Geography Archives: Bolivia

Bolivia is the first country in the hemisphere to be governed by an indigenous president. Learn about indigenous struggles for sovereignty over food, land, and water. Meet with farmers, community leaders, government leaders, and others. Experience the rich culture of the Andes and soak in the sights, sounds, people, and politics in this historic moment […]

John Bellamy Foster: We need a society that is geared, as István Mészáros always tells us, to substantive equality.  And no compromise on the issue of equality.  Bolívar said equality is the law of laws.  So we need substantive equality and we need ecological sustainability.  And they have to go together.  How do we know […]

Bolivia’s government entered 2013 on an optimistic note.  Socialist-oriented projects aimed at shoring up national independence and protecting indigenous rights seemingly were on track.  Now, however, the government is having to deal with emerging reports of official corruption. Opinion surveys show that President Evo Morales, overwhelming victor in two presidential elections and one recall vote, […]

Experience firsthand the change sweeping through Latin America in the areas of food sovereignty, indigenous resistance, climate justice, and human rights through a trip to Bolivia or Venezuela this summer. Delegation to Bolivia: Food Sovereignty, Indigenous Resistance, and Climate Justice (May 29-June 9, 2012) We will be celebrating indigenous resistance and exploring food sovereignty issues […]

  President and Brother Evo Morales, Since 2006, Bolivia has shown leadership to the world on how to tackle the most profound challenges of our time.  We have achieved the approval of the Human Right to Water and Sanitation in the United Nations and promoted a vision for society based on Vivir Bien (Living Well) […]

Statements, articles, letters, and petitions have been circulating on the Internet for the past month calling for an end to the “destruction of the Amazon.”  The target of these initiatives has not been transnational corporations or the powerful governments that back them, but the government of Bolivia’s first indigenous president, Evo Morales. At the centre […]

WikiLeaks’ release of cables from the United States embassy in La Paz has shed light on its attempts to create divisions in the social and indigenous movements that make up the support base of Bolivia’s first indigenous-led government.  The cables prove the embassy sought to use the US government aid agency, USAID, to promote US […]

Spend Thanksgiving celebrating indigenous resistance and exploring food sovereignty issues in Bolivia, the first country in the hemisphere to be governed by an indigenous president.  Learn about indigenous struggles for sovereignty over food, land, and water.  Meet with farmers, community leaders, government leaders, and others.  Experience the rich culture of the Andes and soak in […]

The election of Bolivia’s first indigenous president, on the back of a mass rebellion that overthrew successive governments, has stirred great interest in this small Andean nation.  Given that the Evo Morales government recently celebrated its 2000th day in power — a feat in its own right for a country that has had around 180 […]

Latin Americans are not born-criminals nor did they invent drugs. The Aztecs, Maya and other pre-Columbian human groups in Mexico and Central America, for example, were excellent farmers and didn’t even know about growing coca. The Quechua and Aymara were capable of producing nutritious foods on perfect terraces that followed the mountain level curves. On […]

Bolivian President Evo Morales repealed on Friday night the decree issued five days ago to raise gasoline prices, after a meeting with his cabinet, trade unions, and social organizations in La Paz.

  The Bolivian government approved on Sunday a decree to bring fuel prices in line with regional prices, “to protect the economy and stop subsidizing smugglers,” which adjusts gasoline and diesel prices while keeping frozen the prices of liquefied petroleum gas and vehicular natural gas. At a press conference, Vice President Álvaro García Linera, temporarily […]

Chilean government spokeswoman Ena Von Baer declared on Tuesday that her country “supports the establishment of a Palestinian state.”  With this declaration Chile joins Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Bolivia, which in past weeks have recognized Palestine as a free and independent state. Von Baer explained that Chile’s support is offered in the context of the […]

  Meena Raman: The developed countries have gained quite a bit [at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Cancún] because the proposals in there [in the COP16 Outcome] really take them off the hook in terms of doing the real kind of emission reduction they need to do and a lot of responsibility has […]

Bolivian Vice President Álvaro García Linera: The empire, in the name of diplomacy, is committing third-class espionage — lamentable for a serious country, and lamentable and decadent for an empire.  The reason [for making the WikiLeaks cables available] is to show the public the quality of an empire which — there’s no doubt about it […]

Pablo Solón, Bolivia’s Ambassador to the United Nations: To the Via Campesina protesters, to social movements, we can tell you: What you’re doing is key because we, Bolivia, the ALBA countries, are not going to be able to change the reality of these negotiations if the people of the whole world don’t raise their consciousness, […]

Indigenous brothers of the world: I am deeply concerned because some are attempting to use certain indigenous leaders and groups to promote the commodification of nature and in particular of forests through the establishment of the REDD (Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) mechanism and its versions REDD+ and REDD++. Every day an expanse […]

Recent scenes of roadblocks, strikes, and even the dynamiting of a vice-minister’s home in the Bolivian department (administrative district) of Potosi, reminiscent of the days of previous neoliberal governments, have left many asking themselves what is really going on in the “new” Bolivia of indigenous President Evo Morales. Since July 29, the city of Potosi, […]

When Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Arturo Valenzuela met at the beginning of the month, it appeared that relations between the US and Bolivia were on the verge of being normalized following an 18-month diplomatic chill.  Choquehuanca announced to the press that “the two sides are 99% done with […]

  Excerpt: . . . Finally, there are concerns about the chronic problems faced by the Bolivian government to manage such an ambitious program — problems that pre-date President Morales.  To pull off its lithium ambitions, Bolivia will need highly trained and qualified experts, in the technical and scientific aspects of lithium, in business management […]