El Gaviero

The Guanarí indigenous people occupy the Chaco region in Bolivia and Paraguay, and, according to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, often live in forced-labor conditions:
The indigenous peoples of the Chaco region of neighbouring Bolivia and Paraguay are often trapped into forced labour practices and face discrimination, severe poverty and in some cases systematic [...]

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Via the the Lunatic Llama, the U.N.’s “State of the World’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2009—Bolivia” report, which provides a good overview of not only the indigenous situation in Bolivia, but a sketch of the current Bolivian political situation. Of interest:

62 percent of Bolivians consider themselves indigenous, yet only 17 percent of members of Congress [...]

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There’s been a coup in Honduras, with the military spiriting away Honduran president Manuel Zelaya, in pajamas, in the early morning hours on Sunday. At issue is a referendum scheduled for yesterday that would begin a long process to amend the Honduran constitution so that Zelaya could be re-elected. Although the referendum was non-binding, several [...]

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Axis of Evo CONFIRMED! You know that there are 1,000 muslims in Bolivia. Shudder! El Duderino spotlights a report from the Open Source Center (national intelligence propagandists) which points out that, among other nefarious acts, the Iranian government is setting up six new milk processing plants in Bolivia, and donating 650 tractors and 200 agricultural [...]

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Bina’s got news from ABI about a purported list of 100 “traitors” to autonomy medialuna that was circulated on April 12, two days before the confrontation in a Santa Cruz hotel that resulted in the deaths of three alleged foreign terrorists, and the capture of two more, who are accused of plotting to kill president [...]

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On Jan. 25, 2009, 61 percent of Bolivian voters approved a new constitution that, among other things, promised to increase indigenous representation in congress, and a chance to to re-elect Bolivian president Evo Morales in December of this year. Although it was overwhelmingly passed in a transparent and clean election, certain provisions of the new [...]

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Otto at Inca Kola News condemns the recent seizure of former V.P. Cardenas’s home and the assault of his wife and kid. So did I, yesterday, but perhaps not forcefully enough. Otto says:
The episode reminds me that Bolivia’s democracy is still in its infancy. There’s a whole section of its population that have never been [...]

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Earlier this month, indigenous activists seized former Bolivian vice president Victor Hugo Cardenas’s home on the altiplano in retaliation for his campaigning against the newly passed constitution. Both Bolivian president Evo Morales and vice president Alvaro Garcia Linera paid lip service to the seizure, until now:
“The new constitution has absolute respect for private property,” Linera [...]

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Mormon leader Elder D. Todd Christofferson just concluded a visit to Bolivia, saying that “I am certain that Bolivia will move forward. God bless Bolivia and its citizens.”
Well, he obviously didn’t read Article 14, Section II of Bolivia’s new constitution:
El Estado prohíbe y sanciona toda forma de discriminación fundada en razón de sexo, color, edad, [...]

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Santa Cruz prefect Rubén Costas is considering a possible meeting with Bolivian president Evo Morales, four days after a new consitution was approved by over 60 percent of Bolivian voters. (In Santa Cruz department, the consitution was rejected by nearly 65 percent of voters.) In order for the meeting to take place, Costas is demanding [...]

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