Prodem, the 3rd largest microbank in Bolivia and a long-time BOP success story known for its home-grown smart ATMs, now finds itself at the center of a political-economic power struggle between Bolivia and Venezuela.  Yes, the socialist/populist governments of Evo Morales and Hugo Chavez are – ironically – at odds over the future of the region’s banking landscape, and it's mostly because of the shrewd maneuvers of Prodem’s founder, Eduardo Bazoberry.

NextBillion ally and Microcapital blog author David Satterthwaite caught up to Bazoberry at last week's Goldman Sachs/Women's World Banking meeting in New York City.  There had been rampant speculation that Prodem was up for sale, and David was able to get Bazoberry to confirm that yes, Prodem has in fact been sold, and that the buyer is an investor wholly controlled by the Venezuelan government.  According to Microcapital, Bazoberry told him that the Morales administration threatened to put Prodem out of business by targeting its lucrative rural lending market; as such, he had no choice but to sell or be forced out.  Ironically, fellow socialist/populist Hugo Chavez must have approved the purchase of Prodem from under Morales' nose – Venezuela had to have known that it was offering Bazoberry the highest price.

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