Andean Information Network

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL NEWSFLASH 30 October 2012 Bolivia: Chilling attack on radio journalist A radio journalist in southern Bolivia is said to be in critical condition after several masked men broke into his studio and set him alight while he was on the air on Monday. The attack on Fernando Vidal, 78, who owns and is [...]

In late May 2012, conflict erupted in Colquiri, a mining district about 350km south of La Paz.  Salaried and cooperative miners who work in different areas of the same mine struggled to control territory.  Although the government, salaried workers, and cooperative miners reached an agreement on June 19th, conflict reemerged in September as cooperative and [...]

  Escrito por Kathryn Ledebur, Directora de la Red Andina de Información (AIN, siglas en inglés) y Coletta A. Youngers, Asesora Principal de WOLA Los críticos literarios citan Las Aventuras de Alicia en el País de las Maravillas como uno de los mejores ejemplos del género “literatura del absurdo”. El intento por parte del gobierno [...]

  AIN-WOLA Joint Commentary By Kathryn Ledebur, Director of the Andean Information Network and Coletta A. Youngers, Senior Fellow, Washington Office on Latin America   Literary critics cite Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland as one of the best examples of the “literary nonsense” genre. The U.S. government’s attempt to cast Bolivia’s recent drug control progress as [...]

Link to pdf of the 2012 White House Presidential Determination 2012-15      

The Wall Street Journal’s recent article from August 1st, “Jailed American’s Drug Case Stokes Tension With Bolivia,” fails to acknowledge the many discrepancies in the Ostreicher case, dramatically exaggerates the effect the case has had on Bolivian-US relations, and contrives false connections between Ostreicher’s case and other drug-related cases.  Prolonged pretrial detention and harsh conditions [...]

Prison Detainees in Bolivia: Bad Fruit of a Slow Judiciary System On June 3, 2011, the Bolivian antidrug police arrested Jacob Ostreicher, an Orthodox Jew from Brooklyn, New York, for money laundering and involvement with drug trafficking.  Ostreicher, a flooring contractor who had invested in a rice-growing agricultural venture, had come to Santa Cruz to [...]

Although the case of Jacob Ostreicher, an American accused of money laundering and awaiting trial in Bolivia for over a year, has received recurring attention in the US press and has been taken on by several US members of Congress, it has not been a defining factor in US-Bolivia relations.  First, strong statements about Ostreicher’s [...]

Bolivian Mining Conflict in Mallku Khota: Analysis The violent conflict around the Mallku Khota mining area and subsequent nationalization of the mineral deposit highlight the recurring issues in Bolivia of consultation, resource competition, and the role of transnational corporations.  The conflict is complex, and many aspects remain unclear.  An administration that ran on a platform [...]

The several violent, reoccurring conflicts in northern Potosí over the presence of a Canadian mining company have finally been at least temporarily resolved by an agreement by the Morales government to rescind South American Silver’s mining concession.  After multiple violent clashes between community members, various demonstrations, a march to La Paz, three different hostage situations, [...]