Stories from Quick Reads and Bolivia
Pope Francis in Latin America: ‘Ideologies End Badly, They Serve No Purpose’
Pope Francis Lashes out against Ideologies: http://t.co/EiiH1kqntX pic.twitter.com/NzaCiraLbS — El Universo (@eluniversocom) July 11, 2015 Pope Francis concluded his eight day tour of South America, where he held mass in the three countries he visited: Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay. The pontiff's message centered on peace and the most needy. He...
Bolivia to Host First International Community Radio and Free Software Conference
The first international conference on community radio and free software will be held in Cochabama, Bolivia from June 11-13, 2015. So far, the community radio stations from Spanish-speaking countries that have confirmed their assistance are: Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Uruguay, Venezuela, and of course, the host, Bolivia. The preliminary agenda...
Spain and Latin America Celebrate Open Data Day
One again, bloggers, hackers, designers, experts, as well as citizens interested in open data and transparency will meet to celebrate International Open Data Day 2015 all over the world to promote the opening of government data. The event is expected to have online meetings but also in-person activities all over...
Fast-Growing City of El Alto Turns Thirty
Relatively young by Bolivian city standards, the city of El Alto celebrates its 30th anniversary on March 6th, 2015. What initially started as a small suburb of the city of La Paz, the seat of government located 4,070 meters above sea level, it became its own municipality in 1985. It...
Argentina Creates Registry of Interpreters of Indigenous Languages
Argentina creates the Registry of Interpreters of Indigenous Languages, following the case of Reina Maraz after being in prison for three years without knowing why, for not having Quechua language interpreter in the country.
COP20: Responsibilities of Capitalism On Climate Change
The 20th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and 10th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (COP20/CMP10) was held in Lima between December 1 to 12, and was chaired by the...
A Missed Opportunity for Bolivian “Quipus” Laptops?
The Bolivian government recently announced a new program where high school students attending their final year will have access to a new laptop. These computers, called “Quipus,” are being assembled in the city of El Alto. The term comes from a traditional Andean form of record keeping on a series...
Empowering Girls Through Sports in Bolivia
The blog El clavo en el zapato (The nail in the shoe) visited District 4 in El Alto, where the project “Niñas con altura” (Girls with height) is fostering the participation of high school girls in sports. It's funded by the Inter-American Development Bank and the foundation Save The Children:...
‘A World Where People Are Afraid of Receiving Help From a Stranger’
From Bolivia, El rincón de tu camarada Pepe (The hideout of your pal Pepe) shares what happened [es] to him one day when he saw a guy walking among the cars who “looked homeless, as he talks to a driver, the driver closes the window and looks terrified” and about...
The Clock on Bolivia's Legislative Building Now Runs Counterclockwise
The clock on top of the Plurinational Legislative Assembly of Bolivia in La Paz's Murillo Square stopped working and had some defects. So a decision was made to repair it along with making some changes: the old Roman numbers on the face were replaced by new natural numbers. Another change that...
The Inca Road Is a New World Heritage Site
For the first time in the 40 years of World Heritage convention, six countries united to submit a joint application to designate a cultural site as world heritage. Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru requested that the Incan Road be included as a cultural heritage site. The announcement was made in...
#CarajoNoMePuedoMorir Impacted on Social Networks in Bolivia
Mario Duran [es], one of the authors behind the blog TICs para el Desarrollo, [ICTs for development; es] shares his analysis [es] about the meme with hashtag #CarajoNoMePuedoMorir [roughly translated as Fucking hell, I can't die] after Samuel Doria Medina, leader of the National Unity Front in Bolivia, tells how...
Culture and Art in Bolivia
“Does Bolivia have culture?”, wonders [es] Eduardo Bowles on his blog, and tries an answer: Of course it does, but nobody looks at it and very few try to promote it. The Ministry of Cultures pays lots of money to singers who harp upon catchy choruses, but has never tried...
A Bolivian Drone with Recycled Parts
If you look up at the bright blue sky in El Alto, Bolivia, you may catch a glimpse of a drone flying overhead. This is not any ordinary drone, but a flying aerial device assembled partly out of recycled materials found at one of the city's many bustling outdoor markets....
Bolivia's Internet at a Snail's Pace
Digital activists in Cochabamba, Bolivia took to the streets on Saturday May 3, dressed as snails [es] to represent the slow Internet speeds faced by users across the country. The grassroots movement “Más y Mejor Internet Para Bolivia” [es] (More and Better Internet for Bolivia) has been calling for lower...
Coming Soon! Rising Voices Microgrants for Amazon Communities
Rising Voices will be launching a microgrant competition next month for digital citizen media projects in the Amazon region which is home to many indigenous communities. Thanks to Avina Americas, Fundación Avina, and the Skoll Foundation, we'll be offering this support with ongoing mentorship from the Global Voices community. Read...
Dakar Rally Coming to Tupiza, Bolivia
Many Bolivians are excited that the Dakar Rally off-road race will pass through their national territory. On her personal blog, journalist Fabiola Chambi showcases what tourists that may arrive to her hometown of Tupiza would want to see, as well as some of the prime watching spots along the route...
Bolivian Feminist Organization is the ‘Little Rock in the Government's Shoe’
This is a very conservative government as far as gay rights and abortion or anything having to do with women or women’s rights. […] This government doesn’t really see us as an enemy, but rather we’re like a little rock in the shoe, a constant irritation. Benjamin Dangl and April...
The State of the Internet in Bolivia
In Bolivia we have 1.4 million Internet connections. […] 82.5% of Internet connections are concentrated in the ‘axis’ departments (La Paz, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz). Global Voices contributor Pablo Andrés Rivero worked with blogger and Internet activist Mario Durán Chuquimia [es] on a report regarding the state of the Internet...
Bolivia's Water War Hero
“We didn’t just recuperate our water; we broke an economic model that not only expropriated resources but also our spirit. We broke with authoritarianism. We forced them to understand that we make our own decisions.” Oscar Olivera helped organize a resistance movement that stopped the privatization of water in Cochabamba,...
Latin American Congress of Living Cultures
Rituals, reflections, poetic “assaults”… From May 17 to 23, 2013, the first Latin American Congress of Community Living Cultures [es] will invade the streets of La Paz, Bolivia. The city will host government representatives from Brazil and Colombia, along with more than one thousand activists.