Bolivia

January 3, 2014
Bolivian workers received an unexpected gift this past Christmas: an extra payment equal to one month’s wages, mandated by President Evo Morales on November 20. Is this a redistributive measure to socialize profits, or an electoral strategy to shore up key voting sectors and finance the presidential campaign?
December 31, 2013
In past weeks, the governments of Ecuador and Bolivia moved to shut down or expel major NGOs (non-government organizations) that work on issues of the environment, extractivism, and indigenous rights. Is this a reasoned assertion of sovereignty against foreign intervention or a move against social movements and democracy through an attack on their bases of foreign support?
December 24, 2013
Evo Morales’s 2005 election brought an end to a long period of U.S.-Bolivia relations. Since at least 1952, the United States held Bolivia under its sway as a client state. Although it is important to acknowledge Morales’s push-back against U.S. imperialism, other forms of imperialism loom large.
November 21, 2013
On September 25, Bolivians marked the second anniversary of events at Chaparina, where national police brutally repressed indigenous marchers protesting the construction of a government-proposed highway through the TIPNIS indigenous territory and national park. Two years later, the central question—who ordered the attack?—has not been answered.  
November 18, 2013
Extractives in Latin America aspires to draw attention to reality as represented through Latin American eyes and voices. The politics we explore here may run the gamut from getting access to a canister of propane to cook dinner in Bolivia to the paradoxes linking Argentine nationalism, Chevron, and the U.S.-backed fracking push in the hemisphere.
November 8, 2013
Last month, Bolivians marked the tenth anniversary of "Black October," a watershed moment in a popular uprising that culminated with the election of Evo Morales. Today, both Morales and popular sectors view the legacy of Black October through the lens of their own political agendas.
October 30, 2013
Michael Abbott

At first glance, the TIPNIS road seems to be a domestic issue affecting only Bolivia. Those in favor of the road argue for national development and connectivity, while opponents propose harmonious development that favors the rights and territory of the TIPNIS’s indigenous groups in accordance with Bolivia’s 2009 Constitution. The reality of globalization forces a different reading of the TIPNIS conflict, recognizing the international interests at play and the Morales government’s maneuverings as symptoms of Bolivia’s projection on the world stage.

August 27, 2013
Recent events in Bolivia have reignited continuing tensions over the proposed TIPNIS highway, as indigenous leaders face serious criminal charges and the Morales government has confirmed that undercover police agents infiltrated the landmark 2011 anti-highway mobilization.
August 14, 2013
The saga of Edward Snowden and the “hijacking” of Evo Morales’s presidential jet continues to reverberate in Bolivia, where it has reignited a controversy over Brazil’s grant of political asylum to rightwing politician Roger Pinto.
July 11, 2013
Last week’s grounding of Bolivian President Evo Morales’s plane in Europe, after U.S. officials apparently suspected whistle-blower Edward Snowden of being on board, caused an uproar in Latin America. If the U.S. government was seeking to intimidate Morales and other Latin American leaders who might consider harboring Snowden, its strategy has completely backfired.

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