The government’s response to massive protests repeats old tropes of smearing the organizers as criminals. Labels like “urban terrorist” or “extreme vandals” aim to justify the excessive repression.
Drought and political divisions are limiting access to water in the Cochabamba Valley. Will social movements mobilize again to protect this basic right?
Anti-extractivism protests in South America are sometimes oversimplified to "rural communities vs. big government." This framing overlooks movements' internal complexities and alternative proposals.
Over the past 40 years, Bolivia has experienced an average of one “social conflict” per day, according to a recent report that measures episodes of conflict reported in the press. Underlying these statistics is the defining role played by Bolivia’s social movements—arguably the most powerful and combative in the hemisphere—in the country’s political history.
