ABSTRACT
The counterattack of the oil companies discussed in the previous chapter had advanced so far and so fast that it outran its supply lines and left flanks exposed; at the same time, its deep penetrations had necessarily awakened new opposition. Thus, as the oil companies rolled on to their last victories in the late 1950s, the nationalistic opposition was already laying the groundwork for a campaign to nationalize the entire oil sector. The nationalization campaign kept the oil companies tied down until 1963, but it scored its only permanent success in the Barco Concession. Unfortunately, the nationalization campaign was not properly coordinated with the struggles over the refineries and the pipelines, so that precious opportunities to strike blows against the oil companies escaped forever.
