Max Radwin reports for InSight Crime: Officials from Bolivia’s interim government have stepped up drug trafficking operations over the last six months, but a focus on coca-producing communities in Cochabamba is creating tension with law enforcement that threatens to intensify. On April 23, thirteen members of a drug trafficking ring in the city of Entre Ríos,…
Tag: cocaine production
Three evils that plague us – Tres males que nos asolan
The three major illnesses that Bolivia has: Narcotrafficking: not only has territory under its rule (Chapare) but has become a key player in our politics. Corruption: Across the board, public bids, tax evasion, you name it, has worsened over the last 14 years. Covid-19: With over 60% of our labor force in the informal sector,…
Bolivia needs an election, but covid-19 makes that hard
The Economist reports: The opposition fears the interim president is using the pandemic to cement her power On april 21st, a month into Bolivia’s lockdown, police in riot gear swarmed the home of Patricia Arce, the mayor of Vinto, a city in the department of Cochabamba, and a senate candidate for the left-wing Movement to…
Bolivia NGO warns of increase in forest fires
AFP reports for CNA: LA PAZ: Environmentalists in Bolivia warned on Thursday (Apr 30) of a marked increase in forest fires this year that threaten a repeat of the environmental disaster that ravaged much of the Amazon in 2019. Bolivia registered 15,354 forest fires in the first four months of the year – a 35…
Cocaine and coronavirus
Gregorio Lanza writes in Pagina Siete: Conflicts, coca growers of the Chapare and coronavirus The leaders of the six coca producer federations in the tropics of Cochabamba rejected the entry of the Police into the region. One wonders, revenge? Provocation? Evo Morales’ instructions? or defense of drug production? Perhaps all together, however, if you analyze…
MAS groups attack police in the Chapare – Grupos del MAS agreden a policías en el Chapare
Jesus Alanoca reports for El Deber: Government accuses Evo and MAS groups of being behind the attacks on police in the Chapare Minister Murillo anticipates legal actions against cocalero leaders and even municipal authorities. The Minister of Defense indicates that joint operations will be carried out with the Armed Forces They reject the humiliation to…
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