Bolivia news briefing (BIF)
Bolivia Information Forum, Link to briefing covering December 2012 to January 2013 1. Conflicting reports as TIPNIS consultation ends The controversy over the proposed construction of a highway through the TIPNIS indigenous territory and national park looks set to continue after several reports into the recent consultation on the project offered very different conclusions. According to the … Read more
Battle of Reports Sustains Bolivia’s TIPNIS Conflict (NACLA)
Emily Achtenberg, NACLA, Rebel Currents, Link to original article, 18 January 2013 While President Evo Morales decrees that Bolivia’s TIPNIS conflict is resolved, conflicting reports issued by the government and religious and human rights groups over the past few weeks have served to extend the controversy over the proposed highway that would bisect this indigenous territory and national … Read more
Bolivia Takes the Leap into the Big Pond of Mercosur (IPS)
Analysis on the benefits and challenges for Bolivia to join the Mercosur trading bloc – that brings together Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and also Venezuela. It might not happen any time soon as Bolivia is still a member of another trade bloc with Colombia, Peru and Ecuador (CAN). If Bolivia does join Mercosur it could … Read more
Coca Licensing Is a Weapon in Bolivia’s Drug War (NYT)
Interesting analysis on Bolivia’s efforts to manage cultivation of the coca leaf (the raw ingredient for cocaine) since President Evo Morales kicked out the United States Drug Enforcement Agency in 2009. The article shows how the area of coca growing has fallen over the last few years but there are still many challenges to control … Read more
Bolivian Drug Control Efforts: Genuine Progress, Daunting Challenges (AIN and WOLA)
By Kathryn Ledebur (Andean Information Network) and Coletta A. Youngers (Washington Office on Latin America). Link to original article, 20 December 2012 Following a landslide victory at the polls, Evo Morales became president of Bolivia in January 2005.[i] Head of the coca-growers’ federation, Morales was a long-standing foe of U.S. drug policy, and many observers anticipated a complete break … Read more
Bolivia: End of the Road for TIPNIS Consulta (NACLA)
Emily Achtenberg, NACLA, Rebel Currents, Link to original article, 13 December 2012 December 7 marked the formal conclusion of the Bolivian government’s controversial consultation process with communities in the Isiboro-Sécure Indigenous Territory and National Park (TIPNIS), to determine the fate of a proposed highway that would bisect their ancestral lands. [Vice President García Linera welcomes support for … Read more
Planned highway in Bolivia still causing problems
Sara Shahriari, Deutsche Welle, Link to original article, 28 November 2012 As the consultation process reaches its end Sara Shahriari examines what has happened over the last few months in relation to the controversial road the Bolivian government wants to build through the TIPNIS national park and indigenous territory. Shahriari explains how the consultation process has taken place … Read more
Bolivia’s child workers unite to end exploitation (The Guardian)
By Sara Shahriari for The Guardian. Link to original article, 27 November 2012 Shining shoes, mining and herding animals among the many jobs done by an estimated 750,000 children between five and 17 Rodrigo Medrano Calle is a Bolivian labour leader who meets and lobbies top government officials for his constituency’s rights. That’s not surprising in a country … Read more
Victims of Bolivian dictatorships protest impunity and lack of compensation (AIN)
By Andean Information Network. Link to original article, 16 November 2012 [“The wounds caused by the dictatorships remain…” Photo credit: Gonzalo Ordoñez for AIN] Bolivia has had more military coups than any other nation in the world. Hugo Banzer (1971-1978) and Luis García Meza (1980-1981) were the most notorious Bolivian dictators in the Twentieth Century. More than 30 years … Read more
Earth First? Bolivia’s Mother Earth Law Meets the Neo-Extractivist Economy (NACLA)
Emily Achtenberg, NACLA, Rebel Currents, Link to original article, 15 November 2012 While the U. S. courts have granted civil rights to corporations, Bolivia has enacted a new law enshrining the legal rights of nature. The “Law of Mother Earth and Integral Development for Living Well,” promulgated by President Evo Morales on October 15, establishes eleven rights … Read more
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