Bolivia news

Integration of the Latin American Homeland

In the phase of capitalism we are now living through, large and small nations compete under unequal conditions in a fictitious free market controlled by new and influential actors—powerful transnational companies. In imperialism, the nation-states, especially those less developed, still do not have self-determination and their independence depends upon participation in blocs with a common foreign policy, chains of production, physical infrastructure and shared sovereignty. The Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA in Spanish) and the People’s Trade Agreement (PTA, or TCP in Spanish) are the most recent of such experiments.

UK parliamentarians say leave Bolivia alone

More than 30 UK Members of Parliament have congratulated Evo Morales on his election victory and called for the Government to be allowed to reverse "neo-liberal" reforms.

US denies visas for two leading Bolivians

(By COHA) US denial of visas to a leading MAS Senator and an Aymaran academica suggests hardening line by the Bush administration against Bolivia

News summary update

Morales marks one month in power with growing divisions between the executive and Santa Cruz deputies on whether autonomy decisions are binding on the new Constituent Assembly. Fortnightly summary from Bolivian newspapers

News summary update 2006-02-12

Fortnightly summary of news in Bolivia

News summary update 2006-01-30

Fortnightly news summary

News summary update 2006-01-13

Fortnightly news summary

Bolivia still chained by debt

New report by Fundación Jubileo reveals that despite partial debt relief, Bolivia is still burdened by an external and internal debt that forces it to divert valuable resources from public investment to paying back interest payments.

Second founding of Bolivia

Importance of Evo Morales' election, by Eduardo Galeano

Former US consultant warns of possible threat to Evo

John Perkins, former consultant to US corporations and self-described "economic hitman" says that Evo Morales has already received a visit from another "economic hitman" to say he will face deposition if he challenges US and multinational interests.

US delegation against SOAW visits Bolivia

US activists from the international campaign to close the School of the Americas, a military training school notorious for human rights abuses, are in Bolivia to call on the Government to stop sending students to the school.

Spend debt relief on poverty reduction

Bolivian civil society organisations in a letter to President Morales call on debt relief granted to Bolivia to be used in the fight against poverty rather than to cancel internal debt.

Bolivia seen likely to end IMF financing ties

Bolivia is likely to end ties with IMF when a lending plan expires on 31 March. The IMF says that it will be a result of Bolivia having alternative financing, but others argue it is evidence of its weakening grip on a continent where its policies have failed to work

Interview with Abel Mamani, first Minister of Water for Bolivia

Abel Mamani outlines his hopes and the challenges his Ministry will face. He explains that the Bolivian Government's policies on water will be based on the understanding that Water is a human right and must be managed by the State and the community.

Interview with Oscar Olivera

Oscar Olivera, the leader of the Cochabamba Coordinadora in defense of water and life reflects on the lessons of struggles for water in Bolivia and talks of the challenges and priorities for the new Ministry of Water.

Bolivia: Water is a human right

Bolivia refuses to sign the international declaration at the World Water Forum in Mexico unless the right to water and the exclusion of water from free trade agreements is included in the final declaration.

Voluntary coca control programme puts Bolivia against US

(Reuters) Reports that coca-eradication has fallen under the Evo Morales government are making conflict with the US more likely

Bolivia Seeks Debt Relief From IDB

(AP) Bolivia calls for debt relief from the Inter-American Development Bank, but faces opposition from Brazil and Mexico who say that richer nations must help pay for it.

Bolivias Nationalization by Decree

The Bolivian Government Nationalisation decree proved popular and will increase State control and bring in some extra resources, but the true extent of the policies will only be obvious in the small print of the contracts says Gretchen Gordon.

Analysis of Bolivia's nationalisation decree

Some of the better informed analysis of the Bolivia Government's nationalisation decree

Nationalisation of gas

Jeffrey Webber says that actions by MAS in the run-up to and since elections have acted against popular movement demands but suggests that the nationalisation decree is a result of mass action in 2003 and 2005 and the "beginnings of a break with the logical business framework."

Back Bolivia’s Peoples’ Trade Agreement

Bolivia turns protests into proposals and constructs a trade policy based on principles of solidarity, complementarity and co-existence with the environment. The Government’s initiative provides a forward-looking opportunity for the global justice movement and deserves our full support.

Nationalization wins praise, but falls short for Bolivian left

Christian Parenti, reporting from Bolivia for The Nation, highlights Morales's moves to take state control of the oil and gas sector, but emphasizes that many on the Bolivian left say "nationalization" does not go far enough.

Tin War in Bolivia: Conflict Between Miners Leaves 17 Dead

Upside Down World analysis of the deadly confrontation in Huanuni

Foreign investors bow to Morales and accept government's nationalisation plan

Foreign investors in Bolivia's gas sector have bowed to the MAS government's nationalisation plan, agreeing to pay up to 82 per cent in tax, hand over control of commercialisation to the state and invest billions of dollars in the Andean country

Bolivia Repressors Declared in Default

The Bolivian Supreme Court of Justice declared defendants ex President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada and Carlos Sanchez and Jorge Berindoague to be in default in the "Black October" case, local newspapers reported Wednesday.