Tag: TIPNIS

The Amazon
TIPNIS

Bolivia: IACHR to hear TIPNIS case

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) formally agreed to hear a complaint filed by 64 indigenous communities in Bolivia’s eastern rainforest, accusing the Bolivian state of violating their territorial rights under the administration of ousted president Evo Morales. The complaint charges that Bolivian authorities undertook to build a highway through the Isiboro-Sécure National Park & Indigenous Territory (TIPNIS) without consulting or obtaining the consent of indigenous inhabitants. It also alleges that the government illegally used force to break up the cross-country “VIII Indigenous March” that was called to protest the road construction in 2011. (Photo via Bolivia Diary)

The Andes
Evo Morales

Bolivia: Evo Morales resigns amid ‘civic coup’

Following a statement fom the OAS calling for last month’s disputed elections in Bolivia to be “annulled,” Evo Morales flew from La Paz to the provincial city Chimoré in his traditional heartland of Cochabamba department, where he issued a televised statement announcing his resignation. The statement decried the “civic coup” that had been launched against him, noting more than two weeks of increasingly violent protests. He later tweeted from Chimoré that his home in Cochabamba had been attacked by a mob of opponents, and that he had been informed that arrest orders have been issued against him. Leaders of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal have already been arrested. (Photo: Unitel.tv)

The Amazon

Bolivia: indigenous dissident cleared of charges

After three years of investigation, Bolivia's Public Ministry reached a decision not to bring criminal charges against Adolfo Chávez, former leader of the Confederation of the Indigenous Peoples of the Bolivian Oriente (CIDOB), and 21 others linked to a corruption scandal in a case many saw as politically motivated. Chávez and the others were accused of illegally misappropriating monies made available through the government's Development Fund for Indigenous Peoples. But he claimed he was targeted for his opposition to the government's development plans for the Isiboro Secure Indigenous Territory and National Park (TIPNIS), in the eastern rainforest. In October, Chávez testified before the Inter-American Human Rights Commission that coca-growers in the TIPNIS loyal to the ruling Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) were attacking the reserve's indigenous inhabitants. (Photo: ANF)

The Amazon

Bolivia: wanted rainforest defenders hold out

Three indigenous leaders are holding out in a Bolivian rainforest reserve after arrest orders were issued against them, concerning a conflict over a planned road through their lands.

The Andes

Bolivia: indigenous demand autonomy from state

Bolivia’s Aymara indigenous alliance CONAMAQ is charging that the ruling Movement to Socialism is seeking to divide their organization, warning of a potential for violence. 

The Andes

Bolivia: progress seen in coca policy

Total area planted with coca in Bolivia dropped by up to 13% last year, as both eradication efforts and the areas where coca can be legally cultivated were expanded.

The Amazon

Bolivia: judicial crisis over Amazon road project

Gualberto Cusi, a magistrate on Bolivia’s Constitutional Tribunal, has been asked to resign after accusing the executive of pressuring the court to approve a rainforest road project.