Bolivia Weekly » Business & Economy

Tarija Strike Over Gas Fields Continue

Matthew Grace — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:10:41 +0000

After ten hours of dialogue, the delegation from Tarija walked out of negotiations with the representatives of Chuquisaca department and the Bolivian government, rejecting the accord that would share revenues from the Margarita gas fields between the Tarija and Chuquisaca departments.

At the root of the conflict is the hiring of a U.S. company, Gaffney Cline & Associates, to survey the gas field and determine how royalties are shared between the two bordering departments.

Twenty-six people are on hunger strike in Tarija to protest the surveyor, and strikes have paralyzed the capital city. Meanwhile, border crossings into Argentina and Paraguay have been closed, interrupting shipping and stranding tourists.

To learn more in Spanish see: http://www.lostiempos.com/diario/actualidad/nacional/20120126/tarija-abandona-dialogo-y-gobierno-advierte-con-iniciar-estudio-en-campo_158105_330047.html

Roadblocks in Tarija to Protest Gas Study

Matthew Grace — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:10:16 +0000

Civic leaders in Tarija have called for a strike and blockade of international routes linking that department to border crossings to Paraguay and Argentina. Preliminary reports confirm that the international bridge at Bermejo, linking to Aguas Blancas in Argentina, is closed, and the capital city of Tarija is undergoing a general strike in the city center.

Tarijeños are upset at a study by the U.S. firm Gaffney Cline & Associates, which determined that the Margarita gas fields extend beyond departmental territory, resulting in lost royalties in hydrocarbon production for the department. Tarijeño civic leaders are also questioning the legality of hiring the U.S. firm, and the scope of the company’s study.

To learn more in Spanish see:

http://www.eldeber.com.bo/2012/2012-01-19/vernotaahora.php?id=120119112111

Bolivia to Invest in Coca-Tea Plant to Fight Diabetes

Matthew Grace — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:55:55 +0000

The Bolivian government will install an industrial pant to produce mate–or tea–based on the coca leaf to be used by physicians in the treatment of diabetes and obesity.

Germain Loza, the deputy minister of Coca and Integral Development, said that the project will produce mate from the dried leaves of the coca plant, which will be crushed and sweetened with stevia, a South American–native plant used as a noncaloric sweetener.

The annual production capacity of the plant will be 92 tons of packaged tea bags for domestic consumption. A box of twenty tea bags will cost slightly less than US$1.

Loza said that the Bolivian government will invest Bs.3.4 million in the project, or approximately US$500,000.

To learn more in Spanish see:

http://www.la-razon.com/sociedad/Bolivia-elaborara-base-tratar-diabetes_0_1543645690.html

Almaraz Proposes Prohibiting Foreign Land Ownership

admin — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:52:11 +0000

Bolivia former vice-minister of Lands, Alejandro Almaraz, said that the solution to Bolivia’s land ownership problems is to prohibit the sale of land to foreigners. “It seems valid to me to at least consider the legal prohibition of foreigners owning land, just like it is prohibited in Brazil,” said Almaraz.

Gonzalo Colque, director of the Land Foundation, said that more than one million hectares, including much of Bolivia’s most productive farm land, belong to foreigners; primarily Brazilians, Argentinians and Colombians. Colque said that a large black market for land exists and that the government should do more to control the situation. The government is currently in a “sanitizing” process to validate and clarify land ownership titles through 2013 but Colque indicated that many land owners acquired their vast properties through corrupt government privatizations.

To learn more in Spanish see: http://www.erbol.com.bo/noticia.php?identificador=2147483953399

Amazonian Highway Work Halted

admin — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 13:35:11 +0000

Construction on segments 1 and 3 of the Amazonian Highway, has finally ceased weeks after the government promised to suspend all activity. The government has not been paying its agree-upon disbursements of money to the Brazilian construction company and the workers have declared a state of emergency. Representatives of the Bolivian Highway Administration (ABC) denied this report and said that paving will continue on the segments that are partly completed. Bolivia agreed to borrow $332 million (of a total of $415 million) from Brazil to pay Brazilian workers to build this highway through a protected indigenous homeland in the Isiboro Securé National Park that caused an uproar among indigenous tribes living in the park who marched to the capital and stopped the construction. Today coca-growing unions will protest the halting of this road which was planned to lead from their main town of Villa Tunari (Evo Morales’ hometown) in the jungle to San Ignacio de Moxos, a small village in the Amazon.

To learn more see: http://www.erbol.com.bo/noticia.php?identificador=2147483953022

Investment in Hydrocarbon Industry at Record High

Matthew Grace — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 17:08:22 +0000

Bolivia’s hydrocarbon industry saw a record in investment in 2011, according to YPFB, the state-run natural gas company. US$1.05 billion was invested for the year through November, with YPFB investing US$647 million and companies with operating contracts investing $400 million, according to a statement from the company. This reflects a quadrupling of investment since 2005, from US$247 million.

To learn more in English see:

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-12-01/bolivia-hydrocarbons-industry-sees-record-investment-ypfb-says.html

Argentina-Bolivia Border at Bermejo Blocked

Matthew Grace — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 15:27:34 +0000

Campesinos in the Bermejo municipality of Tarija department blocked the international roadway joining Bolivia and Argentina in order to demand payment from the state’s Prosol program.

The campesinos took the measure in order to pressure the governor of Tarija, Lino Condori. The head of Prosol in Bermejo, Agapo Hoyos, said that there are no resources nor rules to fulfill the payment request.

To learn more in Spanish see:

http://www.erbol.com.bo/noticia.php?identificador=2147483952670

Coca Growers Will Pay No Taxes

admin — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 14:21:37 +0000

Juanita Ancieta, the president of the coordinating committee of the Six Federations of the Cochabamba Tropics, said yesterday that they do not agree with any ideas or plans of taxing coca production. Ancieta said that they would certainly support the Bolivian state, but just no through taxes, and that the government should look for some other way for them to help. Last May, the Vice-Minister of Coca, Germán Loza Navia, told Erbol radio that the government was studying several proposals of how to implement a tax on coca production. At this time no taxes exist for coca producers and the coca farmers have vowed to fight any attempts to impose a tax upon their production.

To learn more in Spanish see: http://www.erbol.com.bo/noticia.php?identificador=2147483952267

Strike and Blockades in Oruro to Pressure Gov. in Land Dispute

Matthew Grace — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 17:08:11 +0000

In the department of Oruro, several civic and social organizations have begun a three-day strike a closure of national and international roads to call on the government to solve a border dispute between Quillacas, Oruro, and Coroma, Potosí, both of which are vying for an area rich in Limestone.

The president of the Oruro Civic Committee, Sonia Saavedra, said, “Brothers and sisters are together in order to reclaim the territory of our department, the wealth and future of our children.”

Meanwhile, in the early hours of Monday morning, the bus terminal in the city of La Paz suspended interdepartmental ticket sales and service to Oruro due to the strike and road blockades.

To learn more in Spanish see:

http://www.erbol.com.bo/noticia.php?identificador=2147483951942

Tipnis Situation Continues to Provoke Reactions on Both Sides

Matthew Grace — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:55:20 +0000

The conflict in the Tipnis indigenous and ecological reserve continues, even after Bolivian President Evo Morales signed a law on October 24 prohibiting the construction of the Cochabamba-Beni highway, a project that mobilized marches and protests throughout the country until its cancellation.

Indigenous representative Pedro Nuni said that Morales is attempting to amend the new law in order to continue the construction of the Villa Tunari–San Ignacio de Moxos highway. Morales’s cocalero base of support in Villa Tunari still wants to see the highway constructed.

Additionally, the Bolivian government has suspended the licensing of a tourist enterprise in the park, Unlimited Angling, a catch-and-release fishing resort. The Suri, Rodrigues, and ISIG Huanca timber companies have also had their licenses revoked.

Cintia Silva, the deputy minister of the environment, said the licenses were revoked because of the questionable legal status of of originally granting them.

To learn more in Spanish see:

http://www.lostiempos.com/diario/actualidad/economia/20111111/indigenas-critican-a-evo-por-hacer-campana-para-continuar-con-la-carretera_149039_308831.html

http://www.la-razon.com/version.php?ArticleId=140966&EditionId=2712