Bolivia

January 11, 2013
Alfonso Gumucio Dagron

During the first decade of the 21st century, Bolivia’s “classic” newspapers have disappeared. Beyond print, radio has traditionally dominated Bolivia’s media landscape, a reality due in large part to the country’s multiethnic and multicultural makeup. For perhaps the same reason and also because of its high degree of politicization, Bolivia leads the world in community broadcasting.

January 4, 2013
The new eco-thriller, “A Dark Truth,” sensationalizes contemporary conflicts over water rights and environmental justice in Latin America, and disrespects the popular movements that are the main protagonists of those struggles.
December 13, 2012
The Bolivian government’s controversial consultation process in the TIPNIS indigenous territory has concluded. Were the results a triumph for participatory democracy, or a foregone conclusion from a government determined to build a highway through the national park?
November 30, 2012
The tradition of dual residency—between city and countryside, or across national borders—has long been an important survival strategy, and a source of solidarity, for indigenous communities. But in places like Oaxaca, Mexico and the Bolivian highlands, the practice is now becoming a source of conflict, pitting residents, communities, and social sectors against one another in new forms of economic and political competition.
November 16, 2012
Bolivia's new Mother Earth law, enshrining the legal rights of nature, offers a potentially revolutionary tool for groups engaged in environmental conflicts. But critics say the law may help to legitimize the government's neo-extractivist economic model, under the guise of "integral development."
November 1, 2012
Bolivia's successful return to the international credit markets highlights the positive results of President Evo Morales's economic pragmatism, as well as some ironic impacts of the global financial crisis.
October 19, 2012
Bolivian President Evo Morales has signed a new construction contract for the first segment of a controversial highway that would bisect the TIPNIS Indigenous Territory and National Park, ramping up the stakes in the conflict as indigenous resistance and community divisions continue.
October 1, 2012
Rival mineworker factions have signed an agreement with the Bolivian government to end a violent dispute at the Colquiri tin mine. The conflict offers a window into the complexity of Bolivia’s mining sector, and the challenges faced by the government in balancing the competing expectations of salaried and cooperative mineworkers.
September 13, 2012
Almost a year after resigning as Bolivia’s Defense Minister, Cecilia Chacón has broken her silence to question President Evo Morales’ appointment of ex-Interior Minister Sacha Llorenti as ambassador to the UN—an act which, she says, signifies impunity for those responsible for the police repression of lowland indigenous marchers last September 25 at Chaparina.
August 30, 2012
Five days past its official deadline and with less than half the communities polled, the consultation process on the Bolivian government’s proposed highway through the TIPNIS has ground to a halt amidst continuing controversy and local resistance. Meanwhile, tensions are mounting over the perceived militarization of the TIPNIS.

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