893 Biometric Voter Registration Stations Opened 
Bolivia Weekly, 05-July-2011: Bolivia’s National Director of Civil Registration said that his agency has opened 893 biometric voting registration stations across the country through July 26. Citizens need only an identity card or birth certificate to register. Anyone over 18 or who has changed addresses must come to register or modify their information in the biometric registry which scans people’s fingerprints to help prevent voter fraud.
128,059 formerly illegal cars registered
Bolivia Weekly, 03-July-2011: A new law passed by President Evo Morales, granting an amnesty to owners of illegal and unregistered cars, has now registered a shocking 127,700 automobiles. The registrations are initiated over the internet and allow owners of cars smuggled into Bolivia to legalize them. The government had predicted less than 10% of this number of illegal vehicles. Morales had passed a law prohibiting the importation of any vehicle older than 2006, so many more older cars began coming in illegally.
Bolivia renounces 1961 UN narcotics convention
San Francisco Chronicle, 01-July-2011: Bolivia has informed the United Nations it is renouncing the world body's anti-drug convention because it classifies the coca leaf as an illegal narcotic. Bolivia's decision comes after a proposal by President Evo Morales to remove language that obliges countries that have signed the convention to ban coca-leaf chewing was rejected following U.S. objections.
World Bank: Bolivia has Advanced
Bolivia Weekly, 01-July-2011: The World Bank representative in Bolivia, Óscar Avalle, said yesterday that Bolivia is about to graduate from a “concessional” country to join the ranks of countries like Brazil and Argentina. Avalle explained that this “graduation” was provoked by a prudent macroeconomic policy begininning in 2006 and that Bolivia may transition from a poor country to a middle income country in the next two years.
Ex-Coch. Prefect Reyes Villa Wanted by Interpol
| Bolivia Weekly, 01-July-2011: Former Cochabamba prefect Manfred Reyes Villa is wanted by Interpol for the crime of fraud. Since late December 2009, after losing the Bolivian presidential election to incumbent Evo Morales, Reyes Villa has been living in self-imposed exile in Miami. Manfred Reyes accused Interpol of playing into the Bolivian president’s hands and called the arrest warrant “a political issue.” He said he would not return to Bolivia unless he could be guaranteed a fair deal. |  |
Bolivian communities fearful as river fish stranded
| BBC News, 07-Jul-2011: Communities in southern Bolivia's Tarija region rely heavily on fishing the Pilcomayo River. But as the BBC's Mattia Cabitza reports, irregular rains have led to a rapid build-up of sediment that has disrupted fish life cycles, putting livelihoods at risk. |  |
Paraguan expedition abandoned
BBC News, 07-Jul-2011: The Chaco, known as the green hell, covers a vast area of dry virtually impenetrable forest straddling the borders of Bolivia, Argentina and Paraguay. It is one of the least hospitable but most biologically diverse places on earth and home to thousands of plant and and animal species previously unknown to science.
UN Criticizes Bolivia's Renunciation of Drug Convention
Bolivia Weekly, 07-July-2011: Yesterday, the United Nation’s International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) criticized the “unprecedented” decision of Bolivia to renounce the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. Bolivia recently renounced the 1961 convention because it classifies the coca leaf as a comparable drug to heroin and cocaine.
Bolivian Earthquakes Increasing, 107 in 2011
Bolivia Weekly, 07-July-2011: The San Calixto Observatory in La Paz informed the press on Tuesday that Bolivia has experienced 107 earthquakes of at least 4 points on the Richter scale in 2011. An observatory technician, Mario Zabala said, "Seismic activity in Bolivia is increasing slightly, occurring with greater frequency, and it's very possible that this seismic activity will continue, but these medium-sized movements don't cause any harm. Zabala explained that many of these earthquakes are so far down in the earth that they do not cause any damage on the surface.
Santa Cruz Credit Card Cloning Rising Again
Bolivia Weekly, 12-July-2011: July has seen a spike in ATM copying crimes in Santa Cruz, with 17 reported cases in less than two weeks. Prosecutor Carlos Gutiérrez said that officials are investigating and some of these cases may be related to a gang of card thieves that was broken up in May, led by a Chinese national.
Evo Close to Calling Potosí Snows National Emergency
Bolivia Weekly, 12-July-2011: The Bolivian alti-plano rarely sees snow and almost never experience accumulation, but heavy snows in the past week have left travelers stranded and rural families in grave danger. Tourists and travelers have been evacuated from the highlands around Potosí where a week of snows have made roads nearly impassable and put at risk the lives of 1,200 rural farming families and their 50,000 llamas and alpacas.
Bolivia appeals for help as snow strands thousands
BBC News, 12-Jul-2011: The worst snow storms in Bolivia in the last 20 years have left thousands of people stranded, as more snow is forecast for the coming days. The Bolivian government has appealed for help from neighbouring countries.
Bolivia Expresses Interest in Chile-Peru Maritime Dispute
Bolivia Weekly, 13-July-2011: Bolivian President Evo Morales yesterday defended his government's decision to send a document on July 8 to the International Court of Justice in The Hague. The document asked the court to evaluate Bolivia's position regarding a maritime border dispute between Chile and Peru over the sovereignty of the two nations' Pacific costal area.
Morales Investigates Potosí Baby Sale Prices
Bolivia Weekly, 13-July-2011: President Morales asked yesterday for a detailed report from the People's Defender about recent allegations of widespread baby and child trafficking in the city of Potosí for just a few dollars each. Morales was skeptical and surprised by the People's Defender's initial findings saying, "In Potosí the economy has improved a lot.
Thousands stranded in Bolivia after unusually heavy snow
BBC News, 13-Jul-2011: Bolivia's south west is normally a dry land but now has been hit by the worst snowstorms in years. Thousands of people have been stranded and rescue efforts are under way.
A Roadmap for Beating Latin America's Transnational Criminal Organizations
| NDU Press, 13-July-2011: Transnational criminal organizations have become too well armed, resourced, and influential to be contained by law enforcement resources in Latin America, where official corruption is widespread, police are not trusted, ungoverned spaces leave a vacuum for crime to penetrate, and vulnerable publics are open to anyone who will provide the services and security the state cannot. |  |
Will Transparency Save the World Bank?
The Duck of Minerva, 13-July-2011: I confess that I am a World Bank junkie. There is nothing (well, very little) that perks my intellectual interest more than an in-depth discussion on the internal and external politics of the Bank. Over the past two weeks in DC, I have mercilessly subjected my graduate students to numerous conversations about the challenges facing the organization with experts within the Bank, US Senate, and the world of NGOs and think tanks. To my fabulous students, I want to say thanks for letting me nerd-out. To faithful Duck readers, I'd like to pose a few questions about the future of the Bank that arose from these conversations.
Brazil Demands 4,000 Stolen Vehicles Registered in Bolivia
Bolivia Weekly, 15-July-2011: The Brazilian ambassador in Bolivia, Marcel Biato, announced yesterday that many of the recently registered cars in the database of the Bolivian Customs agencyhad been stolen in Brazil. Biato avoided mentioning the exact number but other officials said to news agency Efe that the total was around 4,000 and said that the number could climb as the investigation continues. Brazil has officially expressed concern about Bolivia's new law to normalize formerly illegal unregistered vehicles through which there has been an unprecendented outpouring of over 130,000 new registrations.
Chinese Company to Exploit Tin in Bolivia
| Prensa Latina, 15-July-2011: China''s Vicstar Company will invest 50 million dollars in the construction of a plant that will allow tripling the production in Huanuni, the largest tin mine in Bolivia, local press reported Saturday. The new facility will have capacity to process three times more tons of tin daily, compared to the current production, according to Los Tiempos daily and Bolpress news agency. |  |
Bolivian Government for Improving Access to Water
Prensa Latina, 15-July-2011: Bolivian President Evo Morales on Thursday highlighted the importance of developing programs to guarantee access to water, in order to fight drought and other natural disasters caused by the irrational industrialization policies of some powerful countries.
Photographing the Mystery of Healing
Lens, 15-July-2011: Mr. Gellert had always wanted to study the role of shamanic ritual in enhancing the application of traditional plant medicines. In 2005, as he approached 60, he resolved to combine his academic and photographic interests by studying and documenting shamans and other healers in Peru and Bolivia. He spent 10 months of the next five years living with healers, studying their rituals and undergoing treatment himself.