President Evo Morales yet yesterday with the leaders of the Conisur march who want to abolish the recently passed Ley Corta, or Short Law in which the government “forever” renounced its plan to build a Brazilian-funded highway through this protected Amazonian Nationan Park and Indigenous homeland. Conisur represents 21 of the 60 mostly indigenous community [...]

Bolivia’s Minister of Planning, Viviana Caro said today that Brazilian company OAS will continue building segments I and III of the infamous Amazon highway that the Bolivian government had agreed not to build after a march by indigenous protestors. Now, just three months after President Evo Morales agreed to demands that the would not be [...]

Intense rains have left streets and homes in outlying neighborhoods of Santa Cruz and Trinidad under water according to regional authroities. The Santa Cruz representative of Neighborhood Committees, Abad Lino, said that people are walking “with water up to their necks” because of the recent days of rain. Many poor neighborhoods have no sewers or [...]

The main group representing lowland and Amazonian indigenous peoples in Bolivia, CIDOB, has declared an emergency as the government-controlled legislature prepares to consider modifying the “Ley Corta” or Short Law passed to protest Isiboro Securé national park from a planned highway through it. Coca growers from Chaparé have marched to the capital, demanding that the [...]

The Spanish newspaper El País named Bolivian indigenous leader Fernando Vargas as one to the top 100 most important people of the Hispanic world of 2011. Bolivia’s President, Evo Morales, was not included on the list, nor were any other Bolivians. El Pais describes Vargas as “The Indian that turned to face Evo Morales.” Other [...]

In Bolivia, more than half of the population—around 5.2 million people—live in poverty, and 2.7 million of those people live in extreme poverty. This data was contained in a 2011 report about human development from the United Nations Development Program, presented yesterday in the Bolivian foreign ministry. It recommended that Bolivia improve its policies against [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Just days after a freak hailstorm that left almost two feet on hail and destroyed dozens of homes in Arque, the first tornado ever reported in Cochabamba destroyed 20 homes in Pucara on the Southern outskirts of the city. The destructive funnel sent walls, roofs, and sheet metal sailing into the air and one witness [...]

An extremely intense localized hail storm pounded 13 rural villages in the Arque region of Cochabamba, leaving over 60 centimeters (almost two feet) of hail on the ground. The Cochabamba department has declared this an emergency as reports of intense flooding, hundreds of homeless families and over 20 hectares of damaged crops emerge. The hail [...]