Andean Information Network

In January and March 2011, several English-language press outlets ran stories on quinoa production in Bolivia. National Public Radio and the Associated Press reported on quinoa as a development project, hailing its benefits to farmers in the altiplano region of Bolivia.  The New York Times article focused on quinoa’s rising popularity abroad making it less [...]

On March 17, MAS party legislators announced that they would make a formal request to remove USAID from Bolivian territory. “We, the legislative party leaders have decided that USAID should leave our country, due to its clear intervention in different departmental governments, their pretext of [providing] seminars, conflict resolution workshops and other excuses for political [...]

On October 11, Bolivia’s Mining Minister Jose Pimentel stated that Bolivia plans to start production of lithium carbonate and potassium chloride for export this month, and expects a finalized product by January or February.[i] However, it is unlikely that Bolivia’s lithium carbonate will be available on the international market in the near future. At an [...]

This Tuesday, June 29, the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations will hold a  confirmation hearing for President Obama’s nomination of Mark Feierstein to head USAID programs in Latin America.   Feierstein, of the firm Greenberg, Quinlan and Rosner, served as a political adviser to former Bolivian president Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada during his 2002 Presidential campaign.  [...]

Hopefully, Assistant Secretary of State, Arturo Valenzuela’s June 1 visit to La Paz will jumpstart efforts to reach and sign a new bilateral framework agreement between Bolivia and the U.S.  A central point of contention continues to be broader transparency and ownership of development aid programs. However, it is not necessary to start from scratch [...]