As I write this article, the situation in Bolivia seems to be heading toward a civil war provoked by the secessionist attitude of the oligarchies in Santa Cruz and the other departments of the Half Moon (Tarija, Pando and Beni in resource-rich eastern Bolivia), the prefect of Cochabamba and maybe someone else who remains in the shadows.
Bolivia
The message delivered by Bolivias indigenous president couldnt be clearer: If we want to save the planet, we have to put an end to and eradicate the capitalist model.
Bolivia is on the verge of exploding, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned on April 21.
According to a March 20 Prensa Latina report, Bolivia has honoured the second anniversary of the national literacy campaign that has so far taught 77% of its illiterate population to read and write, using the Cuban program \"Yes, I Can\". Since it
February 28 marked a further deepening of the political crisis and polarisation in Bolivia, when the national congress, in the middle of a blockade by a section of Bolivia’s main social movements, approved a law to hold two national referendums on May 4.
This article originally appeared in the February edition of Progressive Magazine. Since it was published, the anonymous US student in Bolivia on a Fulbright scholarship has gone public about being asked by the US Embassy in Bolivia to spy on Cuban and Venezuelan doctors, causing a major scandal.
It has been revealed that US Peace Corp participants (who volunteer overseas) were also asked by the embassy to provide information while in Bolivia. This breach of Bolivian law has caused major embarrassment to the US, whose ambassador was hauled in by the Bolivian government, which demanded an explanation.
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Franz Chavez is a noted Bolivian journalist who helped found La Prensa and La Razon two of Bolivia´s most widely read news sources. Chavez currently works for Inter Press Service as part of their Latin American bureau.
On February 1 the Bolivian government introduced its “dignity pension” — a pension payment for those over 60 years-old that is a first of its kind in Bolivia.
Celebrations of the two year anniversary of the coming to power of left-wing President Evo Morales — Bolivia’s first ever indigenous president, elected on the back of mass movements to overturn neocolonialism — occurred in La Paz on January 22.
In December, after 16 months of wrangling, the elected delegates to the constituent assembly finally passed a draft constitution that will be put to a national referendum sometime before September.
The 10oC “summer” weather in Bolivia’s capital city is strongly felt in Bolivian Vice-President Alvaro Garcia Linera's house, which has no heating, like nearly all the houses in La Paz. For almost an hour we went over the conjuncture of a week of uncertain negotiations between the government and opposition, in search of an anxiously awaited national accord.
The jammed crowd of marchers on December 6 in Cochabamba took an hour and a half to walk past the window of our office, from start to finish. By the time that the dense snake of supporters President Evo Morales wound its way through the city centre and gathered as a single throng in the Central Plaza, it easily numbered 10,000 or more. It was the largest gathering I have seen in the plaza since the high tide of the water revolt in April 2000. It was also completely peaceful.
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