Bolivia

Talk about putting the cart before the horse!  Bolivia’s Hyrdocarbons Ministry aanounced that the nationalization of oil and gas industries will be temporarily suspended.  Seems the state company does not have the fund or operating capacity to take over production.  Morale’s nationalization program could end up as nothing more than a populist stunt if YPFB […]

On Sunday July 2, Bolivians went to the polls to elect representatives to a Constituent Assembly which will meet to rewrite the Boilvian constitution. MABB has collected reactions of the world press. There is a suspicion that the assembly will used by Evo Morales to strengthen his grip on power following Hugo Chavez. According to

An agrarian reform program redistributes 18,600 square miles of land to indigenous communities. Even private land that is not in "productive use" is subject to government seizure as part of the plan to redistribute one-fifth of Bolivia’s total land area. The current situation has the potential to increase civil strife and pit indigenous farmers squarely

In case you missed it, earlier this week, President Evo Morales nationalized Bolivia’s natural gas reserves sending soldiers in to secure the gas fields. He also gave an ultimatum to foreign investors to renegotiate the terms of their contracts and wants to audit their financial records. The government’s justification for the takeover is that the

On the BBC, another article looking at the neglible impact of the US governement’s efforts to eradicate coca cultivation, despite spending $4 billion dollars since 2000. I especially like quote from the Office of National Drug Control Policy, who “insisted it was working” and more land was discovered to be under cultivation because the survey

A Uruguayan woman and an American man are being held after two small hotels were bombed in La Paz. Sounds like the bomb blast are at smaller hotels in the city, in "El Centro" of La Paz, themain downtown area. There are 2 casualties and 4 injuries from the first explosion. The blast, close to

Uh oh, coca production in Bolivia "has exploded".  Apparently, coca acreage has risien in Peru and Bolivia because of aggressive anti-drug efforts in Colombia.  So, basically the US war on drugs, specifically the coca eradication tactic, has managed to move coca production.  Hurray, must be time to ask Congress for more money to fight the

Another examples of US actions that backfired included threatening to pull all aid to Bolivia, four years ago. It has happened before. During the 2002 Bolivian elections, when Morales was a first-time candidate little known outside of the country, the U.S. ambassador at the time, Manuel Rocha, stated publicly that if Morales was elected, the

Bolivia’s president elect is on a worlwide tour visiting foreign governments including China, Cuba, Spain, the Netherlands, France, Venezuela, and brazil. The US has asked to talk to him, according to the State Department. Morales may meet with the US once he’s been inaugurated. Shannon emphasized how important it is for Washington to continue the

It still looks like Bolivians will elect Evo Morales, a coca farmer who’s promised to make coca growing legal again, as the next president.  Elections will be held on the 18th of the month and Morales has an 32.8% to 27.7% lead over the other leading candidate Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga.  Morales lost the 2002 elections