Tough talk.

For months, Brazil and Bolivia have been struggling over control of production and distribution of Bolivian natural gas. The debate turned into an international incident when Bolivian President Eva Morales decided to nationalize the poverty-stricken country's reserves, a move Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva later recognized as legitimate.

"The Bolivians are not suicidal. If they don't sell the gas to us, who will buy it from them?"

--Guido Mantega, Brazil Finance Minister (Isto E)

"The nationalization decree unleashed a revolutionary process."

--Andres Soliz Rada, Bolivian Minister of Hydrocarbons (El Mundo)

"The Bolivians were insulting, they offended us, entering Petrobras [installations] with soldiers."

--Oscar Niemeyer, Brazilian architect (Folha de Sao Paulo)

"Lula has to be tough with this Bolivian madness."

--Renan Calheiros, president of the Brazilian Senate (Reuters)

"It's an extremely popular move. There's a lot of nationalism in the country right now, and this is something that a lot of people are going to like."

--Gonzalo Chavez, political analyst in La Paz (Washington Post)

"There's no logical reason to assume that Bolivia will cut off supply to Brazil."

--Jose Sergio Gabrielli, president of Petrobras (Agencia Estado)

"From any perspective, it's in Brazil's interest to buy Bolivian gas and, because of this, we are not concerned that this market could supposedly, as some have said, disappear. The market is secure."

--Jorge Alvarado, president of Bolivian state oil company YPFB (Reuters)