Yesterday, the Bolivian National Load Dispatch (CNDC), the state entity responsible for the nation’s energy grid, ordered distribution companies and large businesses to ration power, which had the immediate repercussions of blackouts in Santa Cruz, La Paz, Cochabamba, Oruro, Potosí, and Sucre. In a announcement to the entire nation, the CNDC reported that the determination [...]

The national 24-hour strike by the COB, Bolivia’s largest labor union, in support of the Tipnis indigenous protestors, partially started today, although the main capitals of the scity have not yet began to feel its effect. Union workers said that it the strike will apply more pressure throughout the morning. The executive secretary of the [...]

The exportation of Bolivian woods is diminishing: From January to August 2011, the sale of wood products (including laminates, doors, cut wood, floors, and furniture) has dropped more than US$10 million, principally to markets in the United States and China, a result of timber regulations, legal insecurity, and the pace of forest-origination certifications, according to [...]

Today ex-Brazilian President Lula Da Silva will meet with President Evo Morales to talk about important subjects such as the Brazilian-financed Amazonian highway Morales is constructing through a national park despite furious indigenous opposition. They will have dinner together and then Lula will attend an international economic forum. Lula’s visit corresponds with an indigenous march [...]

Today, the Ministry of Public Finances and Economics reported that Bolivians in Tarija department have the highest income in the country, with US$3,920 earned annually per capita. Residents in Oruro earn US$2,159 annually per capita, and Pando residents US$1,965. Also according to official data released today, residents in Santa Cruz department earned US$1,731 annually per [...]

Petrobras, the state-owned Brazilian oil company, has ruled out selling its assets in Bolivia, according to a Reuters article. Petrobras CEO Jose Sergio Gabrielli said last week that the company would sell off US$13.6 billion in assets, leading to speculation that its properties in Bolivia would be on the chopping block. But asked yesterday if [...]

The president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Luis Alberto Moreno, recognized yesterday the strength of the Bolivian economy, and signaled that it was one of the few countries that resisted the 2009 international financial crisis with positive growth. Subsequently, Moreno approved a new line of credit for Bolivia to the tune of US$256 million. [...]

The president of the Inter-American Development Bank, Luis Alberto Moreno, will visit Bolivia for two days starting tomorrow. In addition to promoting his new book, The Latin American Decade: A Real Opportunity, Moreno will meet with Bolivian President Evo Morales to discuss a cooperation agreement, among other subjects, such as a credit line for the [...]

Yesterday in Mexico City, the Ethos Foundation presented its poverty index, which showed that Bolivia is the poorest of the eight Latin American countries that were analyzed en the last three years. Ecuador and Venezuela follow Bolivia on the list. Chile, on the other hand, is at the other extreme. The presentation of the report [...]

July has seen a spike in ATM copying crimes in Santa Cruz, with 17 reported cases in less than two weeks. Prosecutor Carlos Gutiérrez said that officials are investigating and some of these cases may be related to a gang of card thieves that was broken up in May, led by a Chinese national. That [...]