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During the past five years, numerous high-ranking Bolivian judicial officers resigned amidst political controversy or stepped down when their terms ended, leaving many vacancies. This trend left the Constitutional Tribunal without members since June 2009. As a result, there was no way to rule on the constitutionality of government or other initiatives. The Supreme Court [...]
Bolivian president Evo Morales’s frequent, blunt criticisms of the United States Government often provoke irritation and complaints in Washington about negative “rhetoric” impeding bilateral relations.
Unfortunate comments from some U.S. officials complicate relations
It’s important to note that although U.S. officials have generally made diplomatic statements regarding relations with Bolivia, there have been some notable exceptions. The [...]
After the Bolivian armed forces refused to allow special prosecutor Milton Mendoza access to their files from the Garcia Meza dictatorship (1980-1981), despite court orders permitting him to do so, the armed forces changed their public stance.
In a press conference the same day, Commander of the Armed Forces General Ramiro de la Fuente Bloch stated [...]
It sounded too good to be true, and, of course it was. The new Bolivian Defense Minister, Ruben Saavedra, stated that the government, “has full democratic will to make the information available to… allow access to the armed forces’ information,” and promised that the Attorney General’s team would have access to personnel files today (EFE [...]
This should quell some fears about how closed to capitalist and American initiatives the new Bolivian pluri-national government could be:
During his campaign, Evo Morales promised that he would reach out to the lowland upper and middle classes and lobby to have the 2010 Miss Universe Pageant held in Santa Cruz. The lowland city has the [...]
In September 2008 lowland elites led sustained protests against the Bolivian president, Evo Morales, demanding autonomy for their departments. Yet, Morales’ MAS government never opposed grassroots autonomy initiatives. In fact, the administration held a 2006 referendum allowing lowland departments to opt for autonomy to be defined in the new Constitution. Ironically, opposition efforts to block [...]
On December 6, Evo Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous President, easily won reelection with 64% of the vote to 26% for the right-wing candidate Manfred Reyes Villa. During his first term in office the international press and opinion makers hyped a “deep” divide between Bolivia’s eastern lowland regions and the western Andean highlands. For example, an [...]
Evo Morales is the most popular President Bolivia has ever had. Last month he won re-election with 64% of the vote in spite of the fact that he is often at loggerheads with Bolivia’s upper classes that control the country’s print and television media.
Evo Morales and representatives of the U.S. government have a history of [...]
On September 15, the Obama administration submitted the Memorandum of Justification explaining their decision to name Bolivia as a country that “failed demonstrably… to adhere to their obligations under international counternarcotics agreements” for the second year in a row. Once again the determination presents inaccurate, poorly prepared information, further complicated by confusing language.
Without reliable, coherent [...]
On September 26, coca growers attempting to settle illegally in the Isiboro-Securé Park and indigenous Yuracaré inhabitants clashed in a violent conflict, leading to the gunshot death of at least one person and the injury of several others. The clash highlights the complex situation surrounding national parks in the Chapare coca-growing region. In many cases [...]