· May, 2006

Stories about Bolivia from May, 2006

The Week That Was – Bolivian Blogs

  31 May 2006

Bolivians have long resigned themselves to the fact that their football national team will also be home watching the upcoming World Cup on television. For the third straight tourney, Bolivia has failed to qualify for the world’s most important sporting event and have left this tiny nation saying, “maybe in...

Bolivia: “The Evo and Hugo Show”

  29 May 2006

Jim Shultz, referring to the recent media coverage on the relationship between Evo Morales and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, writes: “One of the interesting things about having lived in and written about Bolivia for eight years is watching the foreign press that parachute in for a week or two, declare...

Bolivia: “Reelection is not an Official Position”

  25 May 2006

Responding to the pervasive worry that Evo Morales is trying to change the constitution in order to stay in power, Eduardo Ávila responds that while “some of the social movements and other MAS congressmen have publicly come out in favor of changing the Constitution so that a president can be...

Chile, Argentina, and Latin America's Two Lefts

  25 May 2006

After years in the shadows – and only referenced for its Cold War legacy – Latin America is back in the limelight. The world over, economic liberalization has been the call of the day. But recent elections throughout Latin America have inspired commentators to call the region a notable ideological...

The Week That Was – Bolivian Blogs

24 May 2006

Este artículo también está disponible en español en el sitio Blogs de Bolivia. Much of Bolivia’s most fertile land lies in the eastern part or Orient of the country. Without a doubt, most of the economic growth has centered around this part of the country, especially in the agricultural sector...

Bolivia: Morales Wants the Possibility of Reelection

  24 May 2006

Miguel Centallas, Briegel Busch, and Alvaro Ruiz-Navajas are all concerned by the announcement that Evo Morales will seek a new constitution that allows for reelection of the president and vice-president. Centallas reminds readers that “historically, other Latin American executives have used constitutional changes to stay in power beyond their original...

Bolivia: On the Brink of Land Reform

  19 May 2006

Reform by presidential decree – this time land reform – continues in Bolivia says Alvaro Ruiz-Navajas. But, the regions of “Santa Cruz and Beni are not going to let this happen without a fight.”

Global Voices Podcast: An interview with Eduardo Avila

  18 May 2006

Eduardo Avila is an Bolivian American who lives in Washington DC and covers Bolivia for Global Voices. Kamla Bhatt spoke with Eduardo at the recently concluded WeMedia conference in London about his work, blogging and Bolivia. You can download or listen to the interview by clicking here or on the...

The Week That Was – Bolivian Blogs

  17 May 2006

For the most part, blogs in Bolivia have been used by students, journalists, musicians, private citizens and by those who simply want a platform to write. Governmental institutions have been slow to warm up to the use of technology to respond to the needs of the general public. Most departments...

Bolivia, Brazil: Evo and Lula in Vienna

  16 May 2006

Boli-Nica says not everything was friendly between Evo Morales and Lula da Silva as Latin American leaders met with their UN counterparts in Vienna. Briegel Busch says that Lula's dialogue with Evo Morales was much more firm than was reported by the press (ES). Meanwhile, Jim Shultz compares AP and...

Bolivia: Media Reaction to Gas Nationalization

  11 May 2006

Justin Delacour links to an article on Upside Down World about the international press’ reaction to Bolivia's nationalization of gas resources. Jim Shultz reminds readers to ” not lose track of the big picture: At the end of the day Bolivia will develop its gas and oil through some kind...

The Week That Was – Bolivian Blogs

10 May 2006

Recent news of the nationalization of the hydrocarbons in Bolivia has pushed an ongoing crisis off of the front page. No satisfactory solution has been reached in the financial troubles for the airline Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano (LAB), as there are some who are pushing the government to nationalize the former...

Bolivian gas sets Brazilian political debate on fire

  9 May 2006

The Bolivian president Evo Morales has put president Lula in a difficult position. In a move to fulfill his campaign promise of nationalizing oil and gas in Bolivia, he published a decree that affected directly Petrobras, the Brazilian state-owned oil prospection company.

The Week That Was – Bolivian Blogs

  3 May 2006

Special Hydrocarbons Nationalization Edition Nationalization. What does it actually mean? The word was bandied about during the 2005 elections. Seemingly every candidate ran on some sort of platform advocating for the nationalization of Bolivia’s hydrocarbons, which currently stand at the second largest gas reserves in the region. The practice made...

Bolivia: Nationalization of Natural Gas Resources

  2 May 2006

Eduardo Ávila has posted the entire Spanish text of Supreme Decree 28701, which explains – in nine articles – the details of Bolivia's nationalization of its natural gas resources. Alvaro Ruiz-Navajas has collected reactions from news outlets across the world. We'll have more on this story in a feature post...

Peru: Chavez and Morales in the Peruvian Elections

  1 May 2006

Writing from Venezuela, both Miguel Octavio and Daniel Duquenal fear for Peru's political future. Un Lobo en Peru inspires some interesting comments with a post about the Peruvian government's decision to withdraw the ambassador to Venezuela. Maxwell Cameron of the University of British Columbia, meanwhile, says that presidential candidate Alan...