Politics, Business & Culture in the Americas

Bolivia

Bolivia_gas

Foreign Firms Show Renewed Interest in Bolivia’s Gas Fields

On his 100th day as president, Evo Morales sent the military to occupy Bolivia’s oil and gas fields in a bid to nationalize reserves of its most important resource. It was a dramatic statement that captured attention in Bolivia and beyond. A decade later, Morales is adopting a more pragmatic approach. There’s little fanfare this time, … Read more

bolivia

Are Bolivia and Chile Ready to Ease Rising Border Tensions?

LA PAZ – When Bolivian and Chilean border officials gather on July 25 – their first meeting in six years – they will have a seemingly simple agenda: to restore functional relations along their border without regular resort to courts, threats or name-calling. It won’t be easy. The 528-mile border has been a source of … Read more

morales

Bolivia: No Easy Way Forward, With or Without Morales

Bolivia’s President Evo Morales has long been seen as a benign (and, ultimately, successful) version of Latin American left-wing leadership. Questionable international partnerships and controversial nationalizations aside, Morales’ prudent macroeconomic management has helped Bolivia’s economy outperform many of its neighbors over the past 12 years of his administration. But with presidential elections scheduled for 2019 … Read more

Soledad Chapeton

AQ Top 5 Jóvenes Políticos: Soledad Chapetón

Este artículo ha sido actualizado. Read in English Cuando Soledad Chapetón derrotó el año pasado al alcalde de turno para convertirse en la primera alcalde mujer de El Alto, Bolivia, le dio un gran golpe al establecimiento político en lo que muchos consideran la ciudad más influyente de Bolivia. La joven ciudad de más o … Read more

Skulls

Bolivia’s Fiesta de las Ñatitas

Praying to a shrine featuring a real human skull may seem macabre to some. But since pre-Columbian times, inhabitants of what is now the Bolivian Altiplano have made the veneration of human skulls a central element of their spiritual life. The tradition continues to this day with an annual celebration on November 8 called Fiesta … Read more

Evo Morales on May 1, 2014

Bolivia’s Evo Morales in Hot Seat Over Climate Policy

An estimated 3,000 climate activists will arrive in the Bolivian town of Tiquipaya this weekend for the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and Defense of Life. Also in attendance: Some 3,000 police officers, tasked with “securing” the conference in a sign of the increasingly troubled relationship between Bolivia’s President Evo Morales and the indigenous and … Read more

POPE

Is Latin America Ready for a 21st Century Pope?

A revolutionary. A reformer. The most progressive Catholic leader in history. All have been used to describe Pope Francis, the Argentine pontiff who has shown a willingness to embrace change in the Catholic Church and reenergize his flock in places like Latin America, where the share of adults identifying as Catholic has fallen precipitously over … Read more

 

This Week in Latin America: Immunity in Guatemala—the Pope Visits—Pipeline Attacks in Colombia—Debt Crisis’ Wide Reach

Here’s a look at some of the stories we’ll be following this week: Corruption Scandals in Central America: Guatemala’s legislature will vote this week on whether to strip President Otto Pérez Molina of presidential immunity. The vote may open the door to prosecution as part of an ongoing corruption investigation involving the country’s customs authority … Read more

 

Sixty Percent of Latin Americans Will Have Internet Access in 2016

The number of Latin Americans with access to the Internet will increase by 20 percent over the next twelve months, according to the Latin American and Caribbean Internet Address Registry (LACNIC). The Uruguay-based NGO is one of five Regional Internet Registries in the world that assigns and administers IP addresses to local Internet service providers—it also advocates for Internet development in … Read more

Rosmery Mollo Mamani

Civic Innovator: Rosmery Mollo Mamani

Rosmery Mollo Mamani’s great-grandmother died in childbirth. It is an all-too-common tragedy in the Bolivian altiplano (plateau), where Indigenous women experience the country’s highest rates of maternal mortality. But Mollo refused to accept that fact as inevitable. At the age of 19, she left her Indigenous community in the province of Ingavi to pursue a … Read more

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