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Morales animó un programa piloto de 3 horas

noreply@blogger.com (Miguel A. Buitrago) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:02:00 +0000

Morales animó un programa piloto de 3 horas

I was wondering when was this going to happen!

Morales experienced with a pilot radio program that lasted about three hours. This only strengthens my belief that he is following some kind of model or specific advice.

More links:

Radio Kawsachuncoca (new radio)

Radio Patria Nueva (state's official radio)

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noreply@blogger.com (Miguel A. Buitrago) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 11:17:00 +0000

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Hier is an interesting article that says a lot about our Latin American society. It deals with the color of skin and the level of education. Not surprisingly (for me at least) it finds that there is a revealing negative relationship between the color of skin and the level of education in the region. It is a simple yet illuminating article that puts the finger on the wound!

Here you can access the English version!

For those of you who want to read it in Spanish, here it is!

On the lighter side

noreply@blogger.com (Miguel A. Buitrago) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:06:00 +0000

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This is what I call political negotiation or deliberation! Enjoy.

The Fragility of MAS in Congress

noreply@blogger.com (Miguel A. Buitrago) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 09:52:00 +0000

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This is a development that was expected to come, some time, to Bolivian politics. As you may already know, the Bolivian political forces in the Plurinational Assembly are distributed thus. From a total of 166 seats in the assembly (36 in the Senate and 130 in the Deputies Chamber), the MAS controlled, until now, 113 (88 in the Deputies Chamber and 25 in the Senate). So, a fragile 2/3 majority, considering for such a majority 111 seats are needed.

Now, two seats above the needed is anything other than comforting for the government because with such a small margin there is always the danger of losing that majority. This is especially true in the constantly changing political environment in Bolivia.

Well, this is exactly what is about to happen. A group of indigenous congressmen and congresswomen have decided to diverge from MAS and place their "compromise with the change" the government is leading on hold to practice a bit of opposition. These group wants to oppose the central government's efforts to build a road through the natural reserve and indigenous territory TIPNIS. If you followed a bit of Bolivia's politics lately you might know that the government was practically forced by indigenous groups to back down on its plans to build that road. In fact, it was forced to pass a law declaring the whole territory as intangible.

However, the MAS government must be regreting that outcome because it is still trying to somehow build the road. One way in which it wants to do that is by inciting other indigenous groups who are in favor of the road to support the repeal of that law.

That is what the group of indigenous members of congress want to stop.

The group, denominated originary block, is said to be made up by Justino Leaños, Blanca Cartagena, Pedro Nuni, Bienvenido Zacu y Cristina Valeroso. It is also possible that other members will join this effort, such as Julio Cortez, Teresa Nominé, Bertha Ramallo y Sonia Justiniano.

The report can be found in Pagina Siete.

Bloggings by boz: Latin America mentions in new US defense strategy

noreply@blogger.com (Miguel A. Buitrago) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 14:36:00 +0000

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Here is a post from boz about the US' defense strategy. If you read the post you'll see that there is not much mentioned about the region. In fact, it is just about one paragraph. In turn, boz does call on to the fact that the document is only about 8 pages long. I say, that is just about right! The length of both, the paper and the mention of Lat Am, is symptomatic of the attention the US gives to his backyard, where the grass is getting longer and the bushes are growing as they please, to the point that the US government will not be able to set foot into it. :-)

Here is the post, enjoy!
Bloggings by boz: Latin America mentions in new US defense strategy: President Obama visited the Pentagon yesterday to unveil a new National Defense Strategy. The big story was the planned reduction of militar...

Curious Drug Bust Finds Cocaine Paste Labled With the Nazi Symbol, a Swastika

noreply@blogger.com (Miguel A. Buitrago) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:44:00 +0000

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A very curious drug bust in Santa Cruz, Bolivia found around 250 kilograms of cocaine paste in the form of bricks. The curious think was that each brick displayed, on one of the flat sides, a swastika. Here is the press article from El Deber.

The bust leaves more questions than answers. Above all, why do all the bricks carry a Nazi symbol?

Bizarre!

The Dangers of Communitarian Justice

noreply@blogger.com (Miguel A. Buitrago) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 13:53:00 +0000

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There is a real danger about relying on communitarian justice when the state is not able to establish its presence in rural areas. That is the problem that has been highlighted by Bolivia's attempts at relying on communitarian justice in order to complement the weak judicial apparatus in the country.

The Bolivian constitution raises communitarian justice to the same rank as ordinary justice. On the back of ethnic, autonomic and indigenous peoples discourse, now rural dwellers around the country (there where the state is not really present) can claim the use of communitarian justice as an equal alternative to ordinary justice.

This, on one side, stems from the insecurity these dwellers feel because of the lack of presence of police forces. In addition, more often than not, people have to travel long in order to come to the nearest judge.

On the other side, these affinity for communitarian justice stems from the traditional forms of justice some Andean groups have had in the past and still have now. This has become the fundamental argument, within this indigenist discourse, to justify uses of what otherwise would be known as mob justice.

The reason for this post is to highlight an example of what has been happening in Bolivia for some time now.

In the last weeks, the Bolivian statistical institute has been sending people to the rural areas to gather survey data to measure poverty, health, and other things. In the last days, eight of those people were thought to be thieves, kept captured, and almost lynched by the skeptical people in a small town in Cochabamba. The people could be freed after long negotiations with the police and other security forces.

What does this latest example says is that this form of "justice" is not adequate to be a legitimate form of justice. At the most, if anything, it should be incorporated into a conflict solution mechanism.

noreply@blogger.com (Miguel A. Buitrago) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 10:47:00 +0000

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I am posting this time some links I found intersting.

This first link is an article strongly criticizing the Morales governmet written by Roberto Laserna (a Bolivian academic).

The second link leads to a picture of the swearing ceremony for the elected judges, that is those who won the judicial elections in Bolivia. With this, the electoral act is confirmed. It did not really matter that the spoiled vote won, did it?

The third link to a youtube video where former Government Minister, Quintana, accuses the DEA of being involved in drug trafficking and protecting the TIPNIS region for this purpose.

The Results of the Judicial Elections in Bolivia

noreply@blogger.com (Miguel A. Buitrago) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 00:23:00 +0000

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The results of the vote to fill judge posts in the four judicial sub-branches in Bolivia have been published by the Plurinacional Electoral Organ (the electoral court). Although, I have to say, since Evo is in government, the website does not work as well as it should. However, I was still able to get the final and official results.

First, I have to clarify that when I wanted to access the official results I had problems accessing the right results. For example, as I selected Santa Cruz or Pando, I got the Chuquisaca or Beni results. Only after 20 or 30 times trying to access the data by clicking on the same selection from the drop down menue I was able to access these results. Just to clarify further, I never had such a problem when I tried to access this kind of data before. I think the quality of data access has gone down.

Regardless of my petty problems by accessing the data, I was finally able to access it and from that data I created the following graph.

The graph shows the results of the judicial elections (valid, blank and spoiled votes) by tribunal or court. These results show a clear victory for the green bar or spoiled vote in the Supreme Justice Tribunal. This court is in the nine departments present and what the results say to me is that the majority of the departments did not support this court nor the vote for justices for this court. This is supposed to be the highest instance in the land.

More over, the spoiled votes show a close outcome together with the valid votes (the blue bar). How close it is, I think is irrelevant in this case. What counts for the governmet in this case is that the distance between one bar and the other is not significant or not visible. For the government that should signal a solid support for the voting exercise and the judges elected for the rest of the courts.

However, were we to add the blank votes to the spoiled votes, thereby assuming that those who voted blank protested against the vote, the result would be overwhelming for the government and clear for the rest of the world. No one will know if these votes were protest votes or the people who issued these votes did not know how to vote, were overwhelmed by the complexity of the ballot, or if they just did not care about it.

The opposition, in turn, can interpret this vote as if they did win the election. In the end, it is very remakable that the percentage of spoiled votes was so large in such elections. In fact, that is what they did. The opposition has been saying for weeks now that the spoile vote won and the elections were not legitimate.

In the end, however, the government has began to appoint the judges in their posts as the results mandate and has been able to say that the election results were not that bad. That is the success the Morales government has been able to gain from this electoral exercise. And, that seems like a good result, doesn't it?

TIPNIS Environmental Report

noreply@blogger.com (Miguel A. Buitrago) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 10:34:00 +0000

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I found an environment report on the TIPNIS region in PDF format for those who are interested and can read Spanish. I am sorry I cannot translate it, I wish I had the time.

It provides information on which indigenous peoples live around the area and which other groups of settlements are there. Especially it talks about the colonizers.

Of course, it talks about the importance of the region for the ecological well being of the areas in and around the park.

The Problem Around the TIPNIS Seems to Take a Turn Downwards

noreply@blogger.com (Miguel A. Buitrago) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 15:41:00 +0000

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The TIPNIS "problem", I have been writing about in the last weeks, seems to develop more and more. In my last post I wrote about a "headache" developing for the government due to the actions some congressmen from MAS were about to take. Now, it seems that the weakening of the MAS majority in Congress is not the only worry. The government is looking at potential disruptions in some important roads as well as more marches or demonstrations (mobilizations, as people like to call them).

First of all, it is necessary to say that as a result of the indigenous march that arrived in La Paz on October 19, demanding the government stop its plans to build a road through the TIPNIS, the below law was passed. This law is called the Law to Protect the TIPNIS. The law basically repeats what can be read in the 2009 Constitution, that is the idigenous peoples have claims and rights over these protected areas and those areas designated as "originary" (meaning indigenous territories).

The discussion however has been over a word included in the law to protect it against destruction, dissappearence or damage. The word in Spanish is "intangible", which can translated into English as intangible or impalpable. However, I am not sure the meaning is the same. In Spanish, the dictionary says that "intangible" is that something SHOUL NOT or CANNOT be touched. In English the meaning of intangible is incapable of being perceived and of impalpable is that it cannot be touched or perceived. In any case, not a clear cut translation. That is what I think. But, what is meant in the law is that the territory cannot be touched and must be preserved as it is.

And there is the problem. On the one side, the indigenous group that struggled for the passing of this law, interpret it as applying only to third parties and not to indigenous peoples. This much is clear, otherwise they would not have gone into such lengths to make the government pass the law. On the other side, the government (that seems to be upset over the whole conflict and the defeat) interprets the law as applying to everyone, including the indigenous peoples.

This, once again, prolongues the conflict because the indigenous in TIPNIS think the government will prevent them from benefiting from the natural resources in the park. The various resources are wood, agriculture, and tourism.

To make things even more complicated, the government has been complaining that the organizations in and around the conflict and the territory, such as the six confederations of coca growers, have not done anything to support the government's efforts.

The road would have provided for a way to communicate and transport products from the Chapare region, where the coca growers live, to Brazil, for example. This will not be possible anymore because the construction of the road is now prohibited.

In addition, another group that also has interest on the road is the colonizadores group. This group is made up of people who migrated from the Andes to the tropical region in and around TIPNIS to colonize the region and now find themselves in conflict with the indigenous "originary" peoples of the region. Many of these colonizadores are engaged in wood logging and other commercial activities.

Now these people have heard the government's reproach and have decided to enter in the conflict by blocking roads to demand the repeal of the law or the application of it to all. As such, these groups have issued threats to the various companies operating in the TIPNIS the if they do not leave the region by themselves the groups will make them leave by force.

How is that for a mess!

LEY Nº 180

LEY DE 24 DE OCTUBRE DE 2011

EVO MORALES AYMA

PRESIDENTE CONSTITUCIONAL DEL ESTADO PLURINACIONAL DE BOLIVIA

Por cuanto, la Asamblea Legislativa Plurinacional, ha sancionado la siguiente Ley:

LA ASAMBLEA LEGISLATIVA PLURINACIONAL,

DECRETA:

LEY DE PROTECCIÓN DEL TERRITORIO INDÍGENA

Y PARQUE NACIONAL ISIBORO SÉCURE - TIPNIS

Artículo 1. (DECLARATORIA DE PATRIMONIO DEL TIPNIS).

I. Se declara al Territorio Indígena y Parque Nacional Isiboro Sécure - TIPNIS patrimonio sociocultural y natural, zona de preservación ecológica, reproducción histórica y hábitat de los pueblos indígenas Chimán, Yuracaré y Mojeño-trinitario cuya protección y conservación son de interés primordial del Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia.

II. En el marco de los artículos 30, 385, 394 y 403 de la Constitución Política del Estado y otras normas vigentes, se ratifica al Territorio Indígena y Parque Nacional Isiboro Sécure – TIPNIS como territorio indígena de los pueblos Chimán, Yuracaré y Mojeño-trinitario, de carácter indivisible, imprescriptible, inembargable, inalienable e irreversible y como área protegida de interés nacional.

III. Asimismo, adicionalmente se declara al Territorio Indígena y Parque Nacional Isiboro Sécure – TIPNIS, como zona intangible.

Artículo 2. (TERRITORIO INDÍGENA Y ÁREA PROTEGIDA). Teniendo el Territorio Indígena y Parque Nacional Isiboro Sécure – TIPNIS, además de la categoría de territorio indígena, la categoría de área protegida, se constituye, en garantía de conservación, sostenibilidad e integridad de los sistemas de vida, la funcionalidad de los ciclos ecológicos y los procesos naturales en convivencia armónica con la Madre Tierra y sus derechos.

Artículo 3. (CARRETERAS POR EL TIPNIS). Se dispone que la carretera Villa Tunari - San Ignacio de Moxos, como cualquier otra, no atravesará el Territorio Indígena y Parque Nacional Isiboro Sécure – TIPNIS.

Artículo 4. (PROTECCIÓN). Dado el carácter intangible del Territorio Indígena y Parque Nacional Isiboro Sécure – TIPNIS se deberán adoptar las medidas legales correspondientes que permitan revertir, anular o dejar sin efecto los actos que contravengan a esta naturaleza jurídica.

Artículo 5. (PROHIBICIÓN DE ASENTAMIENTOS HUMANOS ILEGALES EN EL TERRITORIO INDÍGENA Y PARQUE NACIONAL ISIBORO SÉCURE - TIPNIS). De conformidad al Artículo Primero de la presente Ley al ser declarado territorio intangible, los asentamientos y ocupaciones de hecho promovidas o protagonizadas por personas ajenas a los titulares del Territorio Indígena y Parque Nacional Isiboro Sécure – TIPNIS, son ilegales y serán pasibles de desalojo con intervención de la fuerza pública si fuera necesario a requerimiento de autoridad administrativa o judicial competente.

Remítase al Órgano Ejecutivo, para fines constitucionales.

Es dada en la Sala de Sesiones de la Asamblea Legislativa Plurinacional, a los veinticuatro días del mes de octubre del año dos mil once.

FDO. ÁLVARO GARCÍA LINERA, Zonia Guardia Melgar, Esteban Ramírez Torrico.

Por tanto, la promulgo para que se tenga y cumpla como Ley del Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia.

Palacio de Gobierno de la ciudad de La Paz, a los veinticuatro días del mes de octubre de dos mil once años.

FDO. EVO MORALES AYMA, Carlos Romero Bonifaz, Walter Juvenal Delgadillo Terceros, Julieta Mabel Monje Villa, Nemesia Achacollo Tola.

The Biginning of a Political Headache?

noreply@blogger.com (Miguel A. Buitrago) — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 13:20:00 +0000

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The TIPNIS conflict has become a real headache for the Morales government. In fact, it has the potential to turn into a chronic desease, if the government and its party, the MAS, does not take care of its alliances.

The Senator for MAS, Pedro Nuni, has told Erbol that he will leave the MAS congressional faction to start another indigenous faction within Congress. He said he was tired to "raise his hands like a stupid". He complained that MAS and Evo only had the interests of the highland indigenous groups in mind and that the lowland indigenous groups were not important for Evo.

Nuni is a representative of the lowland indigenous groups and as such is bounded in his actions to the scrutiny of his constituency. He was asked by the representative organization to serve as a deputy.

This ought to be a warning signal for a government who is dependent on the support of the indigenous population. The break up of some indigenous groups might rest on the legitimacy that up to now the government has claimed for itself. It, for sure, will rest on the support in Congress that the government might need in order to pass some legislation.

In my opinion, this break up is unavoidable. As the different groups in Congress face the government's agenda and weight this agenda against the interests of their own constituencies, some dissagreement is bound to show up. Instead, the government should be concentrating more on compromise and communication than on setting up a system of party discipline.

TIPNIS Arrives in La Paz

noreply@blogger.com (Miguel A. Buitrago) — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 12:07:00 +0000

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Source of the photo.

The political activity is starting to make headlines again in Bolivia. The Morales government has been entangled in a confrontation with a group of indigenous people over the construction of a road that would cut right through their territory. What makes the problem even more complicated is that the territory is a natural reserve called, by its accronym, simply TIPNIS (in English is roughly translated to Isiboro Serure Indigenous Territory National Park). The territory lies between two rivers with the names Isiboro and Secure. Here is the wikipedia article in English and here, what seems to be the website of a group of people in opposition to the government in Spanish, but it has some useful information on the park itself.

The conflict began with the government deciding to go ahead with the construction of the road, which would cut through the national park. One problem is that the park was declared indigenous territory and thus it (at least in the heads of the indigenous who live there) belongs to the indigenous who live there. Another problem is that the government itself was the one who promoted this movement towards indigenous territories. Obviously, not thinking enough on what that would mean. An additional problem was that the indigenous felt they were not consulted on the decision, since there is a process in such cases. At least, there is one when it comes to natural resources.

So, in open disagreement with the government and in a confrontational strategy, the indigenous groups decided to march from Trinidad (the capital of the Beni department) to La Paz (the seat of government); a march that would last 66 days and would cover more than 600 kilometers. Here in Erbol there is a chronology of the march in Spanish.

Yesterday, Wednesday, October 19, at 1500 hours the march arrived at the doors of the government building. This was surprising because generally these types of marches are not allowed to reach the government palace. But, they did, and after that they proceeded to concentrate in the traditional place, the San Francisco plaza, which is some minutes walk from the government palace.

The march was received by the paceno population with enthusiasm and significant support. The video above, sourced from the Youtube channel from Boliviaenvideos, shows how the people lined up along the streets to show their support for the march. The Boliviaenvideos channel also has the 15 minute video of the main speech in San Francisco. But, it is all in Spanish.

But, what is the significance of all this? In my opinion, the government is being confronted with the realities of government now. In contrast to the times when Evo Morales was a maverick union leader who struggled against governments from the opposition, now the government of Morales has to govern, and that is the price it is paying. These are just the realities of government. In every decision a government makes, there are many who are in favor and there are many who are against. The problem is that the decisions a government takes almost always directly affects the lives of the people. In many cases, there are really winners and losers.

The significance for the government is that, as we have just seen, this problem with the TIPNIS group, has turned out to be a defeat in the ballot box. Arguably, this conflict has been the most prominent cause Evo Morales, who up to now had won every election, lost in last sunday's judicial elections. In addition to that, the loss of legitimacy in the eyes of many is a problem that has slowly been growing. The government came to power using, among many, a discourse in favor of "taking care of the mother earth". What does this conflict show, is its disregard for the mother earth. That is, regardless of whether the road is necessary for the development of the country or for the incorporation of many villages along the way or to create employment along its path, the message sent is that the government does not care about mother earth and it is selling out its principles.

This is a real dilemma for the Morales government. I can hardly think of a way in which the government can come out winning or even even from this conflict.

The Judicial Elections in Bolivia

noreply@blogger.com (Miguel A. Buitrago) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 09:52:00 +0000

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Yesterday, Sunday, October 16, 2011, Bolivia went yet again to the ballot box. This time they elected judges for the highest courts. It was an experimental election, because it was the first time in the region (pls correct me if I am wrong) that judges were elected by popular vote. They usually are appointed by, either the executive or the legislative branches.

Today, Monday, one day later, the headlines are catching the interest of many. In almost every newspaper the headline reads: The Spoiled Vote Marks the First Defeat of Morales.

Indeed, the exit polls are predicting a significant defeat for the Morales government. El Diario, reports (sorry this is not a permalink) the defeat is 60% to 38%, with the former representing the spoiled and blank votes and the latter being the valid votes. This marks a difference of 22%. Pagina 7, however makes a more differentiated report and highlights also exit poll results as: Spoiled 45,7%, blank 16,7%, and valid 37,6%.

This is important because, if we consider Evo Morales has won elections in 2005 with a 54%, in 2009 with 64%, in a 2008 referendum with 67% and another referendum to approve the new Constitution with 62%, the defeat yesterday marks a significant event. The defeat might mean that the support for his government is dwindling.

But, why would that be? There are many people who attribute this result to two things. The first thing points us to the most recent conflict between indigenous groups against the construction of a highway though what they consider a protected by law and their territory. This conflict is know as the TIPNIS conflict. The most recent and most relevant event was a September 25, 2011, police repression against the march of these indigenous groups to La Paz to protest against the plans of the government. There were even some casualties. The second problem conducing to this result is the disbelief that elected judges are a better form of justice. The argument is, while they might have legitimacy because they are elected directly, the politization of the justice is a serious concern. In particular, it is widely believed now that Morales is trying to consolidate its control of the state and power by positioning people close to his party into high judicial posts. An additional, more subtil, motive is the highly questionable manner in which the government finances this elections. For example, Erbol reported that several people who work on ministries and other governmental agencies and companies are obligated to give a "voluntary" contribution for those puroposes. That is, in one ministry it is said people are ordered to give 500 bolivianos (bs). In other ministry, there is a scale where people contribute with 100 bs., 350 bs., to 600 bs., and the higher officials with 10% of their salary, which can be around 1300 bs. Read here. In addition, they are obligated to attend marches in support of the government. Some people are even transported accross departments. Read here and here. So much for voluntary support!

As for the elections, it was reported that there were various irregularities but nothing serious. Some problems were that some candidates were still campaigning, even though they were prohibited from doing so. There were even reports that some brochures were inserted in the bibles in some churches.

In the lighter side of the event, there was a campaign (to which I pointed in a previous post) to show how to spoil the vore. People were very creative. Here are some links: La Razon,

The Judicial Elections in Bolivia and the Spoil Vote Campaign

noreply@blogger.com (Miguel A. Buitrago) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 15:37:00 +0000

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Here is a post, for a change, after a long time (talking about understatements, but that is another story).

As you know, in Bolivia there will be a new round of elections on October 16. This time voters will elect judges for four judicial entities. These entities were created as well as adopted in the newest version of the Bolivian Constitution of 2009. The entities are The Supreme Court, the Constitutional Court, the Magistrate Council (a control institution) and the Agro-Environment Court. If you visit the newly refurbished website of the electoral organism, renamed Organo Electoral Plurinacional or Plurinational Electoral Organ, you can get all this information and more.Of course, you can also like the Facebook page of the elections. That way you can get updated more often.

The reason for my post is to call attention to a not so often seen development in Bolivian elections. Some people in the oposition (and please do not qutomatically equate oposition with Santa Cruz or the media luna), by this I mean people who are opposed to these elections, have engaged in the promotion of the spoiled vote as a form of a protest vote. A good example is this document which spells out how exactly one is to spoil the vote in order to protest against this kind of elections.

Cheers!

Updates: As I find info I post it here.

Here is a critical text.

On the Gasolinazo!

noreply@blogger.com (Miguel A. Buitrago) — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 09:20:00 +0000

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Pukara is a magazine that is published once a month (in paper) and also electronically. This time they've published a special issue on the Gasolinazo, that I think is worth a read.

Here is the link.

Gasolinazo y Tarifazo!

noreply@blogger.com (Miguel A. Buitrago) — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 17:11:00 +0000

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What seemed to be the beginning of the end for the Mesa presidency, the removal of fuel subsidies in December 31, 2004, could turn into the beginning of the end of the Morales era?

This FB album shows what is going on in the ground.

The First Serious Test for Morales?

noreply@blogger.com (Miguel A. Buitrago) — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 09:17:00 +0000

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Evo Morales, the first indigenous president of Bolivia, has had a relatively peaceful first term in office (2006 - 2010). Eight months into his second term, which for him is just his first term because of the new constitution, he has his first serious challenge in his hands. Civic organizations in the department of Potosi are into their 16th day of hunger strike, street blockades and general strike. These actions have stranded many international tourists, to the point that some had to be taken out due to health reasons, and the citizens are starting to suffer shortages of food.

The Comité Civico Potosinista (Comcipo - Potosi Civic Committee), an umbrella organization comprising of 28 other organizations and six provinces in Potosi, has been leading the actions. These organization are demanding the government meet their demands for:

- a satisfactory solution to the border problem between Oruro and Potosi. Both dispute a piece of territory named Coroma (northern Potosi).
- the construction of a cement factory in Coroma.
- the construction of an international airport.
- the opening of Karachipampa plant.
- the preservation of the Cerro Rico de Potosi.
- the construction of roads.

The strikes are into their 16th day and, according to the Comcipo, there are no plans to give up. In fact, the discussions are shifting towards taking even more radical actions, such as taking over public offices or buildings, marching to La Paz and other undefined by the leaders.

The government has been challenged to negotiations in Potosi. It has responded by demanding the measures be stopped before any negotiation can take place. For its part, the Comcipo relaxed its demands by asking Evo Morales to the table in Sucre. The Comcipo considers Morales the only person whom they can talk because they elected him. In the process there has been several attempts to create a negotiating table by some ministers, but without success.

The problem for the government can become even larger due to the unwillingness of Evo Morales to sit and negotiate. Also, the longer it takes for the two parties to sit and talk, the worst the conditions will get in Potosi and the support for Morales will dwindle even more. Another problem for Morales is that the once pillar of MAS, the mining workers, are involved in this problem supporting the Comcipo. The Cooperativistas or independent miners, who have been critical of the government, are already criticizing the government again. The mine workers of companies operating in Potosi have also hinted their disapproval at Morales' unwillingness to talk directly with the Comcipo representatives. This situation could turn even more problematic for the government because some miners are asking the nationalization of some private mines. For example, the miners in San Cristobal, a mine operated by the Japanese Sumitomo, have asked the government for the nationalization of this company.

So the question remains, will the Morales government be able to deflate this latest conflict with the Potosi region? or will new extreme situations arise?

Municipal and Departmental Election Preliminary Results

noreply@blogger.com (Miguel A. Buitrago) — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 08:42:00 +0000

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These are the preliminary results, based on exit polls and estimates, of yesterday's (April 4) municipal and departmental (+ autonomy) elections in Bolivia. You can find this information in 24 Hours, and much more. It goes without saying, these results are not yet official. Official results will be published by the electoral court on April 24.

First of all, just to remind us, in these elections Bolivians voted to elect departmental and municipal governments, including heads of governments and legislatures. In the case of departments, a governor and a departmental council were elected. In municipalities, a mayor and a municipal council were elected. All in all, around 2511 officials were elected in 9 departments and 337 municipalities as well as indigenous territories.

After the overwhelming win of Evo Morales and his party, MAS, in last december (2009) elections, when they gained the control of the executive and the legislative branches of government, these elections were about the consolidation of power for the governing party.

As you can already perceive from the graphs above, the government is pretty sure to have gained the control of at least 5 departmental governments in La Paz, Oruro, Potosi, Cochabamba, and Sucre. Meanwhile, the opposition is pretty sure to have gained Santa Cruz, Tarija and Beni. As I write this post, Pando is in a tie, thus no one knows if it will join the opposition or the government sides. However, there are two things to observe. First, the MAS wins are pretty comfortable. In La Paz, the MAS incumbent might have won with at least 20 to 25 per centage points of advantage. Similarly, in Cochabamba and Oruro, the advantage for MAS was 30 plus or minus percentage points. In Potosi the advantage borders 45 percentage points. Second, and contrasting the aforementioned, if we observe the wins of the opposition, we conclude these are not so solid. In Tarija and Beni, for example, the opposition incumbent's advantages lie between 5 and 9 percentage points. The only clear win (absolute majority) and thus avoiding a second round of elections is that of Ruben Costas in Santa Cruz with around 15 percentage points.

At the municipal level, the picture is somewhat sobering for MAS and Evo Morales. It is predicted that 7 out of the 10 largest cities in the country went for the opposition. These cities are significant in political terms. Worth mentioning is the win of Movimiento Sin Miedo (MSM) in MAS territories such as the cities of La Paz and Oruro, of PAIS in Sucre and AS in Potosi. These results are being handled as the surprises of the elections. No surprise were the wins of the opposition in the cities of Santa Cruz, Tarija and Trinidad.

What does this all mean?

In my opinion it means the confirmation of the status quo with a small, yet significant defeat for MAS at the municipal level. The prospect that MAS might be controlling 6 out of the 9 departmental governments means that, at this level of government, Evo Morales and his national government have indeed significantly weakened (if not destroyed) the media luna. The opposition, which once included Beni, Pando, Santa Cruz, Tarija, and Sucre, has now been reduced to Santa Cruz, Tarija and Pando. Very significant loses for the opposition, especially of Beni. This was the case during Evo Morales' first term and this will be the case for his next term.

If the above municipal level results are any indication for the final results, MAS will suffer a modest defeat in these elections. What is significant, is the defeat of MAS candidates in La Paz and Oruro. These results show that, the perceived unity of MAS at the national level is confronted with reality of local politics and local interests at the local level. It might also be the result of the strategies MAS has pursued to win in municipalities. In La Paz, for example, MAS opted to break a long-standing partnership with MSM.

In addition, at the national level, these results will mean that Evo Morales and his government will have to engage in negotiation with the opposition more often that they would like. The opposition, while weakened, is still present and now stronger due to the autonomic process. The most immediate test of the new balance of power in Bolivia will be the coming law for autonomy and decentralization. There, the government and the opposition will have to negotiate several things. One, the negotiations will touch on the competencies attributed to the departments. Here it will get complicated because not only the national government and the departmental governments have to be involved but also the municipal governments. Two, another complicated topic is the sources for financing the process. Where will the money come from? That is the big question that has to be negotiated. Three, in some cases such as the indigenous and regional autonomies, the national territory will have to be changed. Inevitably, I see some disputes on internal boundaries coming.

Who's got the power now?

The question is, has MAS consolidated its power in Bolivia? My answer is, not as it would have to. On the one side, MAS has control of the national level of government and perhaps some control over the departmental level of government. At the municipal level, at this point, it is hard to tell. The official results are not out yet.

The problem for MAS is the autonomy process. With gained autonomy from the part of departments and municipalities, the national government has less influence in the internal affairs of each political-administrative unit. Unless, of course, the autonomy remains in paper and reality is different.

Elections in Bolivia, again!

noreply@blogger.com (Miguel A. Buitrago) — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 14:06:00 +0000

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For those of you who are interested on following the elections in Bolivia tomorrow live, April 4, I suggest the following links. It turns out there is a lively and busy community in Bolivia with big plans on contributing to the development of an e-democracy. Especially when transparency is the topic. These groups of people are well organized and techno savy and well prepared to bring transparency to tomorrow's elections. Please, give them a visit or follow them on FB and Twitter!

http://elecciones2.0bolivia.com/

http://www.gobernabilidad.org.bo/

http://www.eabolivia.com/elecciones-municipales-y-departamentales-bolivia-2010.html

Of course, you can visit the media where you can get the first estimate results. For that visit La Razon, El Diario, El Deber, Los Tiempos, but especially visit tv channels such as ATB, Univision, or La Patria Nueva. The links are on the side bar.

Andean Symbolism and Politics

noreply@blogger.com (Miguel A. Buitrago) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 21:56:00 +0000

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This is an iteresting article that shows us a bit of the view some radical indigenist groups think about the role Evo Morales has in the indigenist ideology and his use of that ideology for political purposes. Just click on the image to see a larger version.

Bolivia's New State: Aparent vs. Integral

noreply@blogger.com (Miguel A. Buitrago) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 19:30:00 +0000

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Re-elected Vice president Alvaro Garcia gave a speech as he was being appointed for the second time on January 22, 2010. In this speech, which was more of an academic lecture than a political statement, he laid out his "vision" of the new Bolivian state being created.

He distinguished between two kinds of states: Estado Aparente (Apparent State) and Estado Integral (Integral State). He borrowed the concepts from thinkers such as Rene Zavaleta (Bolivian political scientist, politician and philosopher) and Antonio Gramsci (Italian philosopher and politician).

Garcia said that in the apparent state, which was the one in place until 2005, the Bolivian society and the country's territory, in their entirety, were not integrated into the state. Instead, only some parts of that society were represented, while some parts of the territory were not taken into account. Furthermore, the apparent state did not incorporate culture and neither the different forms of sociopolitical organization present in the country. Garcia then argued that the apparent state was a liberal, republican, democratic and dictatorial state, which centralized its resources, engaged in partimonialism and was subordinated to external powers.

On the other hand, Garcia defined the integral state as one in which there is correspondence among citizens, civil society and the state representatives. In essence, it unites all society groups under a moral, intellectual, and political leadership. This state, rests on several pillars. First, economic sovereignty based on the pivotal role of the state. Second, this state recognizes the equality of rights of the indigenous as well as the mestizo groups. Third, the integral state is present in the entire territory. Fourth, it relies on a community based and plural economy where small, medium and large production takes place, and the state is the engine.

As you can see, Garcia's speech reveals many of his Marxist tendencies. That makes me think about what Felix Patzi has been saying about the MAS government. Patzi, an indigenous intellectual, has been arguing that the traditional left (including communists, socialist, marxists, Leninist, etc.) has hijacked the MAS and has surrounded Evo Morales in the government. Patzi argued that the new Bolivia is nothing that the indigenous movements wanted when they started the process to take over power. The indigenous movements seek an indigenous version of a state. Perhaps, one based on the ancient cultures of the Incas or Aymaras. By any means, they sought to implement socialism, Marxism, communism or any other ism that came from what they call the western world.

So, is Patzi right? Has Evo Morales lost his compass? Is he being used by the traditional left?

The New Government

noreply@blogger.com (Miguel A. Buitrago) — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 21:04:00 +0000

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This is the new cabinet that will be working with Morales.
Source: Erbol and Cambio

Relaciones Exteriores: David Choquehuanca Céspedes
Ministerio de la Presidencia: Oscar Coca Antezana
Ministerio de Gobierno: Sacha Llorenti Sóliz
Ministerio de Defensa: Rubén Saavedra Soto
Ministerio de Defensa Legal del Estado: Elizabeth Arismendi Chumacero
Planificación del Desarrollo: Elva Caro Hinojosa
Economía y Finanzas Públicas: Luís Arce Catacora
Hidrocarburos y Energía: Luís Fernando Vincenti Vargas
Desarrollo Productivo y Economía Plural: Antonia Rodríguez Medrano
Obras Públicas, Servicios y Vivienda: Walter Delgadillo Terceros
Minería y Metalurgia: Milton Gómez Mamani
Ministry of Justicia: Nilda Copa Condori
Trabajo, Empleo y Previsión Social: Carmen Trujillo Cárdenas
Ministerio de Salud y Deportes: Sonia Polo Andrade
Medio Ambiente y Aguas: María Udaeta Velásquez
Ministerio de Educación: Roberto Aguilar Gómez
Desarrollo Rural y Tierras: Nemesia Chacollo Tola
Ministerio de Autonomías: Carlos Romero Bonifaz
Ministerio de Transparencia Institucional y Lucha Contra la Corrupción: Nardy Suxo Iturri
Ministerio de Culturas: Zulma Yugar Párraga.

They were appointed through Presidential Decree (Decreto Presidencial) Nr. 0407/10.

Images of Morales' Inauguration Ceremony

noreply@blogger.com (Miguel A. Buitrago) — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 19:28:00 +0000

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Here are some images from ABI of Morales' Possession as the spiritual leader of the country.

Click on the images to see them in greater detail.

The First Actions of the New Plurinational Legislative Assembly

noreply@blogger.com (Miguel A. Buitrago) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:34:00 +0000

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The government and the new Plurinational Legislative Assembly, henceforth, assembly, will need to pass a number of laws in the next weeks. The first five, which by constitutional mandate have to be approved within 180 days from the first day of the assembly, are as follows:

1. The law of the Plurinational Electoral Organ (OEP, in Spanish)
2. The electoral law (probably the current transitory law will do)
3. The law of the Judicial Organ
4. The law of the Plurinational Constitutional Tribunal
5. The framework law for autonomies and decentralization

These laws have priority because they will be needed for the next steps, namely the upcoming April municipal and prefectural elections and the constitutional check of the autonomic statutes.

Other laws voted in the assembly will be: the universal health coverage insurance law, the education law (Abelino Sinani), and the anticorruption law (Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz).

Source: La Razon