Billionaire Tech Mogul Elon Musk, ever since attaining worldwide fame, has been no stranger to attracting controversy and has been the topic of many conspiracy theories. Some of these theories do have some supporting evidence, while others have been completely outrageous. Musk caused a fair share of controversy through his tweets, actions, and statements. The newest addition to this ever expanding list might take the cake for being one of the craziest conspiracy theories involving the genius entrepreneur. According to this theory, Tesla and its chief have been accused of orchestrating a “coup” in Bolivia for securing the mineral lithium.
Tesla and Elon Musk accused of orchestrating Bolivia coup over lithium in new crazy conspiracy theory
The Bolivian Political Affairs
Bolivia is in a state of political chaos, last year the Bolivian president Evo Morales was forced to step down from his office by several groups, including the police and the military, this was fuelled by a disruptive election and other issues. Evo Morales had been holding the office for 14 years and several allegations and concerns were raised because of this, Morales was accused of manipulating elections in order to remain in power. Despite this, there were reports of conflict within the political party due to conflicting interests. These were the reasons why Morales was forced to resign unceremoniously.
Another day, another conspiracy
Amidst these Political hurdles, a crazy conspiracy theory has surfaced, conspiracy buffs rejoice –according to this, American influence was behind this political coup, along with this allegations have been raised against a German mining company, ACI systems by the conspiracy theorists, saying, even they are involved in this for the purpose of securing Bolivia’s lithium.
Since lithium-ion batteries are used for making the batteries for electric cars, Tesla and Musk were unfortunately caught in the firing line of the conspiracy theorists. It is a well-known fact that Tesla requires huge quantities of Lithium to produce its vehicles.
A tweet in true Musk fashion
The situation was made worse when Tesla’s CEO decided it was time to make another infamous tweet. Musk tweeted “coup whoever they want” possibly as a joke and Morales responded by saying it’s “proof” that Tesla and Musk were involved to secure lithium. The message from the ex-prez of Bolivia was “Another proof that the coup was due to Bolivian lithium; and two massacres as a result. We will always defend our resources” (roughly translated from Spanish). However, there is no proof that Tesla was involved in this scandalous affair and also there was no evidence regarding a relationship between Tesla and ACI, all this seems to be fake reports brewed to attract publicity. Tesla sources most of its lithium from Australia.
.@elonmusk, dueño de la fábrica más grande de autos eléctricos, dice sobre el golpe de Estado en #Bolivia: “Nosotros golpearemos a quien queramos”.
Otra prueba más de que el golpe fue por el litio boliviano; y dos masacres como saldo. ¡Defenderemos siempre nuestros recursos! pic.twitter.com/T0O1tReJaj— Evo Morales Ayma (@evoespueblo) July 25, 2020
People love a regular dose of conspiracy theories no matter how unbelievable or outrageous it sounds, one small issue is enough for the theorists to pick apart and blow it up into the stratosphere, the recent concerns related to lithium acquisitions and mining, along with the political coup was adequate to make a juicy conspiracy theory that will keep people’s curious mind thinking for days.
Is Lithium the new oil?
Lithium is viewed by some people as the new oil, the demand, and supply of oil worked as a catalyst for many wars and geopolitical tensions in the past few decades, the dawn of electric vehicle era has increased the demand for lithium than ever before. But lithium isn’t anything like oil, it is more abundant and well-distributed compared to oil reserves, oil has always been a scarce resource and it is the lifeblood of an industrialized world, so the situation was that “whoever controls oil supply practically controls the world”.
This has resulted in massive wars and tensions in the Middle East and the United States. Lithium would never cause such an issue, the only problem would be about the rapidly increasing mining and production efficiency to meet the worldwide demand. Lithium deposits are found in South American countries like Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina in considerable amounts, it also found in Australia, Canada, in Scandinavian countries, and even in the US.
