than happy to point fingers at countries around the globe, condemning any action that the U.S. believes is "anti-democratic," but simultaneously supporting interference in democratic countries according to what serves the U.S. best.

Ultimately, this could prevent interference in Bolivian politics of the kind that Elon Musk and other U.S. interests in lithium would like.

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