Andean Information Network

Since the legal recognition of community justice in the 2009 constitution, Bolivia’s political opposition and the press have repeatedly blamed Morales administration legal reform initiatives for a supposed increase in lynching. For example, the Economist asserted: “Many rural Bolivians have no access to the courts. The new constitution drawn up by Mr. Morales’s party and approved in [...]

Jeffrey Sachs casts himself as the US’s ‘progressive’ candidate to head the World Bank, and from his analysis it’s clear that he is a better economist than historian. Nothing reveals this more plainly than reviewing some of the ‘facts’ on Bolivia in his Economic Reforms in Bolivia, Poland in the 80s and 90s, A Look [...]

The protracted conflict over road construction through the Isiboro Sécure National Park and Indigenous Territory (TIPNIS) has stemmed, in large part, from the government’s failure to first consult the affected indigenous communities as required by the 2009 Bolivian Constitution. In an effort to ease tensions, a congressional commission has retroactively defined draft legislation for “prior consultation” [...]

Insight Crime’s “Massive Overcrowding Allows Bolivia’s Prison Gangs to Flourish” accurately highlights some of the endemic problems faced by Bolivia’s prisons. Yet, the crisis is not new; it began soon after the passage of drug control Law 1008, when the prison population swelled with prisoners detained on low-level drug charges. At the peak of the [...]

An ongoing municipal conflict in Yapacaní, in the Santa Cruz department, exploded on January 11, leading to three civilian deaths. In March 2011, a group of council members suspended MAS Mayor David Carvajal due to accusations of corruption, a common occurrence in Bolivia local governments.  However, their suspension did not properly follow legal procedures and [...]

The Economist’s January 7th article, “Rough Justice: The wrong way to reform the courts,” offers a misleading picture of Bolivia’s recent judicial elections. While the newly elected magistrates face real challenges in renewing the Bolivian public’s faith in the national justice system, this article erroneously claims that appointed judges would were be better suited to [...]

On October 13, the Bolivian congress approved a new law to protect the contested TIPNIS indigenous territory and national park, temporary halting construction of the planned highway.  However, TIPNIS marchers, who are expected to arrive in La Paz next week after a two-month march on foot from the lowlands, reject the legislation, particularly because its [...]

On September 25 at 5 pm, approximately 500 Bolivian police officers tear-gassed and used excessive force against camping indigenous protestors outside of Yucumo, in Beni Department.   Initial reports listed one child dead and multiple wounded,[i] although human rights groups have not confirmed any casualties.   The violent police action presents the most dramatic example yet in [...]

On August 30, immediately following the “Black October” verdict, convicting five military officials and two ex-ministers for 68 killings in October 2003, the defense team of ex-president Sánchez de Lozada, disseminated a press release claiming the  trial was politicized and the verdict invalid.  Sánchez de Lozada, along with three former ministers who are also defendants [...]

This afternoon, the Supreme Court decided the final verdict in the trial of 5 military officials and 2-ex ministers for 68 killings in October 2003. The court found all officials unanimously guilty of genocide (in Bolivia this term means the killing of three or more people). The sentences are as follows: Generals Claros & Veliz 15 [...]