Bolivia’s forest fires expose risks for environmental reporters

John Otis/CPJ Andes Correspondent reports for Committee to Protect Journalists: When Pablo Ortiz, a veteran reporter for El Deber, the main daily in the eastern city of Santa Cruz, set off to cover massive forest fires, he didn’t realize how dangerous the assignment would be. At one point Ortiz was alongside volunteer firefighters as shifting winds…

Economic and geopolitical interests behind the fire in Chiquitania

El Diario reports: Congresswoman Jimena Costa The MAS Senator candidate Rogelio Mayta warns “political opportunism” in opponents of the disaster in eastern Bolivia So far in the last months, at least 3.3 million hectares burned in the Chiquitania were counted, an accident that, in the opinion of the deputy of the Democratic Unit (UD), Jimena…

Correction: Bolivia-Tiwanaku Vessels story … NOT 400 but 1,400 years!

AP reports for Yahoo: Bolivia Archaeology Discovery Workers extract pre-Hispanic vessels at the Kalasasaya temple in the ancient city of Tiwanaku, Bolivia, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019. Bolivian archaeologists will present the findings of a recent discovery of ancient vessels unearthed in a dig on the site once home to one of the most significant pre-Hispanic…

Firefighters in Bolivia lose hope of taming blazes as burned area doubles

Channel News Asia reports: CONCEPCION, Bolivia: Bolivian volunteer firefighters, exhausted from battling blazes sweeping rapidly across the country’s lowlands, are starting to lose hope and retreat from the front lines of some infernos in the drought-stricken region. The fires this year are Bolivia’s worst in at least two decades, with the size of burned land…

El Alto shares Evo Morales’s indigenous identity, not his socialism

The Economist reports: High and mighty The surprising liberalism of Bolivia’s “Aymara capital” El alto hovers over La Paz, Bolivia’s administrative capital, like the blade of a guillotine. In 1781 Tupac Katari, an indigenous leader, laid siege to Spanish La Paz 500 metres (1,600 feet) below. In the early 2000s protests by alteños forced out of office two…

UMSA declares the Chepete-Bala project unfeasible

El Diario reports: Study warns of environmental risk The document indicates that the construction of the hydroelectric plant will cause a serious impact on the populations of the area, such as Rurrenabaque and San Buenaventura According to ENDE, the Bala project would guarantee energy sovereignty for our country. Meanwhile, Waldo Albarracín says the consultancy study…