By María Fernanda Ramírez, InSight Crime: Bolivia is in the midst of a gold rush caused by record gold prices and growing international demand. This gold rush has been facilitated by permissive mining regulations that blur the line between legal and illegal. The spread of mining throughout the country and the broader Amazon in the last…
Who is really Luis Arce? | ¿Quién es realmente Luis Arce?
By Puka Reyesvilla, Brujula Digital: Manual of the Perfect Tilín Originally, the nickname “Tilín” was given with an obvious derogatory connotation. The precedent is a short video of a boy whom a voice (the face of whom is not seen) encourages, increasingly enthusiastically, to perform a series of antics. It is clear that it refers…
MAS is a criminal organization | El MAS es una organización criminal
By Mónica Briançon Messinger, El Potosi: Dirty “suicides” Dirty panorama. Disgusting. Heart-wrenching. There’s no possible explanation for two former national authorities to have “decided” to end their lives, leaving behind a letter declaring themselves not guilty. The first case shook the Bolivian public opinion. It affected, causing intense media tremors, but then, as always, it…
Was nationalization worth it? | ¿Valió la pena la nacionalización?
By Henry Oporto, El Deber: This May 1st, as MAS factions celebrate a new anniversary of the 2006 hydrocarbon nationalization, the country’s demeanor will be different: instead of approval and enthusiasm, a face of frustration and discouragement will likely emerge. The era of illusions has passed; worries and fears now prevail. With the perspective of…
“There isn’t as much money as before” | “No hay tanta plata como antes”
Editorial, El Deber: “There isn’t as much money in the country as there was before,” was the President Luis Arce’s emphatic statement on Sunday in a rural area. It was the first time he admitted this reality, although he may have regretted it since his Minister of Economy, Marcelo Montenegro, held a press conference yesterday…
Indigenous threatened by violent invading miners | Indígenas amenazados por violentos mineros invasores
Indigenous Bolivians flee homes as backlash to mining protest turns explosive by Maxwell Radwin, Mongabay: Environmental activists in Bolivia say they’ve become the targets of discrimination, death threats and even bombings after speaking out against harmful mining operations in the department of Oruro. The activists, most of them women, have faced escalating violence this year because…
Bolivian Thoughts | Pensamientos Bolivianos (Bilingual/Bilingüe) 