This cartoon is from El Diario, January 5, 2012. It shows an interview on the current “walk” by those people who want the road to cross over the TIPNIS. People who are no longer advocating the road between Beni and Cochabamba but to cross the TIPNIS!

The press asks: “…Mr. Cacique (chief, boss)! tell us, why do you want a road to go through the middle of the TIPNIS? if it is not to grow coca?” and the reply: “… well, what will it be for! to have a road to blockade!…”

The bottom line is that TIPNIS preservation is still under jeopardy, these type of “social movements” who have different types of endorsers, openly and under the table, do only show how weak is the Bolivian land tenure, how fragile are our laws. Certainly, these type of issues could be handled differently by a government that has the majority in the National Assembly, has control over so many municipalities and has been successful at getting rid of the opposition. In other words, this is no weak government, and as such they should be able to enforce the laws that they themselves managed to get approved. However, the outcomes are different and that is why so many of us are upset, and question their performance so harshly.