Tag: Bolivia

The Amazon

Bolsonaro to The Hague?

KushaybThe International Criminal Court (ICC)  convicted Ali Kushayb, a former Sudanese militia chief, on 27 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in massacres and atrocities in Darfur region in 2003 and 2004. Guilty verdicts included for the war crimes of torture, murder and rape, as well as multiple crimes against humanity, including forcible population transfers. The ICC Trial Chamber found that Kushayb, as a senior commander in the Janjaweed militia, led a campaign of atrocities during the Darfur conflict, with witnesses describing razed villages, mass executions, and gang rapes used as a weapon of war. Sentencing will take place at a later date, with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. (Photo via Radio Dabanga)

The Amazon

Amazon forest fires spread to Bolivia

GazaIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly told his ministers that he will seek cabinet approval for a plan to fully occupy the Gaza Strip. According to reports in the Israeli media, several ministers said Netanyahu used the term "occupation of the Strip" in private conversations describing his plan. One anonymous official was quoted as saying: "The die is cast—we are going for a full occupation of the Gaza Strip." Referring to IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, who is said to oppose such plans, the official added: "If the chief of staff doesn’t agree, he should resign." These reports come as more than a dozen former senior Israeli security officials issued a joint video message with a call to end the war in Gaza, arguing that it has become damaging to Israel's own national interests. (Photo: Jaber Jehad Badwan via Wikimedia Commons)

The Andes
ADEPCOCA

Internecine cocalero violence in Bolivia

tankThe European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that Russia has committed grave violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) in Ukraine—not just since the massive invasion of 2022, but since the conflict began in 2014. Judges at the ECHR rendered a series of decisions related to consolidated complaints brought by Ukraine and the Netherlands. Among the named violations of IHL are the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, multiple violations of the Geneva Conventions and other human rights treaties, application of "extremism laws" against religious communities, and interference with freedom of speech and the press. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Southern Cone

Italy hands down sentences in ‘Operation Condor’

DaryaA court in St. Petersburg sentenced 19-year-old activist Daria Kozyreva to two years and eight months in prison for "discrediting the armed forces" by publicly posting 19th-century Ukrainian poetry in protest of Russia's war in Ukraine. On the second anniversary of the start of invasion last February, Kozyreva taped a piece of paper bearing a quote from Testament, by Ukrainian national poet Taras Shevchenko, onto his statue in a St. Petersburg park. The excerpt read: "Oh bury me, then rise ye up / And break your heavy chains / And water with the tyrants' blood / The freedom you have gained." (Photo: Mediazona via Novaya Gazeta)

The Andes

Bolivia: did opposition call for US ‘intervention’?

AfghanistanThe United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) condemned a new Taliban directive barring Afghan women and girls from attending classes at medical institutions, warning that it will have devastating consequences for the country's healthcare system. OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani stated: "The measure is profoundly discriminatory, short-sighted and puts the lives of women and girls at risk in multiple ways. It removes the only remaining path for women and girls towards higher education and will decimate the already inadequate supply of female midwives, nurses and doctors." (Photo: ArmyAmber/Pixabay)

The Andes

Bolivia: indigenous opposition leader arrested

Rafael QuispeAymara indigenous leader and opposition lawmaker Rafael Quispe says he will file "abduction" charges against the Bolivian government after he was arrested in La Paz, and shortly released when a judge found there was no grounds for his detention. Quispe, of the left-opposition Unidad Demócrata party, was brought before the Second Anti-corruption Tribunal for having supposedly missed court appearances in a legal case against him for alleged "harassment" of Felipa Huanca, a militant of the ruling Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) and former candidate for governor of La Paz department. The case stems from Quispe's accusations that Huanca was involved in embezzlement of funds slated for development of indigenous communities when she was La Paz head of the Bartolina Sisa Federation of Campesina Women in 2014. (Photo: Erbol via Los Tiempos de Cochabamba)

The Andes

Bolivia next for Latin ‘regime change’ offensive?

Bolivia protestUS senators Ted Cruz, Bob Menéndez and Dick Durbin introduced a resolution calling on Bolivia's President Evo Morales not to stand for re-election this October. Cruz said Bolivia is going in a "very dangerous direction, aligning itself with illegal and illegitimate regimes, including that of [Nicolás] Maduro in Venezuela. It is important that all parties respect the constitution of Bolivia, which includes term limits." Bolivia saw a wave of strikes and protests after a December ruling by the country's Supreme Electoral Tribunal allowing Morales to run for a fourth consecutive term in the 2019 election. The resolution comes just as Bolivia has announced a new partnership with Chinese company Xinjiang TBEA Group to exploit the country's valuable and largely untapped lithium deposits. China has for years been seeking deals to exploit Bolivia's strategic lithium reserves, in what some see as a global design to establish a "stranglehold" on the planet's rare earth minerals. (Photo via NACLA)

Southern Cone

Chinese ‘spaceport’ military outpost in Argentina?

Bajada del AgrioAnnouncement of a joint Chinese-Argentine satellite production company comes amid growing concern within Argentina about activities at the Chinese-operated "spaceport" at Bajada del Agrio in Patagonia—and the apparent role of the People's Liberation Army in the facility. The Bajada del Agrio facility played a part in tracking China's recent lunar probe, but is overseen by companies that answer directly to the PLA's General Armaments Department. Only personnel authorized by Beijing have access to the facility, arousing much suspicion about the site in Argentina's news media. (Photo via InfoBae)

The Andes

Protests over re-election broil Bolivia

Bolivia protestBolivia has seen strikes and protests since the ruling by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal allowing President Evo Morales to run for a fourth consecutive term in the 2019 election. The ruling was met with marches, road blockades and work stoppages that caused varying degrees of disruption in eight of Bolivia’s nine departments. A student mobilization in the hydrocarbon-rich eastern department of Santa Cruz, heart of anti-Morales sentiment, ended in violence, with the regional offices of the electoral tribunal burned to the ground. Hunger strikes were launched in six cities, with at least 20 still ongoing. (Photo via NACLA)

The Amazon

Ecuador: indigenous dissident blasts bogus populism

Mónica ChujiSpeaking at the fifth International Andino-Amazonian Forum for Rural Development in Cobija, Bolivia, a member of the delegation from Ecuador accused the Quito government of masking the despoliation of indigenous territories in populist phrases. Mónica Chuji, a community leader from the Ecuadoran rainforest, accused former president Rafael Correa of invoking the indigenous concept of Sumaj Causay or Vivir Bien (Good Living) in his new constitution only to "folklore-ize it [folklorizaron] so it ends up being a cliché without content." She said there is a "divorce between the discourse and the reality" as the Ecuadoran Amazon is opened to "mega-corporations that destroy our territories with the protection of successive governments." She also charged the government with persecution of indigenous leaders who protest or resist. (Photo: Agencia de Noticias Fides)

The Andes

ICJ rejects Bolivia ocean access claim against Chile

Chile BoliviaThe International Court of Justice ruled that landlocked Bolivia cannot force neighboring Chile to grant it access to a portion of its Pacific coast. Bolivia controlled a portion of coast until 1904, when Chile successfully annexed the territory. The day of the 1904 treaty has since been commemorated each year by lamenting Bolivians, and the nation has attempted to renegotiate coastal access for over 100 years. A dispute over water rights in the contested border region remains pending. (Image via Stratfor)

The Amazon

Bolivia: indigenous dissident cleared of charges

Adolfo ChávezAfter 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)