Evo’s
last years in power marked by violations of democracy
November 10 2019 will be a day to remember in Bolivian history. At 16:50 of that Sunday afternoon Evo Morales resigned the presidency and there were large street demonstrations by those celebrating the news, but also protests by those who supported him. However, widespread jubilation was short-lived, as violence spread...
The swearing in of Jeanine Añez as interim president of Bolivia is likely to cause further unrest in the country, following three weeks of disturbances that led eventually to the ouster of Evo Morales. Añez, elected as a senator for the right-wing Unidad Nacional alliance in 2014, belongs to the Demócratas grouping of Santa Cruz Governor Rubén Costas....
Bolivia Information Forum (UK) has provided the detailed account, below, of the events of the last several weeks, leading up to the surprise resignations of the President and Vice President. While LAB believes this to be a careful and conscientious account, produced as events unfold, many questions remain and there will undoubtedly be other elements to add and differing...
There is a phrase that has been repeated many times in Bolivia over the last four years: democracy has been fatally wounded. It was first heard in 2016, after President Evo Morales announced that he would run again, even though a majority of Bolivians had voted in a referendum against allowing him to seek a fourth consecutive term. This week...
A synod is a meeting of representatives of Church
communities to discuss issues of doctrine or Church governance. So far, for most people, so boring. But when, in February 2019, General Augusto
Heleno, President Jair Bolsonaro’s senior security adviser, described October’s
Catholic Church synod on the Amazon as ‘relevant to Brazil’s national security’
and having a ‘left-wing agenda’, he was on to something. ...
Amazon fires
show Bolivia needs a new economic model
Global coverage
of the recent Amazon fires has focused on Brazil, but Bolivia has suffered a
similar catastrophe. Over the last two months, some 2.4 million
hectares of the
country have burned, almost half of which is forest. At least six people have died and around 2,000 families
have been affected. Hundreds of animals have also perished....
Dear LAB Supporter and Friend,
11 September 2019
Amazon fires caused by land-grabbing on an industrial scale
In addition to our website, LAB’s Facebook page provides a daily stream of summaries and links to articles published
elsewhere. In this and future newsletters we will mention some of these, with the
rubric ‘Read FB’ to distinguish them from posts on LAB’s website.
Today is the 46th...
***** to sign, click here
Rainforest fires: put Amazonian people's rights first.
LAB partner Christian Aid is inviting the public to sign a new petition calling on the UK Prime Minister to put the Amazonian people at the heart of any response to the wildfires raging in the rainforest.
The blazes are the most intense in nearly a decade,...
2 July 2019
Dear LAB Supporter and Friend
Threats multiply - to women, diversity and the environment
Somos Guerreras is a collective of seasoned artists comprised of rappers Rebeca Lane (Guatemala), Nakury (Costa Rica) and Audry Funk (Mexico). They are visiting London for the first time in early July, and will appear at the Festival of Latin American Women in the Arts...
Documentary film, one hour long, showing the Salas de Eventos - over 60 in number - that have been designed and built by Freddy Mamani in El Alto. They celebrate the growing numbers of wealthy Aymara business people displaying their wealth and offering dance halls and banqueting rooms for rent and often grand apartments on the top floors for...