The Inter-American Development Bank is the largest source of development funding in Latin America and the Caribbean. Over the past five years, the bank has invested approximately US$1.04 billion in Bolivia to a variety of initiatives, from anti-corruption and anti-poverty programs to renewable energy and rural development programs.

To learn more in Spanish see:

http://www.iadb.org/es/paises/bolivia/bolivia-y-el-bid,1086.html

http://www.erbol.com.bo/noticia.php?identificador=2147483947480

http://www.eldeber.com.bo/2011/2011-07-25/vernotaahora.php?id=110725120244

USAID has not responded to these allegations. Their website states that from 1999 to 2009, more than 8,700 kilometers of roads in the Cochabamba Tropics and Yungas of La Paz were maintained or improved and 205 bridges were built with USAID assistance through a contract with a Government of Bolivia institution.  Since 2001, USAID has worked with more than 50,000 farmer families in the Valleys and Altiplano regions to improve production of onions, chili peppers, peanuts, oregano, and other products.  USAID’s support has led to $25 million in new sales, and these farmers increased their incomes on average by 50%.

To learn more in Spanish see:

http://www.lostiempos.com/diario/actualidad/politica/20110314/mas-analiza-expulsion-total-de-usaid-del-territorio_116863_232125.html

http://www.usaid.gov/locations/latin_america_caribbean/country/bolivia/

“Members of these communities continue to face discrimination and are underrepresented in all organs of public power and decision making” and suffer “systematic violations of human rights,” the resolution states. It adds that conflicts and acts of racial violence against the indigenous and campesinos has worsened since 2006.

The committee called upon Bolivia to take steps to ensure political representation of indigenous people in the state and intercultural acceptance, and to build an inclusive and pluralistic society.

Bolivia’s executive is currently led by president Evo Morales, an indigenous Aymara; in 2008, the Bolivian people approved a new constitution that gave, among other things, autonomy to indigenous communities and official status to 36 different indigenous languages. Despite indigenous leadership in the government, many indigenous groups, especially Amazonian ones, still clamor and protest for further inclusion. Furthermore—and more controversially—the Bolivian legislature passed a law last year that criminalizes discrimination by public and private institutions and bars the dissemination of racist and discriminatory ideas through the media. The Bolivian free press has protested vigorously against the new law, critiquing it as too vague and a potential violation of free speech meant to limit criticism of the government.

To learn more in Spanish:

http://www.la-razon.com/version.php?ArticleId=126729&EditionId=2465

Bolivia Weekly readers outside of Bolivia can help by donating money to organizations performing disaster relief right now in Bolivia such as:

The Telemaratón, a Cochabamba-based charity that is working to help disaster victims.

Caritas Bolivia, a Catholic charity that is working to help disaster victims

Readers in Bolivia can also help by donating their time and items such as food and blankets at collection centers run by ATB, Los Tiempos, and local governments.

July 5, 2010

By Erik Vansonnenberg

In Bolivia, short distances often go a long way.  The 166 kilometer (100 mile) trip from Cocabamba to Villa Tunari is a worthy example, descending 8,000 feet to Bolivia’s rainforest and offering up some of the country’s most accessible and spectacular wildlife.  Unfortunately, as elsewhere in Bolivia, short distances don’t mean short travel times—the boiling but magnificent trip takes anywhere from 4 to 7 hours.

Villa Tunari is home to only a few thousand Bolivians and is known for coca growing, lush rainforests, and the Inti Wara Yassi animal refuge.  Meaning Sun Moon Star in the indigenous languages Quechua, Aymara, and Guaran, respectively, Inti Wara Yassi is home to monkeys, pumas, birds, and various other species of mammals.  The refuge is perhaps one of the few sights where you may see as many South American tourists as gringos (excluding the throngs of foreign volunteers), and all healthy animals are free to leave the park.

Inti Wara Yassi is located within Machia National Park and is the only portion of the Park open to the public.  The refuge offers a 3.1 kilometer (2 mile) hiking trail with a picture-perfect lookout point, two somewhat disappointing waterfalls, a lofty suspension bridge, and an almost guaranteed array of visible wildlife.  Beginning at the park entrance, signs and volunteers warn visitors to leave their backpacks, empty their pockets, and hold their cameras and glasses tightly in-hand.  The agile spider-monkeys and more intelligent cappuccino monkeys have been known to strip tourists of their cameras and glasses.  But don’t let the monkeys’ lack of respect for your possessions deter you—they are friendly, curious, and fascinating.  Volunteers are always on hand to protect the animals from tourists and are happy to answer questions.  Gentle and playful visitors may even share a bench with a monkey or find one crawling on their lap for a hug.

Villa Tunari makes an ideal weekend trip from Cochabamba for time-stripped travelers, or an excellent jumping-off point for those wishing to trek deeper into Bolivia’s eastern Amazon.  Prices for the park and the town are incredibly affordable (a few dollars for you and the same for your camera).  The town has no supermarket and a limited outdoor market, so it is recommended to bring food for the day before eating at one of the many restaurants or hotels at night.  Stopping by Villa Tunari the second week of June will also give you 72 non-stop hours of music, drinking, and dancing during the town’s festival for the local saint, the name of which nobody appears to know.  Buses to Villa Tunari leave from southeast of Cochabamba’s main bus terminal—ask any hotel or taxi driver in the city.  The smaller mini-buses are recommended for their typically shorter travel time and sometimes less-cramped conditions.

For LGBT people in Bolivia acceptance has been a long and continuing struggle.  Despite recent political advances, including the protection of sexual diversity in the new national constitution, homophobia and discrimination remain common problems.  In El Alto, where many residents hold very traditional Aymara views, LGBT people encounter a more conservative and macho culture than their counterparts in La Paz.  In the face of these added pressures however, LGBT groups in El Alto have recently outgrown those in La Paz.  According to Fernando Aguilar, a representative from the Association of Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals, and Transexuals of El Alto, “We aren`t only a few like people seem to think.”

The GLBT Association includes 12 groups from La Paz and 17 “families” of GLBT youth from El Alto with more than 300 members.  The Alteño groups also organize health and tolerance workshops and distribute information at several education fairs.  The coordinator of the Civil Association of Social Development and Cultural Promotion (Adesproc) of the organization Libertad GLBT, Róger Arispe, admits that it`s often difficult to mix in society, particularly within the Aymara culture.  “This has inhibited our acceptance of our sexual condition, but in the face of that, we continue with the work of gaining respect for our rights,” affirmed Mr. Arispe.  While the fight for acceptance continues for Paceños and Alteños alike, advances such at the Municipal Ordenance declaring June 28th the Day without Sexual Diversity or Gender Discrimination give hope to many in the community.

The group’s goals of promoting democracy are achieved through seminars that focus on developing democratic leadership and citizens who are informed and able to participate in their government. This includes training institutes focused on political strategy and democratic process and a database of political leaders. Their programs are designed to empower citizens and are built upon a belief in transparent politics, interdisciplinary study, learning through doing and non-oppressive conflict resolution.

The group has a special focus on youth development and also s scholarships for students engaged in high school and university study.

For more information in Spanish, visit: http://www.galeon.com/ipd/

http://www.hugosanmartin.com/ipd/content/ipd.htm

In February the Assembly of the Guaraní Peoples issued a statement denouncing the subjugation of Guaraní children to servitude and sexual abuse in the Guaraní communities of Alto Camari, Guaraka, Irenda, and Alto Parapetí.  According to the testimony of Assembly President Celso Padilla, all of the community Guaraka lives within the hacienda of the Chávez family.  Children in the community are forced to work in a school garden which feeds the landlord´s family and those who refuse are expelled from the school and sometimes the community.  In Irenda, children are transported at night to a chicken farm, where they are forced to pluck chickens until 4 am.  Their grueling work schedule leaves no time for sleep, much less homework or play.

According to the Assembly of Guaraní Peoples, the lives of servitude of 800 families in Alto Parapetí amounts to modern-day slavery.  “There are still communities that live in slavery, not to the point of being in chains, but in servitude, there isn´t a just salary,” said President Padilla.  He continued, “it has advanced in recent years and the situation used to be much worse, nevertheless the situation is not resolved and the objective of the Assembly of Guaraní Peoples that all enjoy freedom.”

For more in Spanish see:

http://www.erbol.com.bo/noticia.php?identificador=2147483925788

Their vision is that every person regardless of age, race, social condition or gender, by virtue of their dignity is able to be for him/herself a responsible agent of their own well being, moral progress, and spiritual development.

Founded by the German priest Jose Maria Neuenhofer in 1994, The Rainbow Foundation was formally incorporated in 1997. Their mission has three major points: They seek to provide essential support, including food, shelter, medical care, clothing, tutoring and professional training, social support, mental health counseling and legal help. Secondly, they aim to create processes that support stability and self-esteem of each client and foster the independence of each child. Finally, they aim to eradicate the structural causes that produce marginalization, lack of opportunities, ignorance, indifference and the crisis of values. In addressing these needs, they seek to focus on responding to expressed needs instead of constructing a program that imposes a structure on each individual. Father Jose was honored as Bolivia’s Person of the Year in 2009.

The Rainbow Foundation works with more than 100 professionals, including psychologists, educators, doctors, and social workers, who conduct various programs that serve roughly 5000 youth.

With their partner organization, Madidi Travel, Eco-Bolivia focuses on on-the-ground research and legislative lobbying for federal protection of vital land. Their specialists and guides have charted a course that includes opening up the Madidi forest area to international scientists and tourism to generate revenue and awareness with the central and immutable goal of conserving the forest and protecting all its life forms. Madidi Travel is widely considered the premier eco-tourism outfit in Bolivia; when the American National Geographic did a cover story about the forest in 2000, it was Eco-Bolivia’s staff that guided the reporters.

While Eco-Bolivia and Madidi Travel have built international partnerships and conditionally encouraged openness, the organizations remain fiercely committed to sustainable conservation grounded in the people and realities of Bolivia. On their website, they note that “True conservation work requires on the field work, not glamorous studies and publications resulting from brief forays to the area from those who live in the cities, studies that do not reflect the reality of the conditions of the local population and that are used for others to patent the flora and fauna of the area (based on local knowledge), leaving the original inhabitants of the area in conditions of poverty. True conservation work is risky, tiring, and requires dealing with conflicts with economic interest groups such as mining companies, lumber companies, iols companies , land harders, etc…”

Eco-Bolivia activist and former Madidi Travel director Rosa Maria Ruiz has received multiple international accolades for her conservation and community organizing work. However, Ruiz and the organization have also been subject to accusations of cultural exploitation and government sanction, and have been victims of several yet-unsolved burnings of eco-lodges.

http://www.ecobolivia.org/es/

http://www.ecobolivia.org/

http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/eij/article/bolivia_burning