Browse Cases

Showing 1-3 of 3 results

Bolivian journalists protect freedom of expression, 2010

Country
Bolivia
Time period
September, 2010 to 6 January, 2011
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Democracy
Human Rights
Total points
8 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Carmen Smith-Estrada, 25/11/2011

Since taking office in 2005, Bolivian President Evo Morales had an increasingly tenuous relationship with the domestic media. On multiple occasions he accused newspapers of being the mouthpieces of the opposition, particularly if they criticized a state policy. The growing polarization between Morales’ Movement for Socialism Party (MAS) and the opposition parties was often reflected in the “media war” between state-owned news outlets and privately owned companies. Parties on both sides perpetuated the war by threatening journalists across the political spectrum.

Indigenous Bolivians challenge road through Isiboro Secure Park, 2011

Country
Bolivia
Time period
15 August, 2011 to 25 October, 2011
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Environment
Human Rights
National/Ethnic Identity
Total points
10 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Pauline Blount, 30/10/2011

On August 15, 2011, some 1000 indigenous peoples from the Isiboro Secure Park (known by its Spanish Acronym TIPNIS) in Bolivia began their protest march against a highway project through the park and their traditional homes.  The 500km march from the Amazonian town of Trinidad to La Paz was organized by many indigenous leaders, including Fernando Vargas, president of TIPNIS Native Communities, and Rosario Barradas of the Conference of Indigenous People.

Bolivians end foreign-owned water privatization in Cochabamba ‘Water War', 2000

Country
Bolivia
Time period
December 15, 1999 to April 10, 2000
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Democracy
Economic Justice
Environment
Human Rights
Total points
9 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Anjali Cadambi 01/11/2010

Throughout the 90s, Bolivia came under increasing pressure from the World Bank to privatize public goods in order to fulfill loan conditionality. In September 1999, in response to this pressure, the Bolivian government auctioned off the municipal water system ‘SEMAPA’ of Cochabamba, a city of 800,000 residents. When the auction drew only one bidder, the government signed water resources over in a 40-year concession to Aguas del Tunari, a foreign-led consortium of private investors dominated by the Bechtel Corporation.