Bolivian government minister Sacha Llorenti said that neither he nor President Evo Morales ordered the police intervention on the indigenous marchers that occurred this Sunday in San Miguel de Chaparina. According to Llorenti, the order was given by Marcos Farfán, who today resigned from his position as deputy minister of government. He will be investigated [...]

President Morales announced last night that he is temporarily suspending work on the contested section II of the Amazonian highway for a “national debate” over the route of the road through the Isiboro Securé National Park. Indigenous leaders were angered by this measure, saying that they do not want the road to pass through any [...]

Bolivian defense minister Cecilia Chacón resigned today in protest of the government’s handling of ongoing indigenous protests. “I make this decision because I do not agree with the means of intervening in the marches that the government taken, and I cannot defend or justify it,” Chacón said in her letter of resignation, which was sent [...]

Bolivia’s national police have blocked the 1,000 indigenous marchers from continuing to La Paz. Police announced that the peaceful march may not continue for safety reasons but did not explain further. A counter march of 300 people aligned with the government set off dynamite 200 meters away. The was was blocked yesterday by 200 national [...]

Tension is growing between the government and marchers from the Isiboro Sécure National Park Indigenous Territory (Tipnis). Yesterday, two leaders of the Assembly of the Guaraní People (AGP), Margali Vargas and Pablo Ibáñez, were arrested by police and accused of stealing a truck while they were buying food in Yucomo. They were transferred to La [...]

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 [...]

Juan Acosta, the executive secretary of one of Bolivia’s largest labor unions (COD) has announced a march to support the indigenous people marching to La Paz from the Amazon (Beni) against the construction of a new highway. The highway would lead from the small coca growing town where Evo Morales lived for many years, Villa [...]

Smoke from burning Amazonian fires has engulfed much of Bolivia in an annual tradition called the Chaqeo whereby farmers burn brush and forest to clear land. Many of the fires have burned out of control and at least 394 families had fled their homes as a result. The skies over major cities like Santa Cruz [...]

The municipalities of Achocalla, Mecapaca and Palca, in a mass meeting or cabildo yesterday gave the mayor of La Paz 48 hours to revoke “false” sub-mayoral districts of Zongo, Hampaturi and Mallasa in the South part of La Paz. The three protesting towns believe that the former three belong to their jurisdictions and are asking [...]

President Evo Morales said that Amazonian tribesmen marching against his planned highway through their traditional jungle homelands are motivated by self interest and being used by capitalism and non-profit organizations. Morales said, “It’s a political issue fed nationally and internationally.” He then claimed that indigenous leaders of the march have made phone calls the to [...]