Andean Information Network

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 [...]

A combination of widespread drought, followed by intense flooding in some regions; accusations of commodities speculation; alleged smuggling operations sending large amounts of contraband Bolivian goods to neighboring nations; worldwide food price increases; plus Bolivian government plans to control the prices of certain staple goods has caused strikes, protests and nation-wide sugar shortages in recent [...]

The U.S. government historically exercised significant political influence through conditioned funding for Bolivia. However, the U.S. budget for Bolivia should shrink substantially in 2012, further limiting an already diminished presence. Reductions in funding and diplomatic involvement could help lay the foundation for an innovative bilateral relationship.
Congress is currently reviewing the Obama administration’s FY 2011 State [...]

This is a follow up to “Conflict and Consensus Part I: The Anti-Racism and Discrimination Law in Bolivia; Content and Justification of the Legislation.”
On January 5, three months after the ratification of the “Law against Racism and all Forms of Discrimination,” the Morales administration approved a supreme decree to establish the implementation guidelines mandated by [...]

Ms. KATHRYN LEDEBUR (Coca Analyst): One of the things you would have to do to address that problem significantly is address international demand for cocaine, and that is something that’s completely out of Bolivia’s hands.
http://www.npr.org/2011/02/04/133489109/Coca-Compost-Boosts-Bolivias-Anti-Drug-Campaign

“Si la administración de Obama está interesada sinceramente en la integridad de la Convención, debería apoyar la enmienda propuesta por Bolivia”, dijo Kathryn Ledebur, directora de AIN, según el comunicado.

PRESS RELEASE
January 28, 2011
The U.S. Can Still Correct its Position
on Bolivia’s UN Coca Chewing Amendment
Civil Society Letter to Secretary of State Clinton Requests that U.S. Government Withdraw its Objection to Bolivia’s Proposal
The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), the Andean Information Network (AIN), and more than 200 other concerned organizations and individuals yesterday sent a [...]

Some regional interest groups, including the Washington Office on Latin America and the Andean Information Network, wrote U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton this week asking the Obama administration to drop its objection to lifting the ban before it’s too late.

On January 26, coca growers and their constituents gathered in cities across Bolivia to hold peaceful demonstrations in support of Bolivia’s proposed amendment to the 1961 United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. The amendment seeks to decriminalize the traditional practice of coca leaf chewing.
Coca growers’ federations from the Chapare region gathered in Cochabamba’s main plaza [...]

In 2011, the newly elected House of Representatives will likely move U.S. foreign policy in Latin America toward intervention. Right-wing politicians in the U.S. maintain close ties with Latin American elite. In recent years, many of these opposition leaders have appealed to U.S. conservative interests in their region, expressing concern about their loss of power [...]