Peruvian incongruence regarding Bolivian heavy load transport services

It is hard to understand what is going on in the minds of the Peruvian government regarding their sudden reaction against Bolivian trucks in their territory, Pagina Siete reports: Around 280 trucks, most of them with soy cargo, are detained in Desaguadero at risk of being seized in Peruvian territory due to the Customs INTA…

Jindal – El Mutun: A chronicle of a death foretold?!

For those of you not following earlier posts on this subject, will realize that this venture was doomed from the beginning: lack of enforcing contractual terms from day one on both sides; not-so-clear contract awarding to Jindal; and a highly visible political issue between Santa Cruz and central government. Walter Vasquez reports for La Razon:…

Bolivian police under its most severe crisis of all times…

“Law & Order” in current Bolivia is just a TV show you can watch over cable TV, just that… no Law, no Order… unfortunately. Criminality rates on the rise, community enforcement bordering lynching and police force spending more time controlling/preventing/attacking street riots, blockades are part of the existing “Order”. The following cartoons show this month’s…

Potosi, Mallku Khota: blunt anarchy and/or government failure to deal with crisis?!

Miguel Lazcano reports for La Razon: The Governor’s Office of the Potosí Department yesterday requested the Executive Body [central government] to analyze the possibility of militarizing the area surrounding the Mallku Khota mine, whose concession is held by the Canadian company South American Silver. The order was made yesterday by Governor Felix Gonzales Bernal, who…

TIPNIS protest-walk ordeal update, May 21, 2012

Pablo Ortiz writes for El Deber: Weak, small, vulnerable, isolated from the help of cities by the bad condition of the roads, but firm in its intention to reach La Paz and fulfil the mandate to give their message to the world: the TIPNIS is not split apart. Thus it is the indigenous March after 23…

Hectic Bolivian times and humor, May 2012

We have been experiencing blockades, strikes, riots. University students against police; community people in Potosi fighting against each other (Mallku Khota). In sum, a total anarchical chaos. The following cartoons serve to deflate stress and bring humor to our reality: This is from El Diario, May 9, 2012: At a crossroad that signals chaos and…