Bolivia Weekly » Politics

Handicapped Marchers Win Government Concession

admin — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:04:46 +0000

The government has signed an accord with handicapped citizens who had been marching in protest. The accord will create a commission to study whether Bolivia can afford a monthly welfare payment to handicapped individuals. The marchers are asking for Bs. 3000 per month ($428 or roughly four times Bolivia’s minimum wage).

The La Paz president of the Federation of Handicapped People, Libertad Ramírez, said that they have merely suspended, not cancelled, the marchers. “The government has agreed to give a subsidy to people in series and very serious condition. So as of the 26 of January we are going to sit ourselves down and work on this law.”

In addition to locating sources of funding, the commission will conduct a cencsus of handicapped people in Bolivia and assign them to categories. Meanwhile, the government will begin giving a subsidy to the seriously handicapped that consists of food and medicine. The commission will also consider mandating that more handicapped people be employed in the public sector.

To learn more in Spanish see:

Ivan Canelas Resigns

admin — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 15:45:29 +0000

Bolivia’s Minister of Communication Iván Canelas, resigned from the government effective on January 20. Canelas read a letter announcing his resignation and thanking president Evo Morales for the chance to help him. “The chance of helping you in this arduous job has been an important experience in my life, however, for motives that you are familiar with, and that are strictly personal, I see the necessity of of presenting my irrevocable renunciation of my duties as Minister of Communication that I began on February 11, 2011.” Canelas has been one of the most important members of Evo Morales’ cabinet over the past several years.

To learn more in Spanish see: http://www.erbol.com.bo/noticia.php?identificador=2147483954508

Bolivian-American Cecilia Muñoz Rises in Obama Administration

admin — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 18:31:25 +0000

Muñoz is now the Director of the Domestic Policy Council.

On January 10th, the White House announced that current Director of Intergovernmental Affairs Cecilia Muñoz will now serve as the Director of the Domestic Policy Council. Ms. Munoz will coordinate the policy-making process and supervise the execution of domestic policy in the White House.

Ms. Muñoz is the daughter of immigrants from Bolivia and was born in Detroit, Michigan. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and her master’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley. In 2007, she served as the Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan.

“Over the past three years, Cecilia has been a trusted advisor who has demonstrated sound judgment day in and day out,” said President Obama. “Cecilia has done an extraordinary job working on behalf of middle class families, and I’m confident she’ll bring the same unwavering dedication to her new position.”

Cecilia Muñoz currently serves as Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Intergovernmental Affairs where she oversees the Obama Administration’s relationships with state and local governments. As Director of Intergovernmental Affairs under Valerie Jarrett, Ms. Muñoz leads a partnership between federal, state, local, and tribal governments that Governing magazine described as “more prominent and responsive than it ever was,” citing praise from local and state elected officials from across the political spectrum. Under Muñoz’s leadership, this partnership has brought the voices of local elected officials and the people they represent into the White House in the development and execution of policies to address local challenges in the economy, health care, disaster relief, and transportation infrastructure among others.

Ms. Muñoz also leads the Administration’s efforts to fix the broken immigration system so that it meets America’s 21st century economic and security needs. In addition, she serves as Co-Chair of the President’s Task Force on Puerto Rico’s Status, which has worked to not only continue to address the question of the island’s political status, but also partnered with local officials to address immediate concerns over jobs and the economy, health care, education, the environment, energy, and infrastructure.

Prior to joining the Obama Administration, Muñoz served as Senior Vice President for the Office of Research, Advocacy, and Legislation at the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the nation’s largest Latino civil rights organization. She supervised NCLR’s policy staff covering a variety of issues of importance to Latinos, including civil rights, employment, poverty, farmworker issues, education, health, housing, and immigration. Her particular area of expertise is immigration policy, which she covered at NCLR for twenty years.

Ms. Muñoz is the former Chair of the Board of Center for Community Change, and served on the U.S. Programs Board of the Open Society Institute and the Board of Directors of the Atlantic Philanthropies and the National Immigration Forum. In June 2000, she was awarded a MacArthur Foundation fellowship in recognition of her work on immigration and civil rights.

Morales Loses 2/3 Majority in Congress

Matthew Grace — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:20:44 +0000

The legislative processes pushed by the ruling Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) party in the assembly will not be as easily achieved as they were in the last two years (2010-11) of President Evo Morales’s second term, due to divisions in the party that will prevent it from a two-thirds majority in the congress: an anti-Moralas coalition from former indigenous supporters.

MAS is expected to lose at least 12 votes in the congress, and is expected to encounter difficulties in fulfilling its legislative agenda.

The rupture with the MAS is “irreconcilable,” said indigenous deputy Bienvenido Zacu, who announced this week the establishment of a new indigenous opposition bloc of five members in the congress.

Zacu reported that this indigenous bloc will join other indigenous representatives and senators from the highlands who do not agree with how the Morales administration is leading the country through a process of change.

The MAS party will now have 108 congressional members, three less than the 111 needed for a two-thirds majority and speedy legislation.

The ongoing going TIPNIS dispute—in which the Morales administration pushed for a highway through indigenous territory, only to be met with massive protests throughout the country—has damaged the majority party’s credibility.

To learn more in Spanish see:

http://www.lostiempos.com/diario/actualidad/politica/20120109/el-mas-se-queda-sin-dos-tercios-en-la-asamblea_156145_325452.html

Mayoral Election Results in Opposition, MAS Victories

Matthew Grace — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:45:21 +0000

Moisés Tórrez, the candidate of the bloc in opposition to the ruling-party MAS, emerged as the winner in the Sucre mayoral election, with 46.54 percent of the votes. MAS candidate Iván Arciénega, of MAS, came in second place, with 37.7 percent of the vote.

Elsewhere, Charles Becerra, of the UNE party, declared himself winner of the mayoral elections in Quillacollo, the second-largest municipality in Cochabamba department.

MAS held on in Pazña, in Oruro department, where its candidate, Efraín Peñafiel, won 69.76 percent of the votes. Opposition candidate Palo Valero, of the MSM, won 30.24 percent of the votes.

The Departmental Election Court has seven days to validate the final votes.

To learn more in Spanish see:

http://www.la-razon.com/ciudades/impone-Pazna-pierde-Sucre-Quillacollo_0_1525647465.html

Eldery Protesters Block Highway to Increase Senior Benefits

admin — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 23:21:26 +0000

More than one hundred elderly Bolivians blocked the only highway linking La Paz with El Alto today to demand an increase in the senior citizen payment renta Dignidad. “It’s been three years that we’ve been asking for an audience with President Evo Morales, because we’re demanding an increase in the renta Dignidad,” said the executive secretary of the La Paz Senior Citizens Federation Miguel Condori. Condori said that other federations on a national level will begin road blocks soon. Condori said that President Morales promised to increase the renta Dignidad for people over the age of 65 in a speech in Charapaqui but has not fulfilled this promise. “Our brothers from the provinces have arrived in their beds to stay and meet with president Morales,” said Condori who clarified that Bolivia’s elderly support president Morales, but they just want to increase the renta Dignidad.

To learn more in Spanish see: http://www.lostiempos.com/diario/actualidad/nacional/20111121/adultos-mayores-bloquean-autopista-la-paz-el-alto_150271_311804.html

La Paz gets 30 Year-Old Female Mayor for 2 Weeks

admin — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 12:10:34 +0000

For two weeks, beginning this Friday, La Paz will have both its youngest mayor ever and its first female mayor ever when psychologist Silvia Tamayo Salvatierra takes control while La Paz mayor Luis Revilla Herrero visits Italy, France, and Germany. “We will continue with the work that the mayor was doing and I thank you for your confidence in me,” said Salvatierra after being voted in by the La Paz legislature. Salvatierra said that she will organize a new “Day of Non-Violence Against Women” on November 25th. In towns near La Paz, there have been two other female mayors; Blanca Rivero (28) is the mayor of Santiago de Huata (Omasuyos) and Eulogia Quispe (24) was recently the mayor Tiwanaku.

To learn more in Spanish see: http://www.erbol.com.bo/noticia.php?identificador=2147483951627

Throw Away Votes Win Landslide 60% Victory

admin — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 10:42:52 +0000

Initial electoral results reported show that null and invalid votes have won a landslide victory in yesterday’s election, garnering 60% of the popular vote, with actual votes for candidates a little less than 40%. President Morales had said that he hoped valid votes would surpass 70% of the totals but none the less said he was, “very happy with the people’s participation.” There were no major incidents in yesterday’s elections to elect judges to the Agroenvironmental Tribunal, Magisterial Council, Constitutional Tribunal and Supreme Justice Council. Results from rural areas where the President has higher support are still coming in. Opposition leaders from across the spectrum pronounced against these elections but the government considers them an important democratic step.

To learn more in Spanish see: http://www.lostiempos.com/diario/actualidad/politica/20111017/votos-nulos-y-blancos-ganan-las-elecciones_145894_301466.html

Bolivia Votes for Judges Today

admin — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 22:12:18 +0000

Today Bolivians all over the country voted, for the first time in history, for judges. Despite a ban on campaigning, the Supreme Electoral Council admitted that illegal campaigning before the election was so rampant that they had no ability to control it. The new judges will serve six year terms and do not have to be lawyers or have legal experience. Various irregularities were reported across the country, including an uprising in Potosi that caused local elections to be halted. Ballots had as many as 115 candidates on them, making these enormous papers the size of wall maps. International and Bolivian election observers were present at some voting locations but not all. The results of this unprecedented are not yet known and few have even made forecasts given the incredibly wide field of candidates.

To learn more see the front page of any Bolivian news source.

Government Workers Forced to Pay and March for Evo

admin — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 10:51:56 +0000

Workers from four different government ministries have spoken with Radio Erbol and other news sources complaining about being forced to pay for the President Morales’ campaign in the upcoming judicial elections. Workers were also forced to attend a “counter march” against the indigenous Amazonian TIPNIS march or risk penalties to their salary and loss of vacation days. One government worker said, “I work in the Ministry of Productive Development and Plural Economy, and I ask that my name remain anonymous please. I must denounce that there are ‘voluntary’ fees being imposed upon us by the ministry to support the judicial election campaign.” The Human Resources department of this Ministry told Radio Erbol in an interview that these contributions were purely voluntary, and no pressure or obligation was being enforced against workers. Another functionary explained the payment scale, “Technicians pay a little over Bs. 100, professional workers Bs 300-350, managers pay Bs 400-600 and vice-ministers pay 10% of their monthly salary, so Bs 1,300.”
A worker in the National Telecommunications Company denounced that not only were obligatory fees for the electoral campaign charged, but they are being required to go march in support of President Morales. A worker from the Bolivian Central Bank confirmed that the same pressures exist in that entity saying, “We are obligated to unite with the counter-march against our indigenous brothers, they think that they can force us after that decree paying us a Bs 1000 bonus to support the process of change.” This bank worker and all others interviewed requested that their names remain anonymous for fear of repercussions.

To learn more in Spanish see: http://www.erbol.com.bo/noticia.php?identificador=2147483950615