Autobiography - The Galindo Group

Ram Galindo THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN Page 115
Our best opportunity resided now in manufacturing solder wire for the electronics
industry. At the time we had no idea that by the late 1980s the extreme miniaturization
of computer chips would also eliminate this application. However, if we had, we would
probably have proceeded anyway because of our desire to create new values and our
youthful confidence that new uses would be found. After an international bid, we
selected a German machine works manufacturer from whom we bought our custommade
heavy equipment. To fund the project we used all our savings and borrowed
money from a bank by pledging as guaranties most of our possessions.
By mid 1972 the smelting pots, draw presses, spooling machines, heating devices and
all ancillary equipment arrived. The company, “Aleaciones de Bolivia Ltda.” (Albol), was
born. Soon we realized that although we could learn to manufacture good quality solder
bars and wire, we had no real access to the international market where demand was
high. In 1966 I had been named Denmark’s Honorary Consul for Eastern Bolivia. From
this position I learned about a Danish company that was very active in the non-ferrous
metals market in Brazil and the countries of Northern South America. It operated under
the name of Bera followed by the country of its presence, such as, for example, Bera de
Colombia. We negotiated the formation of Bera de Bolivia, S.A., which acquired all the
assets of Albol, but not its liabilities, in return for some cash and 25% of the new, much
larger, corporation.
I remember well the day we sealed this pact in Copenhagen, Denmark, because it was
the same day the U.S. Embassy in Saigon was overrun by the communists and an
announcement was made in the middle of our meeting. The date was April 25, 1975.
Our neo-socialist Danish friends could not conceive a transaction without shifting their
risks to Her Majesty’s government and in return giving it a big piece of the revenues and
ownership. Their policy was the same in Bolivia, where the government also wound up
owning a piece of the company in return for certain export incentives. I felt like a lone
wolf in holding out for at least a few residual rights of ownership under the scenarios
foreseen in their participation agreements.
With the advent to power of Gen. Hugo Banzer in August 1972, a period of relative
stability dawned in Bolivia. By 1975 the outlook for our little company had already began
to improve. Starting with our agreement, the Danish partners took management control
and Bera de Bolivia began growing quickly. By 1980 we had moved the factory from
Cochabamba to La Paz and added a modern, environmentally clean, lead recycling
plant that provided a market for old batteries and other heavy lead content waste in the
country, and even in neighboring Peru. This was a significant ecological contribution to
the region.
The attraction of tin solder is its low eutectic point. This is the temperature at which tin
mixed with another metal such as lead melts. It is significantly lower than the melting
temperature for either of the metals alone. Thus, it can be applied as an easily flowing
liquid that fuses with bed-frame metals, such as treated steel, at temperatures not high
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