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Archive for the ‘Bolivia’ Category

Iran Makes Enemies and Friends in NYC

8:03 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Bolivia|iran|New York City|Politics|Venezuela · 1 Comment

25 Sep 2007

601-AME_25boli.embedded.prod_affiliate.84.jpg While Bush and many others in NYC protested Iran’s President Mahmud Ahmadinejad at both the United Nations and Colombia University, others were making nice with Iran. On Monday Evo Morales’ administration announced that coming soon would be a diplomatic relationship with Iran. Evo’s opposition say that he is acting as Hugo Chavez’s lapdog. Hugo Chavez canceled his appearance at the U.N General Assembly opting instead to stay home and focus on his current gig as a negotiator with FARC. Ahmadinejad will visit Bolivia and Venezuela this week.

Story and Image Via / El Nuevo Herald

Don Omar Detained and Released in Bolivia

9:11 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Bolivia|Celebrities|Justice|Music · Comments Off

19 Sep 2007

A funny thing happened on the way to the reggaetpn concert. Rican reggaetonero and king of kings Don Omar was detained for 7 hours in Santa Cruz de Bolivia, accused of $70,000 worth of fraud. Upon his release Don Omar siad that he never wanted this to happen and that some people commit crimes using other people’s names. The fraud charges came via a La Paz business man and also implicated Don Omar’s rep and another business man. According to el Mercurio, Don Omar’s people received 70 grand for a show in La Paz scheduled for past August 20 that never happened.

Via / El Mercurio Online

Image Via / Merengue Mundo

Evo: “Transparent aid or out of Bolivia”

11:29 am By Maegan La Mala · Bolivia|Politics · 1 Comment

5 Sep 2007

Everyone knows that throughout history U.S. aid in Latin America has often had an underlying agenda. The Bolivian government knows that too, and is talking back to the U.S., saying that if their policies don’t support current president Evo Morales, then they can take their money and not let the door hit them on the way out.

According to Venezuela’s El Universal, the “right hand man” of Evo Morales, Juan Ramón Quintana, says:

“If U.S. aid doesn’t adjust itself to the policies of the Bolivian state, the door [to leave] is open. We aren’t going to allow that this type of aid fog our democracy, conspire against the rights to freedom of our people or offend national dignity even one day more.”

Bolivians : Hell No We Won’t Go (to a New Capital)

10:53 am By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Bolivia|Politics · Comments Off

23 Jul 2007

bolivia%20protests.jpg About a million people took to the streets of Bolivia’s capital city La Paz on Friday to protest efforts to move the nation’s capital. According to news reports, the crowd was made up of La Paz residents and members of the Aymara community bused in from the surrounding countryside. They were all united ,waving the red and green La Paz state flag. The executive and legislative branches of the Bolivian government are based in La Paz while the judicial branch is located 255 miles to the southeast, in Sucre. Bolivia was officially founded in Sucre in 1825 but lost its capital title in 1899 in a civil war.

Eastern states argue that Sucre, nearer the country’s center, can better represent the entire country than La Paz, which is on Bolivia’s far western edge.
La Paz backers say switching the capital from Bolivia’s largest city, with a metropolitan population of 1.7 million, to Sucre, population 250,000, would be expensive and divisive.

Via / CNN

Bolivia Beauty Queen in a Hairy Situation

1:38 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Bolivia · Comments Off

17 Jul 2007

In many a beauty pageants fake augmentation is considered the norm. This is not the case in Bolivia’s Miss Cholita Pacena pageant where the use of something fake cost the winner her crown. When Mariela Molinedo won on July 13, she was being lauded for exemplifying Indigenous Bolivian women and their traditional fashion of of a wide skirt, bowler hat and long braided hair. The contestants also had to make a speech in native Aymara, the language of the Indigenous local community. There was one problem with Mariela though. Her braids, fake.

The judges “disqualified the winner because they realized she didn’t have braids, that the braids she had were false,” he told Reuters. “Having short hair means they don’t live like Cholitas.”

Damn imagine if Miss Universe was handled like that. Taking away crowns because of fake um assets. There would be no contestants!!!

Via / MSNBC

Evo Morales : Enemy of Capitalism

1:19 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Bolivia|Politics · Comments Off

25 May 2007

Bolivia’s President Evo Morales may be pals with Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro but he’s no friend of the U.S.’s best friend, capitalism. At a conference this past Tuesday Morales said:

The transnational corporations always provoke conflicts to accumulate capital, and the accumulation of capital in a few hands is no solution for humanity,And so I have arrived at the conclusion that capitalism is the worst enemy of humanity. Instead of making more weapons and bullets to kill humankind, we must concentrate on producing more food,”

Via / CBS News

Evo makes businesses pay workers more

6:37 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Bolivia|Labor|Money · Comments Off

7 May 2007

Bolivian president Evo Morales signed a decree earlier this month (on May 1, International Workers Day, to be exact) which calls for private companies to give their workers a 5 percent raise.

Labor minister Walter Delgadillo said that the measures looks to “do right” by those who “never receive raises”, unlike public workers, who, incidentally, are calling for raises of their own — of up to 20 percent:

“Some of you are asking for a 20 percent raise in salary. I can’t understand it,” said Morales, who asked that those workers be “patriots” and understand that it isn’t possible to raise salaries by that much.

Perhaps Evo can’t understand it because last year he sliced his own salary in half (to $1700 USD per month) to pay for ten new teachers. Nice gesture, even if the minimum wage in Bolivia is a just 525 Bolivianos — 65 U.S. dollars per month.

Via / EsMas.com

Don’t Call It A Comeback : Is Fidel Ready for his Closeup?

2:12 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Bolivia|Cuba|Politics|Venezuela · Comments Off

29 Apr 2007

evo%20fidel%20hugo.jpg Two of Fidel Castro‘s buddies are hinting that the Cuban leader, who has been out of the spotlight since having surgery last summer, is ready to retake his position as President. His little bro, Raul Castro, has been taking care of business since Fidel’s gastrointestinal operation last July. Bolivian President, Evo Morales, was the first to speculate, saying that he fully expected Fidel to be present at Havana’s May Day parade on Tuesday. Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez didn’t say when his amigo would make a public appearance, but he would say the Fidel Castro was back in charge.

As usual, we’ll just have to wait and see.

Via / BBC News and Yahoo! News

Evo overworked

1:19 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Bolivia|Health|Politics · Comments Off

5 Apr 2007

Bolivian president Evo Morales has been burning the candle at both ends. Venezuela’s El Universal reports that the president’s typical day starts at 5:00 a.m. and ends at 11:00 p.m., with only a couple of cat naps in between meetings.

That’s why Evo is going to have a complete medical examination to make sure everything is in order and that his crazy work schedule isn’t affecting his health in any significant way. According to government spokespeople, the results of the exam will affect his schedule if it’s found that his health is compromised.

Maybe Evo should take a cue from our own president, known for his love of extended vacations and frequent revitalizing naps.

Via / El Universal

When is El Che Not El Che?

23 Mar 2007

According to one Cuban exile, when the body buried in Cuba isn’t that of the Argentinian who was one of the key players in the Cuban Revolution that put Fidel Castro in power.

Gustavo Villoldo – a Miami Cuban exile hired 40 years ago through the CIA to hunt down Che – has come forward for the first time with his evidence to claim that Che’s remains may still be in Bolivian soil and not in a Cuban mausoleum, his official grave site – as Fidel Castro claims.

This is a huge claim. Ernesto “Che” Guevara has become more than a historical figure. To some he is the icon of revolution and social change, to others he is a symbol of oppression , and perhaps worst of all El Che has become a commercial figure, trendy enough to grace all sorts of products from t-shirts to dolls.

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