Bolivian President Evo Morales and Chilean President Sebastián Piñera met yesterday and discussed a bilateral agenda, including Bolivia’s maritime-access demand, at a one-and-a-half-hour meeting in Lima. It marked a resumption of dialogue between the two countries that was halted four months ago. However, Piñera emphasized that a return to talks is conditioned on Bolivia’s compliance [...]

Harry Suaznabar was assigned as the new prosecutor in the so-called Rózsa II case, which is seeking to identify the supposed financiers of the alleged terror cell that was eliminated by Bolivian police in April 2009 in the city of Santa Cruz. Prosecutor Mery Gutiérrez was taken off the case on the grounds that she [...]

Raquel Gutiérrez Aguilar, a Mexican national and former wife of Bolivian Vice President Álvaro García Linera, was denied permission to enter U.S. airspace last week on a Aeromexico flight to Spain, where she was due to attend a conference on Latin American social movements. Gutiérrez lived in Bolivia from 1984 to 2001, when she returned to [...]

David Choquehaunca, the foreign minister of Bolivia, announced yesterday that the presidents of Bolivia and Chile, Evo Morales and Sebastián Piñera, could meet in Lima this Thursday, when they are both due to attend the Peruvian presidential inauguration ceremonies of Ollanta Humala. Morales and Piñera have been embroiled in a dispute over maritime access that [...]

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 [...]

In operations carried out yesterday morning, Bolivian police arrested a Brazilian, Marco André Magalhaes Oliveira, a.k.a. “The Bug,” an alleged member of the Commando M-16 Brazilian drug gang. Magalhaes is accused of murdering four people in the Santa Cruz and Pando departments of Bolivia in apparent revenge attacks and to settle scores related to drug [...]

The lawyer shot outside of the palace of justice in central Santa Cruz yesterday, Denver Pedraza López, blamed police lieutenant Julio René Navia Gorena for ordering the attempted hit and paying up to $100,000 for it. Navia has been held in Palmasola prison in Santa Cruz for money laundering and trafficking of narcotics. Pedraza was [...]

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 [...]

Attorney Denver Pedraza, who frequently defends people of accused of drug cases, was wounded by gunfire yesterday afternoon on the steps of the palace of justice in central Santa Cruz. A gunman fired seven shots at him, two of which hit the lawyer, who is now being treated for his injuries. After the attack, the [...]