MAS Holds Four Seats at the Supreme Electoral Tribunal 
| La Razon, August 16, 2010 -- Three members appointed by the legislature and a representative of the Executive were in office yesterday and today they lead the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE). President Evo Morales demanded transparency and claimed that the outgoing CNE had "stolen" three MAS seats. |
"We Will Move Gradually to Gain Access to the Sea (With Sovereignty)"
| La Razon, August 16, 2010 -- Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca spoke to La Razon in his office. For nearly an hour he spoke about the new diplomatic policy facing the Government with certain countries. He referred specifically to Chile, Peru and United States. |
Former Vice President Calls Intelligence Work "Deplorable"
| El Mundo, August 16, 2010 -- Former Vice President Victor Hugo Cardenas notes that there is deplorable intelligence work in the Ministry of Government which misinforms the President, Evo Morales and causes the government to commit grave mistakes in its management. |
Urupabol Reaffirms Energy Integration Policy
| Los Tiempos, August 16, 2010 -- The presidents of Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay, which form the integration mechanism, Urupabol, reaffirmed their commitment yesterday in Asuncion toward achieving the integration of the three countries, especially in the energy sector. |
Governments Divided Over U.S. Military Bases
| El Mundo, August 16, 2010 -- President Evo Morales said that existing U.S. military bases in Latin America are another way to divide the presidents of South American governments. |
Peruvian Newspaper Claims Evo and Chavez are Training Terrorists
La Opinion, August 11. 2010 -- An annual report on terrorism presented by the United States Department of State reveals the existence of Shining Path and Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) camps within Bolivian territory, where military training is also taking place; therefore, it is assumed this has been approved by Evo Morales' government, indicates Peruvian newspaper "La Razón."
Urkupiña: Absence of Political Figures
| Los Tiempos, Cochabamba, August 16, 2010 -- Parliament opponents converged around the liturgy of the feast of Urkupiña and did not miss the opportunity to note two felt absences: The Head of State Evo Morales, who declined to attend the celebration, and the former prefect of Cochabamba, Manfred Reyes Villa, who hosted the event a year ago and is now in exile in the U.S. |
Bolivian miners dynamite glacier for gold
| Sify News (EFE), August 16, 2010 -- A Bolivian mining cooperative has been carrying out dynamite blasts on the Altiplano glacier to dig out gold, a move that is causing water supply problems for people, a community leader has alleged. Eight Indian communities are now threatening to remove the miners from the area by force. |
Jessica Anne Jordan Burton: beauty queen defies cartel beasts in Bolivia's war on cocaine
| The Observer, August 15, 2010 -- Former model Jessica Anne Jordan Burton has been appointed viceroy with the job of cleaning up the drug-infested border province of Beni. In such a world, Jessica Anne Jordan Burton cuts a somewhat incongruous figure. The 26-year-old British-born former model and beauty queen has become a controversial figurehead in Bolivia's increasingly fraught campaign against cocaine barons. |
Bolivia says near deal to end miners' protest
| Reuters, August 15, 2010 -- Bolivia's government and protest leaders said on Sunday they were close to a deal to end demonstrations in the poor South American nation that forced the closure of two of the world's top silver deposits. |
Bolivia in talks to end protests hitting key mines
| Reuters, August 14, 2010 -- The Bolivian government began talks early on Saturday seeking to end protests that have hurt output at two of the world's top silver mines. The government and the demonstrators, who want an increase in public spending in the mineral-rich Potosi region, both said they were hopeful an agreement could be reached. The more than two weeks of protests have hurt the mining industry in Bolivia, a major global producer of zinc, silver, tin and lead. |
Aussie tourists escape striking Bolivian mining town
| Traveller, August 13, 2010 -- Three Australian tourists have escaped from a historic mining city in Bolivia, more than two weeks after local protesters blockaded the region in a dispute over land and mine closures. |
With New Members, Analysts Portend Dubious Elections
| Los Tiempos, August 17, 2010 -- The lack of qualified candidates to operationalize elections, the selection of questionable candidates for the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) and the forced extension of the mandate of the current judicial authorities planted more doubts than certainties about future elections of representatives to the country's courts. In addition, the national voice appointed by President Evo Morales, Wilfredo Ovando, was elected president of the TSE yesterday at its first session. |
Merchants Want to Revoke Evo's Mandates; They Announce Firmly
| Los Tiempos, August 17, 2010 -- Shouting, "Unions to your feet, never on your knees," and, "A referendum to recall Evo," the members of the Confederation of Bolivia Retailers, gathered in Santa Cruz, gave an ultimatum to the government yesterday to annul any possibility of confiscating goods in the markets and announced the opening of books for signatures in support of a referendum to recall President Evo Morales. |
Conflict Fades, But the Wounds Remain
| Los Tiempos, August 17, 2010 -- After 19 days of conflict in Potosi, analysts and opposition lawmakers agreed to declare the Government as the "loser," while Potosinos, in addition to celebrating a massive concentration of the agreements reached with the Government in Sucre, yesterday sealed a regional union that officialdom could not fracture. |
Farmers Give Evo Until Tomorrow
| Los Tiempos, August 17, 2010 -- The Federation of Rural Workers in La Paz "Tupac Katari" gave a deadline of tomorrow to President Evo Morales for the removal of five ministers of his cabinet, otherwise they will launch a demonstration of road blocks with an unlimited timeline. The news came from Leonardo Calcina, executive secretary of this organization which includes members from the 20 La Paz provinces. |
Korea makes small progress over Bolivian lithium
| The Korea Times, August 17, 2010 -- Korea is likely to sign a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) over the right to extract lithium from Lake Uyuni with Bolivia later this month when President Evo Morales visits Seoul. |
WRAPUP 1-Top mines back online after Bolivia protests end
| Reuters, August 17, 2010 -- The world's top pure silver mine, San Bartolome, has resumed production in Bolivia, owner Coeur D'Alene said on Tuesday, a day after demonstrators ended protests that brought mines in the Andean country to a halt. |
Sumitomo Says Resumes Zinc Mine Operations in Bolivia
| Bloomberg, August 16, 2010 -- Sumitomo Corp., Japan's third- largest trading house, said it resumed operations at its zinc, silver and lead mine in Bolivia as protesters suspended road blockades after threatening to cut power to the site. |
Permanent Assembly for Human Rights Accuses Llorenty of Deaths in Caranavi
| Opinión, August 18, 2010 -- The Permanent Assembly for Human Rights of Bolivia (APDHB) accused the government on Tuesday of violating constitutional liberties and human rights in the tragic events in Caranavi (La Paz). |
Former President Arrested for Drugs
| La Razon, August 18, 2010 -- The former de facto president Juan Pereda Asbun (1978) was arrested last night by police in Santa Cruz, where he was found in possession of controlled substances. Initially he was accused of lewd acts on a public thoroughfare. "The prosecution asked that an expert study be made to the former President (Pereda) to determine his state of consciousness. Thus, the laboratory provides us with the conclusion that Asbún Pereda was under the effects of cocaine," the fiscal tax coordinator of the Special Victims Unit in Santa Cruz, Francisca Rivero, informed media outlets. |
Governor Doubts the Transparency of the New Court
| El Mundo, August 18, 2010 -- Santa Cruz Governor Ruben Costas Aguilera regretted that the recently appointed members of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) have already shown their affiliation to the ruling party. This, after seeing that court member Zuna Valentine, upon taking oath, raised his fist, as member of the MAS party often do. |
Four Mayors are Dismissed by Prosecution
| La Prensa, August 18, 2010 -- The mayor of Bermejo, Tarija, Delflor Burgos Aguirre, yesterday became the fourth municipal authority, nationally, to be temporarily suspended from his duties because of an indictment of prosecutor. |
Government Denies Defeat at Potosi and the Crisis Comes to MAS
| La Prensa, August 18, 2010 -- The Government yesterday denied its defeat in the conflict with Potosi and decried the mobilization of 19 days and accused it of being political and dull. However, the mess sparked a crisis within the MAS party, while the civic Potosinos accused the Executive of seeking a climate of instability and seizure. |
Unions Threaten a National Strike and Recall Referendum
| El Mundo, August 18, 2010 -- The union sector, after its national expansion, which concluded yesterday in our city, were determined to find space to negotiate with the government regarding the Customs Act, prior to implementing pressured measures. The negotiating committee was elected and is composed of delegates from Oruro, Cochabamba, La Paz and Santa Cruz. They announced blockades and closures of markets in the event of not being heard, in addition to holding a referendum to revoke the mandate of President Evo Morales. |
Bolivian ex-leader arrested 'on cocaine'
| The Sydney Morning Herald, August 19, 2010 -- A former de facto president of Bolivia was arrested following complaints he had engaged in obscene acts in public and was found to be under the effects of cocaine, a prosecutor in eastern Santa Cruz said on Wednesday. |
Cuban medical team winds up Bolivia mission
| The Voice of Russia, August 18, 2010 -- More than 200 Cuban doctors and paramedics are back home from Bolivia, where they spent 18 months in remote areas bringing help to over 10 thousand patients and providing health advice to 15 hundred thousand households. |
Jindal Steel to start project in Bolivia
| The Economic Times (India), August 17, 2010 -- Jindal Steel & Power has secured over three-fourths of the land required to build its $2.1-billion steel and power plant in Bolivia that allows it to kickstart the delayed project, said a person with direct knowledge of the development. |
Defense chiefs of China, Bolivia pledge stronger military ties
| Xinhua English News (China), August 17, 2010 -- China and Bolivia on Tuesday pledged to expand military ties by maintaining exchanges and strengthening officer training.The pledge came out of the hour-long talks between Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie and his Bolivian counterpart Ruben Saavedra, who is on a week-long visit to China. |
Social Forum Celebrates, Consolidates Change in Latin America
| The Huffington Post, August 17, 2010 -- Flags of all colors waved over the festive multitudes marching through the streets Wednesday at the opening ceremonies of the Fourth Social Forum of the Americas; Andean music and incense smoke drifted through the air as Bolivian women in their black bowler hats and pleated polleros mixed with university professors, development workers and dreadlocked youth. |
Britons freed from Bolivian blockade
| Telegraph (UK), August 18, 2010 -- A general strike in Potosi, Bolivia, which trapped at least five Britons for nearly three weeks, has ended. Tens of thousands of people, including at least 30 foreigners, had been trapped behind roadblocks in Potosi, a mountainous city in Bolivia. |
Fire: Government Asks for Foreign Help
| Los Tiempos, August 19, 2010 -- Six forest fires in four departments in the country cannot be controlled. Yesterday, the Governor of Santa Cruz declared a state of emergency. The Government admitted that the magnitude and rapid spread of the fire have exceeded their capacity to contain them, so they have requested seaplanes from the governments of Argentina and Brazil. |
FELCN Found 87 Kilos of Drugs in Truck's Diesel Tank
| Opinión, August 19, 2010 -- The discovery was made in the toll station Epizana where the FELCN installed a mobile gate to control the movement of controlled substances. The yellow truck stopped with license plate 2017-XER is now in FELCN custody because investigations are still underway. |
Prison System Director Denounces Pressures from Llorenti and Resigns
| Opinión, August 19, 2010 -- The director general of the Prison System, Wilson Soria, resigned on Wednesday and denounced the "pressures" of the Government Minister Sacha Llorenti, to transfer German Dirk Schmidt to a prison in La Paz, who is being processed as a suspected arms dealer and for working with former officials of the ministry of state to blackmail Mennonite settlers in Bolivia. |
"Behind the Trade Unions are Contraband Dealers"
| El Mundo, August 19, 2010 -- The former Minister of the Presidency and current director of the Agency for the Development of Border Regions (Ademaf), Juan Ramon Quintana, referred to the union sector's approach to conduct a referendum to revoke the mandate of the President, Evo Morales. |
'This is a Clear Shot to Democracy' Say Santa Cruz Citizens
| El Mundo, August 19, 2010 -- "What we could not win at the polls, the ruling party wants to win by accusing judicially and pursuing politically those who do not share its retrograde ideologies," said the Chairman of the Committee for Santa Cruz, Luis Nunez. |
"They Want to Decapitate the Opposition" Says Governor Costas
| El Mundo, August 19, 2010 -- Governor Ruben Costas, with respect to the suspension of Joaquino René, said that what the government wants is to decapitate the opposition. "It's part of the judicialization of policy, it's part of the project to monopolize all the power, justice is already taken, they will now take the Electoral Courts and already have all the power," said the highest authority of the department at a time to assert that these laws are for ending any vestige of democracy. |
Minister of Government Surrounded by Allegations
| Los Tiempos, August 19, 2010 -- A new complaint against the Interior Minister, Sacha Llorenti, yesterday joined the already existing number of allegations against that authority. |
Former Bolivian dictator arrested on exposure charge, government says
| CNN, August 19, 2010 -- A former Bolivian dictator has been arrested on a charge that he exposed himself to a group of children and has been sent to a drug rehabilitation center, the state-run news agency reported. |
Wildfires rage in four Bolivian states; emergency declared in one
| CNN, August 19, 2010 -- A state of emergency has been declared in Bolivia's Santa Cruz state, one of four states in the nation battling wildfires, the state-run news agency reported. The fires have burned more than 3.7 milion acres (1.5 million hectares) in the past few weeks and are advancing "dangerously" in four of the nation's nine states, the government's ABI news service said Wednesday. |
Fidel Receives Cuban Medical Brigade
| Ahora, August 18, 2010 -- Leader of the Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro was at Havana''s international airport to welcome home the Moto Mendez solidarity medical brigade, which carried out a psychological and clinical-genetic survey of disabilities in Bolivia, the local media reported on Wednesday. |
Smoke Threatens Health in Cities and Affects 72% of Airports
| La Prensa, August 20, 2010 -- Smoke from fires has come to cities across the country and affects the operation of 72 percent of airports and airfields. Therefore, Pando was the second department to declare a state of emergency because the of effects of fire. |
Morales Warns Oil Companies Not to Conspire Against Him
La Prensa, August 20, 2010 -- The president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, said again yesterday that oil companies are not involved in politics or conspire against him, and asked them to meet their investment commitments, while one of his ministers announced new changes to energy laws.
Costas Confirms Statements about Álvaro García Linera
| La Prensa, August 20, 2010 -- Santa Cruz Gov. Ruben Costas, yesterday confirmed his statements about Vice President Álvaro García Linera, before La Paz prosecutor Rosario Venegas. Costas, after testifying before Venegas for more than two hours for the two allegations of contempt that weigh against him, returned to assert his claims about what he thinks of the Vice President. |
President Evo Morales Speaks of "Conspirators and Traitors"
| El Diario, August 20, 2010 -- President Evo Morales surprised the political class and the public by displaying a different view of the political situation that led to the long conflict with Potosi and the internal crisis facing the Ministry of Government. He spoke of the existence of conspirators and traitors infiltrating the government at a time to ratify his cabinet while circumventing the social requirements for changing ministers. |
Fires Affecting Rivers, Fauna and Flora
| El Diario, August 20, 2010 -- The devastation of the flora, the extinction of the fauna in four departments of the country, and the effects on river flows as a result of uncontrolled forest fires so far, Because of the heightened danger, caused concern among the population. |
Evo Supports Minister Sacha Llorenti
Los Tiempos, August 20, 2010 -- President Evo Morales said yesterday it was wrong to have appointed to the post of General Director of Prison Systems, Wilson Soria, and sent Sacha Llorenti back to the Ministry of Government. "It was a political decision of the Minister Sacha Llorenti to transfer the German citizen to La Paz," argued the president.
After years of asserting who headed the government of social movements, Evo Morales has finally begun the phase where he takes full power, without unnecessary searches by consensus.
Opposition Denounces Political Persecution
| La Razón, August 20, 2010 -- Authorities reported political persecution from the government through the establishment of trials. The reaction came after the complaint toward Governor Mario Cossio and the suspension of the mayor of Potosi, René Joaquino. Cossio, who is processed for completing, in 2008, the referendum on autonomy statutes, said that "in reality this deals with an action beyond political character, beyond judicialization, and of persecution of policial leaders who are not in line with the National Government." |
Farmers Threaten to Besiege La Paz Since Monday
| Opinión, ASugust 20, 2010 -- Departmental Federation of Peasant Workers of La Paz (Fdutclp) "Tupac Katari" threatened on Thursday to besiege the city of La Paz starting next Monday, for breach of their demands, including the change of five ministers. |
Jindal Steel gets land for projects in Bolivia
| The Hindu (India), August 21, 2010 -- Naveen Jindal-owned Jindal Steel, Bolivia, a subsidiary of Jindal Steel and Power, on Friday announced that it had got 3,000 acres additionally to flag off its $2.1-billion steel and power plant in Santa Cruz area of Bolivia. |
Brazil Pumped amid New Hydrocarbon Discovery
| Americas Society, August 19, 2010 -- In a move that could impact foreign policy on top of energy policy, Brazil last week announced the discovery of a massive natural gas reserve a few miles off its northeastern coast. The hydrocarbon field was found on August 11 by Brazilian oil and gas giant OGX Petroleo e Gas Participacoes SA in the underexplored Parnaiba Basin and contains an estimated 15 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. |
Another opposition mayor goes in Bolivia
Latinnews Daily, August 19, 2010 -- On 18 August the popular thrice-elected mayor of Potosí, René Joaquino of the local left-wing opposition outfit Alianza Social (AS), was suspended by the local council for alleged corruption involving the irregular purchase of second-hand vehicles under a previous term. Joaquino is the fifth opposition mayor to be suspended under the recently approved Autonomy Law, which includes a provision preventing officials facing “formal accusations” from taking up (or remaining in) their posts. |