tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/bolivia-10624/articles
Bolivia – The Conversation
2024-02-26T13:39:14Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/217253
2024-02-26T13:39:14Z
2024-02-26T13:39:14Z
What ancient farmers can really teach us about adapting to climate change – and how political power influences success or failure
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576820/original/file-20240220-22-4dkk2z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C15%2C5160%2C3391&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A farmer paddles to his fields on an artificial island among canals, part of an ancient Aztec system known as chinampas, in 2021. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/ae1d688be96145e38f16681367992bca?ext=true">AP Photo /Marco Ugarte</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In dozens of archaeological discoveries around the world, from the once-successful reservoirs and canals of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2020.101166">Angkor Wat</a> in Cambodia to the deserted <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2209615120">Viking colonies</a> of Greenland, new evidence paints pictures of civilizations struggling with unforeseen climate changes and the reality that their farming practices had become unsustainable.</p>
<p>Among these discoveries are also success stories, where ancient farming practices helped civilizations survive the hard times. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2209615120">Zuni farmers</a> in the southwestern United States made it through long stretches of extremely low rainfall between A.D. 1200 and 1400 by embracing small-scale, decentralized irrigation systems. <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520343757/the-scarcity-slot">Farmers in Ghana</a> coped with severe droughts from 1450 to 1650 by planting indigenous African grains, like drought-tolerant pearl millet. </p>
<p>Ancient practices like these are gaining new interest today. As countries face unprecedented heat waves, storms and melting glaciers, some farmers and international development organizations are reaching deep into the agricultural archives to revive these ancient solutions.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A canal running through a mountain side with snowy peaks in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576825/original/file-20240220-18-dywyn0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576825/original/file-20240220-18-dywyn0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576825/original/file-20240220-18-dywyn0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576825/original/file-20240220-18-dywyn0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576825/original/file-20240220-18-dywyn0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576825/original/file-20240220-18-dywyn0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576825/original/file-20240220-18-dywyn0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">An ancient irrigation method used by the Moors involving water channels is being revisited in Spain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/water-channel-for-irrigation-known-as-an-acequia-sierra-news-photo/525482563?adppopup=true">Geography Photos/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Drought-stricken farmers in Spain have reclaimed medieval <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/19/world/europe/spain-drought-acequias.html">Moorish irrigation</a> technology. International companies hungry for carbon offsets have paid big money for <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/ancient-farming-practice-draws-cash-from-carbon-credits-a803aee1">biochar made using pre-Columbian</a> Amazonian production techniques. Texas ranchers have turned to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/29/rio-grande-valley-farmers-study-ancient-technique-cover-cropping-climate-crisis">ancient cover cropping</a> methods to buffer against unpredictable weather patterns.</p>
<p>But grasping for ancient technologies and techniques without paying attention to historical context misses one of the most important lessons ancient farmers can reveal: Agricultural sustainability is as much about power and sovereignty as it is about soil, water and crops.</p>
<p>I’m an archaeologist who studies <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10814-019-09138-5">agricultural sustainability</a> in the past. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1914211117">Discoveries in recent years</a> have shown how <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.07.022">the human past</a> is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-anthro-092611-145941">full of people</a> who <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03190-2">dealt with climate change</a> in both sustainable and unsustainable ways. Archaeologists are finding that ancient sustainability was tethered closely to politics. However, these dynamics are often forgotten in discussions of sustainability today.</p>
<h2>Maya milpa farming: Forest access is essential</h2>
<p>In the tropical lowlands of Mexico and Central America, Indigenous Maya farmers have been practicing milpa agriculture for thousands of years. Milpa farmers adapted to drought by gently steering forest ecology through <a href="https://doi.org/10.1890/120344">controlled burns</a> and careful <a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=gVyTDAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Maya+milpa+forest+garden&ots=1ozG6sVYyg&sig=KZNXSDWX2ZR_Em7qGY37CqdeIG0#v=onepage&q=Maya%20milpa%20forest%20garden&f=false">woodland conservation</a>.</p>
<p>The knowledge of milpa farming empowered many <a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=cX7SEAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=chan+Cynthia+robin&ots=yErzYIWFsz&sig=vNrtsYW7IC0X2UnieHxor4Hiiiw#v=onepage&q=chan%20Cynthia%20robin&f=false">rural farmers</a> to navigate climate changes during the notorious <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1114838109">Maya Collapse</a> – two centuries of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1419133112">political disintegration and urban depopulation</a> between A.D. 800 to 1000. Importantly, later Maya political leaders worked with farmers to keep this flexibility. Their light-handed approach is still legible in the artifacts and settlement patterns of <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Political_Geography_of_the_Yucatan_M.html?id=52BlAAAAMAAJ">post-Collapse farming communities</a> and preserved in the flexible <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-020-00134-8">tribute schedules</a> for Maya farmers documented by 16th century Spanish monks.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/96rIEVptFwo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Maya farmers and researchers explain milpa farming.</span></figcaption>
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<p>In <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520395879/rooting-in-a-useless-land">my book</a>, “Rooting in a Useless Land: Ancient Farmers, Celebrity Chefs, and Environmental Justice in Yucatán,” I trace the deep history of the Maya milpa. Using archaeology, I show how ancient farmers adapted milpa agriculture in response to centuries of drought and political upheaval.</p>
<p>Modern Maya milpa practices began drawing public attention a few years ago as <a href="https://www.cimmyt.org/news/helping-farming-families-thrive-while-fighting-climate-change-in-mexico/">international development organizations</a> partnered with celebrity chefs, like <a href="https://www.cimmyt.org/es/noticias/el-restaurante-noma-llega-a-tulum-y-utilizara-maices-sustentables-de-yaxunah-2/">Noma’s René Redzepi</a>, and embraced the concept. </p>
<p>However, these groups condemned the traditional milpa practice of burning new areas of forest as unsustainable. They instead promoted a “no-burn” version to grow certified <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/23/dining/noma-tulum-pete-wells-mexico-rene-redzepi.html">organic maize for high-end restaurants</a>. Their no-burn version of milpa relies on fertilizers to grow maize in a fixed location, rather than using controlled fire ecology to manage soil fertility across vast forests.</p>
<p>The result restricted the traditional practices Maya farmers have used for centuries. It also fed into a modern political threat to traditional Maya milpa farming: land grabs. </p>
<p>Traditional milpa agriculture requires a lot of forested land, since farmers need to relocate their fields every couple of years. But that need for forest is at odds with hotel companies, industrial cattle ranches and green energy developers who want cheap land and see Maya milpa forest management practices as inefficient. No-burn milpa eases this conflict by locking maize agriculture into one small space indefinitely, instead of spreading it out through the forest over generations. But it also changes tradition. </p>
<p>Maya milpa farmers are now fighting to practice their ancient agricultural techniques, not because they’ve forgotten or lost those techniques, but because <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/joac.12520">neocolonial</a> land <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2016.1215305">privatization policies</a> actively undermine farmers’ ability to manage woodlands as their ancestors did. </p>
<p>Milpa farmers are increasingly left to either adopt a rebranded version of their heritage or quit farming all together – as many have done.</p>
<h2>Mexico’s fragile artificial islands: Threats from development</h2>
<p>When I look to the work of other archaeologists investigating ancient agricultural practices, I see these same entanglements of power and sustainability.</p>
<p>In central Mexico, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24931564?casa_token=Mnjg8lpMxdEAAAAA:xtiTRUNdJVlBTAR3voVS3IszoyqO-VSb8MSohjUlxpYEdNtVKu0QPefJMjiSyvobBMO94-zcDj2E6DOXbNoUl1d-MNm3UO6TDKVsG4JLVxpWkHtFIg">chinampas</a> are ancient systems of artificial islands and canals. They have enabled farmers to cultivate food in wetlands for centuries. </p>
<p>The continuing existence of chinampas is a legacy of deep ecological knowledge and a resource enabling communities to feed themselves.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571516/original/file-20240125-21-sq17hw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571516/original/file-20240125-21-sq17hw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571516/original/file-20240125-21-sq17hw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571516/original/file-20240125-21-sq17hw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571516/original/file-20240125-21-sq17hw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571516/original/file-20240125-21-sq17hw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571516/original/file-20240125-21-sq17hw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chinampa techniques use canals and artificial islands. This photo shows one in 1912.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chinampas.jpg">Karl Weule, Leitfaden der Voelkerkunde via Wikimedia</a></span>
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<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A well-maintained farming island among canals near Mexico City." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571517/original/file-20240125-19-ug1yul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571517/original/file-20240125-19-ug1yul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571517/original/file-20240125-19-ug1yul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571517/original/file-20240125-19-ug1yul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571517/original/file-20240125-19-ug1yul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571517/original/file-20240125-19-ug1yul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571517/original/file-20240125-19-ug1yul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The chinampas of Xochimilco are a UNESCO world heritage site today, but development expanding from Mexico City has put their survival in danger.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/sergiosf/12546098673">Sergei Saint via Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<p>But archaeology has revealed that generations of sustainable chinampa management could be overturned almost overnight. That happened when the expansionist Aztec Empire decided to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00101164">re-engineer Lake Xaltocan</a> for salt production in the 14th century and rendered its chinampas unusable.</p>
<p>Today, the future of chinampa agriculture hinges on a pocket of protected fields <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/history-and-civilisation/2022/07/in-mexico-city-the-pandemic-revived-aztec-era-island-farms">stewarded by local farmers</a> in the marshy outskirts of Mexico City. These fields are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2021.07.018">now at risk</a> as demand for housing drives informal settlements into the chinampa zone.</p>
<h2>Andean raised fields: A story of labor exploitation</h2>
<p>Traditional Andean agriculture in South America incorporates a diverse range of ancient cultivation techniques. One in particular has a complicated history of attracting revival efforts.</p>
<p>In the 1980s, government agencies, <a href="https://www.penn.museum/documents/publications/expedition/30-3/Raised.pdf">archaeologists</a> and development organizations spent a fortune trying to persuade Andean farmers to <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781315810997/inventing-indigenous-knowledge-lynn-swartley">revive raised field farming</a>. Ancient raised fields had been found around Lake Titicaca, on the border of Peru and Bolivia. These groups became convinced that this relic technology could curb hunger in the Andes by enabling back-to-back potato harvests with no need for fallowing.</p>
<p>But Andean farmers had no connection to the labor-intensive raised fields. The practice had been abandoned even before the rise of Inca civilization in the 13th century. The effort to revive ancient raised field agriculture collapsed.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A view from a plane shows the outlines where fields were raised." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571518/original/file-20240125-21-4uobzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571518/original/file-20240125-21-4uobzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571518/original/file-20240125-21-4uobzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571518/original/file-20240125-21-4uobzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571518/original/file-20240125-21-4uobzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571518/original/file-20240125-21-4uobzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571518/original/file-20240125-21-4uobzz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">An aerial photograph shows pre-Colombian raised fields in Bolivia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/861590">Umberto Lombardo, University of Bern, Switzerland</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
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<p>Since then, more <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2005.03.002">archaeological discoveries</a> around Lake Titicaca have suggested that ancient farmers were forced to work the raised fields <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2004.08.001">by the expansionist Tiwanaku empire</a> during its peak between AD 500 and 1100. Far from the politically neutral narrative promoted by development organizations, the raised fields were not there to help farmers feed themselves. They were a technology for exploiting labor and extracting surplus crops from ancient Andean farmers.</p>
<h2>Respecting ancient practices’ histories</h2>
<p>Reclaiming <a href="https://www.soulfirefarm.org/media/farming-while-black/">ancestral farming</a> techniques can be a <a href="https://www.icollectiveinc.org/">step toward sustainable food systems</a>, especially when descendant communities lead their reclamation. The world can, and I think should, reach back to recover agricultural practices from our collective past.</p>
<p>But we can’t pretend that those practices are apolitical.</p>
<p>The Maya milpa farmers who continue to practice controlled burns in defiance of land privatizers understand the value of ancient techniques and the threat posed by political power. So do the Mexican chinampa farmers working to restore local food to disenfranchised urban communities. And so do the Andean farmers refusing to participate in once-exploitive raised field rehabilitation projects. </p>
<p>Depending on how they are used, ancient agricultural practices can either reinforce social inequalities or create more equitable food systems. Ancient practices aren’t inherently good – it takes a deeper commitment to just and equitable food systems to make them sustainable.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217253/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chelsea Fisher has received research funding from the National Science Foundation, the Wenner-Gren Foundation, and the Fulbright-Hays Program.</span></em></p>
Agricultural sustainability is as much about power and sovereignty as it is about soil, water and crops.
Chelsea Fisher, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of South Carolina
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/220150
2024-01-10T18:54:04Z
2024-01-10T18:54:04Z
‘Legal animism’: when a river or even nature itself goes to court
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566558/original/file-20231004-26-deen3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=130%2C32%2C5324%2C3582&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Aerial view of a waterfall in the valley of Vilcabamba, Ecuador, where an historic lawsuit was won by a river in 2011.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/fr/image-photo/ecuador-waterfall-aerial-view-mountain-waterall-2150891681">Curioso.Photography/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On 30 March 2011, a truly <a href="https://ejatlas.org/conflict/first-successful-case-of-rights-of-nature-ruling-vilcabamba-river-ecuador/">unprecedented event</a> took place at a provincial court in Loja, Equator, located some 270 miles from the capital of Quito. The Vilcabamba River, a plaintiff in a <a href="https://mariomelo.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/proteccion-derechosnatura-loja-11.pdf">trial there</a>, convinced the tribunal that its own rights were being undermined by a road development project. The project was then halted due because it would have jeopardised the river’s flow.</p>
<p>I was fortunate to be able to both attend this trial and examine what has been termed “legal animism” in two pioneering countries in the field, Ecuador and Bolivia.</p>
<p>Today, nations from <a href="https://notreaffaireatous.org/amendement-du-parlement-ougandais-du-national-environment-act-2019/">Uganda</a> to <a href="https://www.earthlaws.org.au/aelc/rights-of-nature/new-zealand/">New Zealand</a> are following suit by opening up their criminal justice systems to this type of jurisprudence that enables a natural entity, be it an ecosystem or indeed nature itself, to become a legal person and thus have rights. These innovations are raising hopes among some environmental activists, but they also remind us of the law’s malleability. From animals being called to stand trial in the <a href="https://www.wired.com/2014/09/fantastically-wrong-europes-insane-history-putting-animals-trial-executing/">Middle Ages</a> to the Indian lawyer who <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-35489971">sued a god</a>, we have sculpted our laws in creative ways throughout the eras. Indeed, no one finds it odd nowadays that a business is considered a legal person.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505718/original/file-20230122-28471-kntkja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505718/original/file-20230122-28471-kntkja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505718/original/file-20230122-28471-kntkja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505718/original/file-20230122-28471-kntkja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505718/original/file-20230122-28471-kntkja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505718/original/file-20230122-28471-kntkja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505718/original/file-20230122-28471-kntkja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505718/original/file-20230122-28471-kntkja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499989/original/file-20221209-29206-wsoxgj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499989/original/file-20221209-29206-wsoxgj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499989/original/file-20221209-29206-wsoxgj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499989/original/file-20221209-29206-wsoxgj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499989/original/file-20221209-29206-wsoxgj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499989/original/file-20221209-29206-wsoxgj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499989/original/file-20221209-29206-wsoxgj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Illustration of a sow and her piglets on trial for the murder of a child. The trial is believed to have taken place in 1457.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proc%C3%A8s_d%27animaux#/media/Fichier:Trial_of_a_sow_and_pigs_at_Lavegny.png">Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>When two worldviews collide</h2>
<p>By delving into the origin and development of the innovations in Ecuador and Bolivia, we can also observe how legal animism plays out in all its various guises, possibilities and limits. This is what I intend to do in this article.</p>
<p>South America may have blazed the trail, but the expression “legal animism” actually appeared for the first time in the writings of French legal researcher <a href="https://journals.openedition.org/insituarss/1338">Marie-Angèle Hermitte</a>. Right off the bat, this compound term connotes a meeting of two worlds and two philosophical traditions. In one corner, we have the animist worldview, which some Western schools of thought have portrayed as their antithesis; in the other, a system that forms the bedrock of European modernity.</p>
<p>In Ecuador and in Bolivia, we can find a common undercurrent of influences or frictions that pervades these two colliding worldviews. All at once, influences from North American environmental lawyers meld with the use of the divine Earth Mother figure present in Andean cosmogony.</p>
<h2>Constituent Assembly: the moment when the natural world became redefined</h2>
<p>Another commonality between these two nations is the rather specific context of the constituent assembly. In 2006 and 2007, respectively, Bolivia and Ecuador essentially wiped the slate clean by introducing assemblies tasked with drafting new constitutions. In doing so, they each witnessed a watershed moment of redefining their entire national identity.</p>
<p>Supported or even long awaited by Native communities in both countries, these changes led to a rising prominence of the figure of Pachamama, the embodiment of Mother Earth in Andean myth. Also evoking a meeting of two worlds, this name is a portmanteau of <em>pacha</em>, the Quechua and Aymara word for “world”, and <em>mama</em>, the Spanish word for “mother”. Out of these circumstances soon came a wave of aspirations to endow nature with a legal status.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Mother Earth, or Pachamama, is a mythical figure found throughout Latin America. Shown here in Andean cosmology according to Juan de Santa Cruz Pachacuti Yamqui Salcamayhua (1613)." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552055/original/file-20231004-24-8ro2p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552055/original/file-20231004-24-8ro2p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=657&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552055/original/file-20231004-24-8ro2p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=657&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552055/original/file-20231004-24-8ro2p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=657&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552055/original/file-20231004-24-8ro2p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=826&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552055/original/file-20231004-24-8ro2p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=826&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552055/original/file-20231004-24-8ro2p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=826&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mother Earth, or Pachamama, is a mythical figure present across Latin America. This depiction of her is taken from Andean cosmology, drawn by Juan de Santa Cruz Pachacuti Yamqui Salcamayhua (1613) based on an image from the Qorikancha (</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pachamama#/media/Fichier:Santa_Cruz_Pachacuti_Yamqui_Pachamama.jpg">Domaine public</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Ecuador, legal animism was brought into the constituent assembly by intellectuals aligned with new theories of the law. They’re influenced by the concepts of US legal expert Christopher Stone, who proposed, as early as <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/should-trees-have-standing-9780199736072">1972</a>, that trees should have rights. To ground these ideas within the constitutional context, the advocates relied on reinterpretations of the country’s Indigenous knowledge. In fact, 80% of Ecuadorians are mixed-race European and Native, but <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2014/11/13/religion-in-latin-america/">virtually the entire population</a> identifies as Christian. It was out of these disparate influences that Article 71 of the Constitution was born. It stipulates:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Nature, or Pachamama where life is reproduced and occurs, has the right to integral respect for its existence and for the maintenance and regeneration of its life cycles, structure, functions and evolutionary processes. All persons, communities, peoples and nations can call upon public authorities to enforce the rights of nature.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Article 72 evokes the right for an ecosystem to be restored, while Article 73 cites the requirement to enforce the precautionary principle for activities that might lead to the extinction of species, the destruction of ecosystems and the permanent alteration of natural cycles.</p>
<h2>The figure of Pachamama</h2>
<p>In Bolivia, constituents found themselves debating Pachamama’s specific attributes. On one side were residents from the highlands, who honour this deity each day; on the other were people from the lowlands and the south of the country, who had an altogether much more nebulous notion.</p>
<p>Pachamama’s scope of enforcement was also the subject of fierce discussion. If Mother Earth is omnipresent, must all living things be included in her definition? What are her limits? I had the chance to attend a debate that sought to ascertain whether, if Pachamama were considered a legal person, it would be possible – or indeed desirable – to sue a mosquito for biting a human.</p>
<p>These discussions culminated in a conceptualisation of Pachamama as an open-ended, collective entity; a Mother Earth across all planes of existence who should therefore be protected as such. This was to avoid the endless back-and-forth of determining what could or could not be included in her definition. Thus regarded as the mother of all things, her definition extends to every entity in the world. In the new constitution of 22 January 2010, no fewer than 10 articles mention Mother Earth based on these terms:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Mother Earth is a dynamic living system comprising an indivisible community of all living systems and living organisms, interrelated, interdependent and complementary, which share a common destiny. Mother Earth is considered sacred, from the worldviews of nations and indigenous peoples.” (Article 3)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Articles 5 and 6 set out the legal framework of Mother Earth as a “collective public interest”, affirming that all Bolivians can exercise the rights of Mother Earth, provided that they also respect individual and collective rights.</p>
<p>Article 7 then goes on to list the seven rights of Mother Earth, which are the right to life, to the diversity of life, to water, to clean air, to equilibrium, to restoration and to pollution-free living.</p>
<hr>
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<hr>
<h2>The permutations and limits of nature’s newfound rights</h2>
<p>With this new relationship to nature being enshrined in the two constitutions, what real-world consequences and applications have followed on from the legal tools that they have inspired? Again, Bolivia and Ecuador differ somewhat.</p>
<p>The Ecuadorian constituents’ desire to offer practical legal tools quickly gave way to legal actions, the first of which was the case of the Vilcabamba River. This trial was spurred by environmental activists who back in 2011 were already well versed in the law’s new potential, but we have since seen <a href="https://www.derechosdelanaturaleza.org.ec/casos-ecuador/">other proceedings led by a diverse cross-section of Ecuadorian society</a>.</p>
<p>The tools proposed by the new constitution soon outstripped the limits expected of them by ecological struggles across the world. In this respect, it was presumed that it would be tricky to isolate responsibility for cases concerning the environment. For instance, how could a project, organisation or person be held accountable for environmental damages if those damages were suffered beyond the borders of the offending country? The Ecuadorian justice system has managed to extricate itself from these issues by invoking the precautionary principle and <a href="https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/mlj/2014-v60-n1-mlj01619/1027721ar/">universal jurisdiction</a>.</p>
<p>In November 2010, citizens from Ecuador, as well as India, Colombia and Nigeria, pressed charges against British Petroleum before the Constitutional Court of Ecuador. After the company caused a colossal oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the plaintiffs demanded that it release information on the ecological disaster and its impact, and that it repair the damages caused. These citizens were not direct victims of the oil spill and were therefore not suing on behalf of their own rights, but of those of the ocean. Although the complaint was heard, the judges ultimately decided to dodge the issue, citing another constitutional framework that imposed a notion and scope of territoriality on legal cases.</p>
<p>By comparison, the Bolivian constituent assembly has done little in the way of offering simple recourse to the law for defending the rights of nature. Nevertheless, the drafting of the new constitution centred on the figure of Pachamama has not been a futile exercise.</p>
<p>In particular, there has been some disillusionment regarding the gap between the ambitious ideals built upon the rights of Mother Earth and the reality of ongoing projects to exploit natural resources. This has put the government in a difficult position. It declares Mother Earth as sacred on the one hand, but on the other, it has also been entrusted with managing business as usual – or even developing it further – across all economic sectors.</p>
<p>This disparity has a fuelled a certain anger, with the figure of Pachamama being used as a cornerstone of several struggles. Among them is the movement to stop the construction of a road leading to the region of TIPNIS, a natural reserve of the Bolivian Amazon. Against the “developmentalist” arguments of the Bolivian government, farmers’ organisations, Natives and civic committees alike have cited the rights of Mother Earth as guaranteed in the nation’s constitution.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Manifestants contre le projet de route de TIPNIS arrivant à La Paz, en octobre 2011" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552048/original/file-20231004-17-83ds1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552048/original/file-20231004-17-83ds1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552048/original/file-20231004-17-83ds1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552048/original/file-20231004-17-83ds1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552048/original/file-20231004-17-83ds1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552048/original/file-20231004-17-83ds1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552048/original/file-20231004-17-83ds1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Demonstrators protesting against plans to build a road from TIPNIS to La Paz in October 2011.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mywayaround/6262323419/">Szymon Kochański/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Backed by <a href="https://www.sciencespo.fr/opalc/node/712/index.html">citizen support</a>, particularly during two marches toward the capital, this movement saw an <a href="https://www.courrierinternational.com/breve/2011/09/27/evo-morales-recule-sur-le-projet-de-route-du-tipnis">initial victory</a> when a law was passed to establish the national park as an “intangible zone” and when plans to build the motorway were scrapped in October 2011. However, this was <a href="https://www.courrierinternational.com/article/bolivie-le-projet-controverse-dune-route-au-milieu-de-lamazonie-refait-surface">reversed in 2017</a>. President <a href="https://theconversation.com/fr/topics/evo-morales-78519">Evo Morales</a>, for his part, lost considerable support from Native populations throughout this case.</p>
<h2>Backtracking and side-tracking in all directions</h2>
<p>What can we learn? Such legal innovations may well have sparked a number of legal and political actions, but the law cannot do everything. It remains, above all, subject to the whims of political situations, as malleable for environmental struggles as it is for the demands of extractivism.</p>
<p>It can be common for backtracking to occur. In Australia in 2019, the Aṉangu Aboriginal population decided to ban <a href="https://ici.radio-canada.ca/espaces-autochtones/2002324/autochtones-lieux-touristiques-land-back">tours of Uluru</a> despite the substantial financial boon that these visits represented. This was because mass tourism to this sacred site was exacerbating erosion and groundwater pollution.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Panorama du Mont Uluru" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552057/original/file-20231004-15-6nov55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552057/original/file-20231004-15-6nov55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552057/original/file-20231004-15-6nov55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552057/original/file-20231004-15-6nov55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552057/original/file-20231004-15-6nov55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552057/original/file-20231004-15-6nov55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552057/original/file-20231004-15-6nov55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Uluru, a mountain where tourist access has been prohibited.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/fr/photos/1GFUOji-yck">Photoholgic/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In recent years, Ecuador and Bolivia have stayed true to their reputation as breeding grounds of legal innovation. For instance, the Bolivian Mother Earth Authority, headed by Benecio Quispe, considered potentially expanding the law to include rights for objects.</p>
<p>Confronted with the global problem of waste management, the Mother Earth Authority opened up discussions with chiefs of Native communities and trade union leaders on the subject of <a href="https://arbre-bleu-editions.com/heritage-et-anthropocene.html">legal rights for manufactured objects and goods</a>. These included the right to a maximum lifespan, care, repair, non-abandonment and so forth. While this avenue ultimately led to nothing, it once more demonstrated the ability of legal tools to help redefine our relationship with ecosystems and the modern world.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article is part of a project between The Conversation France and AFP Audio, supported financially by the European Journalism Centre, as part of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation “Solutions Journalism Accelerator” initiative. AFP and The Conversation France have maintained their editorial independence at every stage of the project.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220150/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Diego Landivar ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>
Some countries have managed to elevate nature and ecosystems to the status of legal entities. Do these innovations really help to protect the environment?
Diego Landivar, Enseignant Chercheur en Economie, Directeur d'Origens Media Lab, ESC Clermont Business School
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/205263
2023-07-04T13:57:42Z
2023-07-04T13:57:42Z
The forgotten Amazon: as a critical summit nears, politicians must get serious about deforestation in Bolivia
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534132/original/file-20230626-15-x9sq5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Deforestation in Santa Cruz, Bolivia (2021). Photo courtesy of Overview.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.over-view.com/">https://www.over-view.com/</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When asked to situate the world’s most iconic rainforest on a map, most people will pinpoint Brazil. And given the intense media coverage of the country’s deforestation and fires – concerns reached a peak under former president <a href="https://theconversation.com/amazon-fires-jair-bolsonaro-faces-mounting-political-backlash-in-brazil-even-from-his-allies-122512">Jair Bolsonaro and his free-for-all approach</a> – they might also imagine a thick black soot clinging to the remaining trees. While newly re-elected president Lula da Silva has vowed to prioritize the Amazon forest and sparked hope among environmentalists, deforestation in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-amazon-is-not-safe-under-brazils-new-president-a-roads-plan-could-push-it-past-its-breaking-point-200691">Brazilian section of Amazon</a> remains of deep concern.</p>
<p>That interest is only set to grow as Brazil gets ready to host a high-level meeting to renew the <a href="https://tvpworld.com/69033237/brazil-to-renew-amazon-rainforest-protection-organization">Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization</a> (ACTO) in the northern town of Belem on 8 and 9 August. Bringing together the eight countries containing the Amazon forest – Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela – along with senior officials from the United States and France, the event will enable them to discuss how to attract investment, fight deforestation, protect indigenous communities and encourage sustainable development. </p>
<p>The meeting will also be the occasion for sustainability scientists such as ourselves to draw attention to one of the Amazonian ecosystems that will be just as vital to protect if we are to limit global warming to the safer threshold of 1.5C above pre-industrial levels: Bolivia.</p>
<h2>One of the highest carbon-emitting countries per capita</h2>
<p>I have studied the flows that contribute to deforestation in the Amazon for more than five years. Earlier this year, I met with academics, environmental NGOs, smallholder farmers, and multilateral development banks in Bolivia to learn more about their work to protect the Bolivian Amazon.</p>
<p>Bolivia is not only at the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/25/bolivia-lithium-mining-salt-flats">centre of the current international rush for lithium</a>. It is also one of the world leaders in deforestation. According to <a href="https://gfw.global/3zUFwQN">Global Forest Watch</a>, the country lost more than 3,3 million hectares of humid primary forest from 2002 to 2021 to deforestation, or the equivalent of 4 million soccer fields, with an exponential growth in deforestation rates of more than 5.5% per year over the last two decades.</p>
<p>Bolivia’s forests have also increasingly been forced to cope with a combination of drought and large wildfires. In 2020 alone, 4,5 million hectares were affected by such fires, of which more than 1 million hectares took place in protected areas (data from <a href="https://incendios.fan-bo.org/Satrifo/mapa-interactivo/">Fundación Amigos de la Naturaleza</a>) – and the deforestation trend is worsening (see Figure 1). As a result, Bolivia has placed itself at the <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fclim.2022.1026344/full">top of carbon-emitting countries per capita</a>, with emissions of 25 tCO2eq per person per year – more than five times higher than the global average, ahead of large economies like the United States and the United Arab Emirates.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534345/original/file-20230627-21-ufsunt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534345/original/file-20230627-21-ufsunt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=720&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534345/original/file-20230627-21-ufsunt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=720&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534345/original/file-20230627-21-ufsunt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=720&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534345/original/file-20230627-21-ufsunt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=905&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534345/original/file-20230627-21-ufsunt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=905&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534345/original/file-20230627-21-ufsunt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=905&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Figure 1. Map of deforestation in Bolivia in the Amazon, and in the Chaco, Chicitanian and Pantanal regions, 1985-2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fundación amigos de la naturaleza (FAN), Bolivia</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Accelerated deforestation might seem paradoxical in a country known internationally for its commitment to the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/transnational-environmental-law/article/living-in-harmony-with-nature-a-critical-appraisal-of-the-rights-of-mother-earth-in-bolivia/C819E1C4EE0848C3F244EFB0C200FE65">“Rights of Mother Earth”</a>. But it seems that the government has chosen to prioritize economic development based on natural resources over its promises to become stewards of Nature.</p>
<p>The accelerated loss of tropical rainforest is the result of destructive and familiar combination: increased global demand for commodities such as soy and cattle, and extractive national and regional policies with the explicit ambition to boost <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264837722001739">economic growth</a> with little consideration on its environmental impact.</p>
<p>Soybean production has accelerated from <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fclim.2022.1026344/full">negligible levels in 1970 to almost 1.4 million hectares in 2020, and 5 million hectares deforested since 2001 is mainly used for cattle</a>. A similar trend can be observed <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/power-struggle-divides-bolivia-soy-rich-santa-cruz-demands-more-clout-2022-11-21/">for the export of beef in the last years</a>, as well as for mining. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534353/original/file-20230627-17-51djxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534353/original/file-20230627-17-51djxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534353/original/file-20230627-17-51djxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534353/original/file-20230627-17-51djxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534353/original/file-20230627-17-51djxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534353/original/file-20230627-17-51djxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534353/original/file-20230627-17-51djxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534353/original/file-20230627-17-51djxq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Agro-forestry field in Pando region, northern Bolivia (February 8, 2023).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Victor Galaz</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Between 2015 and 2021, the number of mining concessions in the country’s Amazon regions (La Paz, Beni and Pando) has increased from 88 to 341 while the mining area (<em>cuadriculas</em> in Spanish) have increased from 3,789 to 15,710 (+414%). According to Bolivian mining law, a <em>cuadricula</em> is a square of 500 meters per side, with a total surface area of 25 hectares, according to the Study Center for Labor and Agrarian Development (CEDLA). The rapid expansion of illegal gold mining in the Amazon powers one of the country’s <a href="https://oec.world/en/profile/country/bol">largest export industries</a>. As global gold prices have increased, the industry is creating massive social and environmental challenges as well as <a href="https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-05-06/bolivias-mercury-dilemma-the-metal-that-both-feeds-and-poisons-the-countrys-amazon-region.html">severe health threats to indigenous communities</a>.</p>
<p>This expansion is fuelled in part by generous fossil-fuel subsidies, which in turn finance the growth of the soy, cattle and mineral sector. According to 2021 data from the <a href="https://www.imf.org/-/media/Files/Topics/Environment/energy-subsidies/fuel-subsidies-template-2022.ashx">International Monetary Fund</a> fossil-fuel subsidies consume 6,7% of Bolivia’s GDP. In addition, illegal settlements in the lowlands feed from these larger economic changes as communities transform forests into agricultural production lands through <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23802014.2022.2146182">destructive slash-and-burn techniques</a>, which increase wildfire risks.</p>
<h2>How to save the Amazon</h2>
<p>Regional collaboration to protect the Amazon took a serious hit during the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil. The announced revitalization of cooperation in the Amazon basin and surrounding forests through the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization offers a unique window of opportunity to end deforestation. But this opportunity will be wasted unless the following key issues are addressed.</p>
<ul>
<li><p><strong>Pan-continental regulation</strong>: It is no secret that countries that enforce strict forest-conservation laws tend to see the most ruthless industries emigrate to less-regulated countries; experts call this phenomenon <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X17302085">“deforestation leakage”</a>. To protect the Amazon in Brazil, the international community therefore has every interest in ensuring that Bolivia is not forgotten. <a href="https://databank.worldbank.org/source/worldwide-governance-indicators">World Bank data</a> shows that Bolivia is a perfect destination for its neighbours’ predatory sectors, with much of the state’s regulation rolled back in the past 10 years.<br><br>To counter this, the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization should form a task force that directly addresses such cross-border leakage risks to protect the forests of the region, and the people who depend on them for their livelihoods. Lessons from studies of the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X17302085">effects of previous zero-deforestation policies</a>] will offer useful guidance in these ambitions. Countries should ramp up their support for cross-border supply chain transparency, provide enough resources to enforce environmental legislation on the ground, and make sure indigenous rights are properly protected.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Phasing out forest-hungry policies and industries</strong>: The case of Bolivia also highlights a general challenge that countries in the region are facing: the need to not only “scale up” green financial innovations, but also actively <a href="https://financetransformation.earth/full-report/">phase out unsustainable economic activities, harmful subsidies and policies that increase inequality</a>. <br><br>Don’t get us wrong: saying goodbye to industries like unchecked cattle ranching, and incentives such as fossil-fuel subsidies will take strong political will. But the world abounds with examples to draw inspiration from. Two include the <a href="https://www.iisd.org/articles/insight/just-energy-transition-partnerships">Just Energy Transition Partnership</a> that was concluded at the annual climate summit in Glasgow, COP26 and the <a href="https://www.climatechangenews.com/2022/10/27/climate-fund-approves-plan-to-speed-up-coal-retirement-in-indonesia/">international support to help decarbonize coal retirement in Indonesia</a>. They show it is possible to move away from harmful industries while making sure local communities aren’t left behind.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Cleaning up the finance industry</strong>: In today’s globalized economy, large companies often rely on capital from financial institutions to conduct their operations. The financial sector has made progress in <a href="https://www.unpri.org/pri-blog/investors-must-act-now-to-tackle-deforestation-and-threats-to-indigenous-people-in-the-amazon/5985.article">mobilizing its influence</a> as owners and lenders to put pressure on industries associated with deforestation risks in the Brazilian Amazon. The sector must now mobilize to help protect the enlarged Bolivian Amazon. </p></li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-022-01558-4">Cascading negative changes resulting from deforestation, such as disrupted hydrological cycles</a>, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-023-00704-w">negative health impacts</a>, and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03876-7">biodiversity loss</a> will eventually impact negatively on investments. The financial sector thus needs to support national legislation and financial regulation that shift investments away from <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.abp8622">extractive economic practices that amplify social inequalities</a>, toward new ways of protecting forests while simultaneously promoting education, health, sanitation, employment, and other development goals. Major initiatives like the United Nations’ <a href="https://www.unpri.org/">Principles for Responsible Investment</a>, pension funds in the Global North, and international development banks must work closely with countries around the Amazon basin to make sure deforestation and climate ambitions are translated into action.</p>
<p>Bolivia’s forests, and the communities that depend on their resilience for their livelihoods, are facing a perfect deforestation storm. Swift national and international action is of the essence.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article was co-written with Guido Meruvia Schween, a programme officer at the Swedish Embassy in La Paz, Bolivia.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205263/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Victor Galaz conducted the visit to Bolivia in his additional capacities as member of the governing board of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). </span></em></p>
Surging deforestation in Bolivia means the country now ranks as one of the highest carbon emitters in the world.
Victor Galaz, Deputy Director and Associate Professor, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/207292
2023-06-14T12:34:57Z
2023-06-14T12:34:57Z
Events in Bolivia and Brazil may signal a turning point for the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse crisis in Latin America
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531781/original/file-20230613-26-z1r3f8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1%2C1%2C1020%2C665&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Members of children's rights organizations protest against cases of clerical child abuse in Cochabamba, Bolivia, on May 25, 2023. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/members-of-childrens-rights-organizations-protest-against-news-photo/1258043171?adppopup=true">Fernando Cartagena/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.clarin.com/mundo/protestas-bolivia-escandalos-pedofilia-iglesia-catolica_3_aXImzkdwjw.html">Demonstrations in Bolivia</a> in recent weeks have been directed at a seemingly unusual target: the Catholic Church. </p>
<p>More than three-fourths of the people in this Andean nation <a href="https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-report-on-international-religious-freedom/bolivia/#:%7E:text=The%20U.S.%20government%20estimates%20the,evangelical%20Protestant%20and%20Pentecostal%20groups.">are Catholic</a>, and Catholicism remained the <a href="https://www.bcn.cl/procesoconstituyente/comparadordeconstituciones/constitucion/bol">religion of the state until 2009</a>. Protests erupted, however, after the publication of diary entries from a deceased Spanish Jesuit priest, which detailed <a href="https://apnews.com/article/bolivia-catholic-bishops-pedrajas-abuse-eccee7d4e230ae9550aa066ba07b2dc5">his sexual abuse of dozens of boys</a> while teaching in the Bolivian city of Cochabamba during the 1970s and 1980s. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, in neighboring Brazil, <a href="https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-americas/2023/06/first-study-of-clerical-abuse-in-brazil-calls-known-cases-tip-of-the-iceberg">a new book by two award-winning journalists</a> has made the magnitude of the clerical sexual abuse crisis more visible.</p>
<p>Over the past two decades, sexual abuse scandals <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-catholic-church-sex-abuse-crisis-4-essential-reads-169442">have rocked the Catholic Church</a> nearly everywhere it has a presence. Latin America, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2013/02/13/the-global-catholic-population/">where 4 in 10 of the world’s Catholics live</a>, is no exception. Yet the church’s role in the region is distinct, as are the stakes.</p>
<p>Owing to centuries of Spanish and Portuguese colonization, the Catholic Church is deeply ingrained in Latin America’s societies and political institutions – <a href="https://search.asu.edu/profile/1379285">a key theme in my research</a> on <a href="https://doi.org/10.15381/dds.n9.23274">20th-century Peru</a>. </p>
<p>High-profile cases have stirred public outrage in nearly all Latin American countries, notably <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/22/mexican-catholic-group-says-late-leader-marcial-maciel-abused-at-least-60-minors">Mexico</a>, <a href="https://www.elvirrey.com/libro/mitad-monjes-mitad-soldados_70099872">Peru</a> <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/chile-a-wake-up-call-for-the-global-church/">and Chile</a>, but concrete changes have been slow. The current circumstances in Brazil and Bolivia, I argue, could signal a new trend.</p>
<h2>A surge of anger in Bolivia</h2>
<p>In May 2023, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMRdOurQN1o">hundreds of protesters</a> gathered outside of an imposing art deco basilica in La Paz. Two men carried a mannequin dressed as a priest hanging by its neck with a placard reading, “Cura pillada, cura lynchada” – “A priest caught is a priest lynched.” Another demonstrator struggled against counterprotesters to spray-paint “Rapist” on the doors of the church. Similar demonstrations were seen throughout the country.</p>
<p>The anger was sparked following reporting from the Spanish newspaper El País, which gained access to <a href="https://elpais.com/sociedad/2023-04-30/diario-de-un-cura-pederasta.html">the diary of the Spanish priest in Cochabamba</a>, Rev. Alfonso Pedrajas, as part of <a href="https://elpais.com/especiales/pederastia-en-la-iglesia-espanola/">an investigative project</a> on sexual abuse by the clergy in Spain. The document had been in the Madrid attic of Pedrajas’ brother until the priest’s nephew came across it in 2021.</p>
<p>Pedrajas’ diary relates abuses he committed at a Catholic boys school in Cochabamba, where he worked for 17 years. By his own account, at least 85 boys suffered abuse, some as young as 12, and many who told other adults about his actions were expelled, according to El País. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531782/original/file-20230613-21-8i55jf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Murals of children's faces on a yellow wall below tall trees." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531782/original/file-20230613-21-8i55jf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531782/original/file-20230613-21-8i55jf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531782/original/file-20230613-21-8i55jf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531782/original/file-20230613-21-8i55jf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531782/original/file-20230613-21-8i55jf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531782/original/file-20230613-21-8i55jf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531782/original/file-20230613-21-8i55jf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The premises of the Juan XXIII school where Pedrajas worked in Cochabamba, Bolivia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/partial-view-of-the-premises-of-the-juan-xxiii-school-in-news-photo/1256205810?adppopup=true">Fernando Cartagena/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The diary also reveals church leaders’ <a href="https://elpais.com/sociedad/2023-04-30/diario-de-un-cura-pederasta.html">cover-up over the decades</a>. Pedrajas was even removed from his teaching position in 1983 after a group of students reported the priest’s abuses to the school’s director and was sent to work as a miner in western Bolivia. A year later, he was back.</p>
<p>In all, El País investigators have identified over 20 periods between 1978 and 2008 when <a href="https://elpais.com/sociedad/2023-04-30/diario-de-un-cura-pederasta.html">Pedrajas’ crimes</a> were actively covered up by others in the church hierarchy.</p>
<p>Once the diary was <a href="https://elpais.com/sociedad/2023-04-30/diario-de-un-cura-pederasta.html">made public in April 2023</a>, survivors started coming forward. At least 12 have come together to file a legal case.</p>
<p>The crisis in Bolivia has taken on a political tone, the latest manifestation of an <a href="https://theconversation.com/old-religious-tensions-resurge-in-bolivia-after-ouster-of-longtime-indigenous-president-127000">ongoing culture war</a> over the role of religion in society. As seen <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/CHO9781139032698.017">throughout the history of Latin American republics</a>, conflict usually follows when progressive governments speak out against the church. Bolivia’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/pope-arrives-in-bolivia-amid-catholic-state-tensions/2015/07/08/48c436e4-25b7-11e5-b72c-2b7d516e1e0e_story.html">turn toward a more secular state</a> under leftist presidents Evo Morales and Luis Arce are some of the latest examples of this process.</p>
<p>In May, President Arce <a href="https://www.infobae.com/america/america-latina/2023/05/23/luis-arce-le-envio-una-carta-al-papa-francisco-para-hacerle-conocer-las-denuncias-por-abusos-en-contra-de-varios-sacerdotes/">wrote a letter</a> to Pope Francis, asserting that his government will impose more restrictions on foreign priests and demanding that the Vatican make relevant records available for Bolivian investigations. Since then, Arce has <a href="https://www.france24.com/es/am%C3%A9rica-latina/20230602-bolivia-los-ribetes-pol%C3%ADticos-del-esc%C3%A1ndalo-de-pederastia-que-golpea-a-la-iglesia-cat%C3%B3lica">established a commission</a> meant to more thoroughly investigate and punish cases of clerical sexual abuse.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, a group of alumni of the school where Pedrajas committed so many abuses has put forth suggestions <a href="https://elpais.com/sociedad/2023-05-26/las-victimas-de-abusos-en-los-colegios-jesuitas-de-bolivia-alzan-la-voz-a-los-politicos-no-les-importamos.html">to bring about substantive change</a>.</p>
<h2>Brazil: Turn toward transparency?</h2>
<p>Brazil has <a href="https://cruxnow.com/pope-in-south-sudan-congo/2023/01/top-ten-practicing-catholic-countries-its-an-african-story">more Catholics than other country</a> – some 120 million – making the nation’s church a powerful institution both at home and globally. Yet Catholic leaders there are also facing competition from <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520205031/looking-for-god-in-brazil">rapid growth in evangelical churches and Afro Brazilian traditions</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531786/original/file-20230613-18855-kxz366.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A religious procession walking behind a man holding a tall metal cross at nighttime." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531786/original/file-20230613-18855-kxz366.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531786/original/file-20230613-18855-kxz366.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531786/original/file-20230613-18855-kxz366.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531786/original/file-20230613-18855-kxz366.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531786/original/file-20230613-18855-kxz366.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531786/original/file-20230613-18855-kxz366.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531786/original/file-20230613-18855-kxz366.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Catholic procession in Porto Alegre, Brazil, on April 22, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/faithfuls-take-part-in-the-saint-george-procession-in-porto-news-photo/1252095526?adppopup=true">Silvio Avila/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In May 2023, journalists <a href="https://oglobo.globo.com/epoca/giampaolo-morgado-braga/">Giampaolo Morgado Braga</a> and <a href="https://journalismcourses.org/instructor/fabio-gusmao/">Fábio Gusmão</a> published a <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/pedofilia-na-igreja-f-bio-gusm-o/1143568411">groundbreaking study</a> called Pedophilia in the Church after reviewing over 25,000 pages of documents about allegations in Brazil. Their book aims to correct what its authors argue has been a severe lack of public concern over a decadeslong crisis. Though their findings bring together details of abuse by the 108 priests and other Catholic leaders who have faced legal charges in Brazil since 2000, they conclude that these numbers barely scratch the surface of the total instances of abuse.</p>
<p>However, recent cases may suggest a turn toward greater transparency and more effective collaboration between the church and the legal system. </p>
<p>On May 3, 2023, after an extended investigation called <a href="https://www.metropoles.com/sao-paulo/frei-catolico-e-preso-em-flagrante-em-sp-por-suspeita-pedofilia">Operation False Prophet</a>, state police <a href="https://twitter.com/pcmgoficial/status/1654119272157937664">detained Dominican friar Elvécio de Jesus Carrara</a> on suspicion of producing and storing pornographic photos of teenagers. According to local reporting, the Dominican order appears to have promptly collaborated with police on the investigation. Meanwhile, they ensured Carrara was removed from priestly duties.</p>
<p>In 2019, the national bishops conference worked with the Vatican to publish a guide titled <a href="https://www.edicoescnbb.com.br/o-cuidado-pastoral-das-vitimas-de-abuso-sexual">The Pastoral Care for Victims of Sexual Abuse</a>, and a <a href="https://www.tutelaminorum.org/the-commission/nelson-giovanelli-rosendo-dos-santos/">Brazilian priest</a> trained in youth rehabilitation is a member of the pope’s advisory committee on the abuse crisis.</p>
<h2>Chance to lead the way</h2>
<p>Given the number of Catholics living in Latin America, it is clear that the majority of cases have yet to be uncovered – work that will require collaboration between lay Catholics and members of the church hierarchy.</p>
<p>Four of the 19 members of <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_commissions/tutela-minori/index.htm">the Pontifical Commission on the Protection of Minors</a>, an advisory body that Pope Francis established in 2014 in response to the abuse crisis, come from Latin America, underscoring the Vatican’s commitment to the region. </p>
<p>Within Latin America, there have been encouraging signs of international collaboration. The Mexico-based <a href="https://cepromelat.com/consejo-latinoamericano-2/">Center for Interdisciplinary Investigation and Formation for the protection of Minors</a> has begun to provide training and resources for Catholic institutions throughout Latin America to handle past cases of abuse and avoid them in the future.</p>
<p>While clerical sexual abuse has generated public awareness in the region since the early 2000s, I believe the events unfolding in Brazil and Bolivia signal a new period of reckoning.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207292/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Casey-Pariseault serves on the board of directors at the Women's Ordination Conference, a non-profit organization working to ordain women as deacons, priests & bishops into an inclusive and accountable Roman Catholic Church.</span></em></p>
Public outrage over alleged abuse has been muted in much of Latin America for years, partly because the church remains one of the region’s most powerful institutions – but that may be changing.
Matthew Casey-Pariseault, Associate Clinical Professor of History, Arizona State University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/198349
2023-04-24T16:18:12Z
2023-04-24T16:18:12Z
From horseback to motorbike: inside the motorcycle boom in Indigenous South America
<p>With their tropical climate, flowing rivers and dense forests, the vast plains and basins that make up <a href="https://www.berose.fr/article2131.html?lang=fr#:%7E:text=Since%20the%20first%20contacts%2C%20the,Patagonia%20and%20the%20Atlantic%20coast.">South America’s lowlands</a> cover a significant portion of the continent’s surface. Indeed, the Amazon rainforest covers approximately seven million square kilometres or around 40% of the total land area of South America.</p>
<p>These lowlands are primarily located in the eastern part of South America, stretching from the Andes mountains to the Atlantic Ocean. Two of the main lowland regions are the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Amazon-Basin">Amazon basin</a> and the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Gran-Chaco">Gran Chaco</a> – both diverse landscapes that are home to a wide variety of Indigenous cultures and communities.</p>
<p>As varied as the region is, much of its exuberant landscape has been drastically changed over the past 150 years by the arrival of mechanical machinery. And this is especially the case in territories inhabited by Indigenous people, who have been forced to adapt to new ways of living, with their traditional life transformed or disrupted. </p>
<p>Steamships, railways and trucks used for transportation arrived over the last century – followed by guns, used for both hunting and warfare. The arrival of bulldozers and chainsaws, used by the logging industry, has changed the rainforest forever. Meanwhile, electric generators hum constantly in the background. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521710/original/file-20230418-14-2kcsd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521710/original/file-20230418-14-2kcsd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521710/original/file-20230418-14-2kcsd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521710/original/file-20230418-14-2kcsd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521710/original/file-20230418-14-2kcsd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521710/original/file-20230418-14-2kcsd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521710/original/file-20230418-14-2kcsd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Chacobo man works on his motorbike.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.isrf.org/fellows-projects/motoboom/">Motorbikes</a> are one of the latest machines to hit the lowlands. Over the last two decades, there has been a huge motorbike boom in Indigenous South America, with more and more people buying bikes from the money they make trading rubber, <a href="https://www.thespruceeats.com/what-are-hearts-of-palm-4777298">palm hearts</a> (the pale white inner core from the palm tree), and Brazil nuts. And I have seen firsthand how motorbikes have drastically changed Indigenous people’s lives.</p>
<p>I have spent the last 20 years working with the Chacobo – an Indigenous group from Bolivia – and have seen how for them, having a motorcycle is more than just a way to get around. It represents a sense of belonging and citizenship. </p>
<p>Owning a motorcycle is a symbol of how Indigenous people have adapted successfully to the changing world around them. The motorbike is considered such an icon of development and progress that in the Bolivian city of Riberalta, you can even find a monument of a motorbike. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521390/original/file-20230417-24-e4vvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521390/original/file-20230417-24-e4vvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521390/original/file-20230417-24-e4vvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521390/original/file-20230417-24-e4vvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521390/original/file-20230417-24-e4vvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521390/original/file-20230417-24-e4vvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521390/original/file-20230417-24-e4vvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521390/original/file-20230417-24-e4vvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Monument to the Motorbike, Riberalta, Bolivia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For many people, motorbikes are more than just a way to travel. In South America, especially in regions like the Bolivian Amazon, motorcycles have become a way of life. </p>
<h2>Bikes and beliefs</h2>
<p>In the past, the Indigenous people of these regions spent hours decorating body ornaments, bows and arrows. Now they spend most of their free time polishing, dismantling or reassembling their motorcycles. </p>
<p>Most of these bikes are cheap Chinese brands (Dayun, Wanxin, TianMa, Haojue), while their Japanese equivalents (Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki) remain a lusted-after status symbol. </p>
<p>At the same time, the arrival of the motorbike has led to these local landscapes being littered with mechanical “ruins” or “fossils”. Wheels, handlebars, fuel tanks and exhaust pipes all line the villages, gathering dust. </p>
<p>With proper spare parts not easily available, the inevitable repairs and upgrades must rely on “cannibalization” – using parts of old vehicles or whatever items are at hand to sort the issue. This obviously changes the way the lowland motorbikes look.</p>
<p>Bikes are named and considered to have a gender. Indigenous people also believe their motorbikes can be influenced by spiritual or supernatural forces that can cause them to behave in unusual or unexpected ways. </p>
<p>For instance, according to these <a href="https://theconversation.com/shamanism-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-fastest-growing-religion-in-england-and-wales-196438">beliefs</a>, a motorbike may suddenly accelerate or stop working altogether without any physical or mechanical explanation. It’s thought that such episodes happen sometimes with the intent of causing harm or misfortune to the owner of the bike. </p>
<h2>Passion v safety</h2>
<p>The motorcycle boom has also led to a rise in traffic accidents. Road accidents involving motorbikes are now a leading cause of death among the Chacobo – even more so since Chinese companies began paving the road that runs across their territory. </p>
<p>Things that many of us take for granted, such as insurance, speed limits, regular MOTs or services alongside helmets and protective clothing, do not figure here. So, a lot of the <a href="https://velocidades.sciencesconf.org/">road accidents</a> that happen in this region end up being fatal. </p>
<p>This has led to a number of communities forming road blockades and burning commercial trucks that have run over motorcyclists. Local authorities are starting to demand legal compensation for the families of the dead or injured. Dealing with road accidents has become an increasingly important topic for Indigenous leaders and communities.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521389/original/file-20230417-22-3xjf9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521389/original/file-20230417-22-3xjf9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521389/original/file-20230417-22-3xjf9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521389/original/file-20230417-22-3xjf9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521389/original/file-20230417-22-3xjf9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521389/original/file-20230417-22-3xjf9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521389/original/file-20230417-22-3xjf9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A burnt-out truck that ran over an Indigenous motorcyclist in Bolivia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the same time, motorbikes have significantly transformed the relationship Indigenous people have with nature and society. They have made hunting, fishing and horticultural work much easier and more productive. And it’s not just the men: many Indigenous women have become motorbike riders and are using their bikes to challenge traditional gender roles.</p>
<p>While the increasing amount of motorbike accidents is concerning, it’s clear that this passion for motorcycles has become an integral part of Indigenous people’s lives that will likely be passed down through generations. Indeed, it’s quite common to see whole Indigenous families on bikes – including pets and tiny children.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198349/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Diego Villar has received funding for this article from Independent Social Research Foundation (Small Group Projects) and Horizon Europe programme (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship).</span></em></p>
It’s quite common to see whole Indigenous families on bikes – including pets and tiny children.
Diego Villar, Marie-Skłodowska Curie Fellow in Anthropology, Ca' Foscari University of Venice
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/200047
2023-04-21T12:39:52Z
2023-04-21T12:39:52Z
Raw materials, or sacred beings? Lithium extraction puts two worldviews into tension
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522020/original/file-20230420-3136-24zus.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2585%2C2014&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A salt pyramid in Uyuni, Bolivia. The rainy season produces a mirror effect in the salt flat.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mario Orospe Hernandez</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Located in the heart of South America, Bolivia contains <a href="https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2022/mcs2022-lithium.pdf">the largest lithium deposits</a> in the world – an enviable position, in many countries’ eyes, as the market for electric vehicles takes off. Though EVs <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/26/lifetime-emissions-of-evs-are-lower-than-gasoline-cars-experts-say.html">emit fewer greenhouse gases</a> than fuel-powered vehicles, their batteries <a href="https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/charts/minerals-used-in-electric-cars-compared-to-conventional-cars">require more minerals</a> – <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/11/23/1135952359/lithium-mines-batteries-electric-vehicles-climate-change-carbon%20%22%22">especially lithium</a>, which is also used to make batteries for smartphones and computers.</p>
<p>Unlike its neighbors <a href="https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/media/uploads/documents/Lithium%20Production%20in%20Chile%20and%20Argentina_Inverted%20Roles_JAN%202023.pdf">Chile and Argentina</a>, Bolivia has yet to become a major player in the <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/01/chart-countries-produce-lithium-world/">global lithium market</a>. In part, this is because its <a href="https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20190703-bolivias-surreal-rainbow-landscape">high-altitude salt flats</a> aren’t suited to the usual <a href="https://www.saltworkstech.com/articles/lithium-brine-extraction-technologies-and-approaches/">extraction method</a>, solar evaporation.</p>
<p>But that looks poised to change: In January 2023, state company YLB <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2023/02/in-bolivia-china-signs-deal-for-worlds-largest-lithium-reserves/">signed an agreement</a> with the Chinese consortium CBC, which includes the world’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/22/business/china-catl-electric-car-batteries.html">largest producer of lithium-ion batteries</a>, to <a href="https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/two-new-ways-of-extracting-lithium-from-brine/21807823">introduce a new method</a> called direct lithium extraction.</p>
<p>It may prove an economic boon. But since colonial times, the <a href="https://oxfordre.com/latinamericanhistory/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199366439.001.0001/acrefore-9780199366439-e-2;jsessionid=E39888132A5FB9312DEDF72A288896C2">legacy of mineral abundance</a> in Bolivia has also been one of pollution, poverty and exploitation. While some residents are hopeful about the potential benefits of the growing lithium industry, others are concerned about <a href="https://energynews.pro/en/lithium-mining-in-south-america-between-hopes-and-disillusionment/">extraction’s local impact</a>. In particular, direct lithium extraction demands a great deal of <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43017-022-00387-5">fresh water</a>, potentially <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/features/lithium-mining-water-andes-argentina">endangering surrounding ecosystems</a> as has happened in other parts of <a href="https://dialogochino.net/en/extractive-industries/35354-white-gold-the-violent-water-dispute-in-argentina/">South America’s “lithium triangle</a>.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521465/original/file-20230418-14-zy1au9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The pale expanse of a salt flat beneath a bright blue sky." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521465/original/file-20230418-14-zy1au9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521465/original/file-20230418-14-zy1au9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521465/original/file-20230418-14-zy1au9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521465/original/file-20230418-14-zy1au9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521465/original/file-20230418-14-zy1au9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521465/original/file-20230418-14-zy1au9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521465/original/file-20230418-14-zy1au9.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lithium lies in the underground brine beneath this salt flat.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mario Orospe Hernandez</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A rapid escalation of lithium extraction in the Bolivian Andes also represents a looming clash between two fundamentally different views of nature: <a href="https://www.cbhd.org/dignitas-articles/ivan-illich-on-the-convivial-industrial-society">modern industrial society’s</a> and that of the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0962629821001165">Indigenous communities</a> who call the region home – a focus of my current <a href="https://csrc.asu.edu/beyondsecularization">research collaborations</a> and <a href="https://search.asu.edu/profile/3431913">dissertation project</a>. </p>
<h2>The Pachamama</h2>
<p>Bolivia is home to <a href="https://www.iwgia.org/en/bolivia.html">36 ethnic groups</a> across its highland and lowland regions. <a href="https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/who-are-the-aymara-people.html">Aymara</a> and <a href="https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/quechua-people.html">Quechua</a> peoples comprise most of the Indigenous communities in <a href="https://www.livescience.com/27897-andes-mountains.html">the Andes Mountains</a>.</p>
<p>For these cultures, nature is not a means to human ends. Instead, it is seen as a group of beings with personhood, history and power beyond human reach. For example, the female divinity of fertility, to whom people owe respect, is the <a href="https://www.reutersagency.com/en/reuters-community/thanking-pachamama-the-andean-peoples-pay-tribute-to-mother-earth/">Pachamama</a>. Since she sustains and secures the reproduction of life, Andean Indigenous people make offerings to the Pachamama in <a href="https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Bolivians-Honour-Mother-Earth-Pachamama-With-Traditional-Ceremony-20180801-0020.html">ancestral rituals</a> known as <a href="https://bolivianexpress.org/blog/posts/challa">“challas”</a> that seek to reinforce their connection with her.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521463/original/file-20230418-20-9bmg0y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A handful of people bend over rows of crops while working in a hillside area." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521463/original/file-20230418-20-9bmg0y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521463/original/file-20230418-20-9bmg0y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521463/original/file-20230418-20-9bmg0y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521463/original/file-20230418-20-9bmg0y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521463/original/file-20230418-20-9bmg0y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521463/original/file-20230418-20-9bmg0y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521463/original/file-20230418-20-9bmg0y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Local food producers in Chicani, a village on the outskirts of La Paz, Bolivia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mario Orospe Hernandez</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Similarly, highland groups recognize mountains not as a set of inert rocks, but as ancestral guardians called <a href="https://bolivianexpress.org/blog/posts/the-achachilas">“Achachilas” in Aymara</a> and <a href="https://www.ticketmachupicchu.com/apus-spirits-mountain/">“Apus” in Quechua</a>. Each Andean community praises a nearby mountain whom they believe protects and oversees their lives.</p>
<p>In Uyuni, for example, where one of the <a href="https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/bolivia-chooses-chinese-consortium-led-by-catl-for-1-billion-lithium-investment">two new lithium plants</a> will be constructed, Indigenous communities acknowledge the presence of these sacred beings. To this day, worshipers in nearby Lipez region explain the salt flat’s origin with <a href="https://beyondbeanie.com/blogs/news/the-legend-of-tunupa-origin-of-the-salar-de-uyuni">a traditional legend</a>: It is the mother’s milk of their Apu, a female volcano named Tunupa.</p>
<p>However, <a href="https://politicaltheology.com/talal-asad/">religious concepts</a> such as “sacred” or “divine” do not necessarily capture the relationships that Andean Indigenous people have long established with these <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/earth-beings">more-than-human beings</a>, who have been <a href="https://explorersweb.com/huacas-sacred-objects-of-the-incas/">known since pre-colonial times as “huacas</a>.” These entities are not considered “gods,” or thought of as dealing with otherworldly beliefs. Rather, they are treated as integral to people’s earthly everyday life.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521464/original/file-20230418-28-ly3xzi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A small stack of stones sits before a sandy-colored hill." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521464/original/file-20230418-28-ly3xzi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521464/original/file-20230418-28-ly3xzi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521464/original/file-20230418-28-ly3xzi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521464/original/file-20230418-28-ly3xzi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521464/original/file-20230418-28-ly3xzi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521464/original/file-20230418-28-ly3xzi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521464/original/file-20230418-28-ly3xzi.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Quechua huaca, also known as the sanctuary of the sacred rock, on the Island of the Sun in Lake Titicaca.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mario Orospe Hernandez</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For instance, <a href="https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/honoring-pachamama-central-to-bolivian-culture/5267444.html">before meals</a>, Quechua and Aymara peoples throw coca leaves or spill their drinks on the ground to share their food with these beings as a sign of gratitude and reciprocity. </p>
<h2>Lifeless matter</h2>
<p>In industrial societies, on the other hand, nature is understood as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-230-21244-2_2">something external to humanity</a> – an object that can be mastered through science and technology. The <a href="https://depts.washington.edu/chid/intersections_Winter_2012/Adam_Holzman_Karl_Polanyi_and_the_Rise_of_Modernity.pdf">modern economy</a> turns nature into a source of <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/rawmaterials.asp">raw materials</a>: morally and spiritually inert matter that is there to be extracted and mobilized worldwide. Within this framework, a mineral like lithium is a resource to be developed in the pursuit of economic gains for human beings.</p>
<p>In fact, the history of these competing notions is deeply entwined with the history of the colonial era, as different cultures <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/a-billion-black-anthropocenes-or-none">came into violent conflict</a>. As the Spanish discovered the mineral bounty of the so-called New World, like gold and silver, they began an intensive <a href="https://sldinfo.com/2020/12/potosi-and-its-silver-the-beginnings-of-globalization/">extraction of its riches</a>, relying on forced labor from local people and imported slaves.</p>
<p>The concept of “raw materials” can be traced to the theological notion of “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/agph-2020-0147">prime matter</a>.” The term originally comes from Aristotle, whose work was introduced to Christianity via Latin translations around the 12th century. In the way Christians adapted his idea of prime matter, everything was <a href="https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Great_Chain_of_Being">ordered by its level of “perfection</a>,” ranging from the lowest level – prime matter, the most basic “stuff” of the world – to rocks, plants, animals, humans, angels and, finally, God.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521467/original/file-20230418-22-zqggqg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black and white engraving shows people working in a mine with a ladder leading to the entrance." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521467/original/file-20230418-22-zqggqg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521467/original/file-20230418-22-zqggqg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521467/original/file-20230418-22-zqggqg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521467/original/file-20230418-22-zqggqg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521467/original/file-20230418-22-zqggqg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=638&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521467/original/file-20230418-22-zqggqg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=638&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521467/original/file-20230418-22-zqggqg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=638&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A silver mine at Potosi, New Spain – now Bolivia – depicted by Theodor de Bry around 1590.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/indians-working-in-a-goldmine-at-potosi-new-spain-line-news-photo/542860359?adppopup=true">ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Catholic Church and the Spanish Empire later used this medieval understanding of matter as something passive, without spirit, to <a href="https://upittpress.org/books/9780822944607/">justify the extraction</a> of resources during colonial times. The closer things were to prime matter, their argument supposed, the more they needed human imprint and an external purpose to make them valuable.</p>
<p>This notion was also used by Christian colonizers who were intent on destroying traditions that they saw as idolatrous. In their eyes, reverence toward a mountain or the earth itself was worshiping a mere “thing,” a false god. The church and the empire believed it was critical to <a href="https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/vocesnovae/vol5/iss1/7/?utm_source=digitalcommons.chapman.edu%2Fvocesnovae%2Fvol5%2Fiss1%2F7&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages">desacralize these more-than-human beings</a> and treat them as mere resources.</p>
<p>This flattened vision of nature served as the basis for the modern economic concept of raw materials, which was introduced in the 18th century with the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/1668/chapter-abstract/141230548?redirectedFrom=fulltext">birth of economics</a> as a social science.</p>
<h2>The road ahead</h2>
<p>Bolivia’s lithium projects pose a new potential clash of worldviews. However, extraction initiatives have faced <a href="https://lagukinfo.wixsite.com/lag-uk/post/twists-and-setbacks-of-the-lithium-industrialization-process-in-bolivia">severe setbacks</a> in the last few years, including <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/bolivians-protest-over-lithium-deal-with-german-company/a-50732216">social protests</a>, the 2019 <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/07/world/americas/bolivia-election-evo-morales.html#click=https://t.co/HGrEx2Yd1h">political crisis</a> and <a href="https://dialogochino.net/en/extractive-industries/57525-understanding-bolivias-long-struggle-to-exploit-its-lithium-reserves/">a lack of necessary technology</a>. The Chinese deal represents <a href="https://www-mhe-gob-bo.translate.goog/2023/01/20/bolivia-presenta-al-mundo-el-modelo-soberano-de-inversiones-en-la-industria-del-litio/?_x_tr_sl=es&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp">a new milestone</a>, yet <a href="https://fundacionsolon-org.translate.goog/2023/01/20/la-era-de-industrializacion-del-litio/?_x_tr_sl=es&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp">its outcomes are still uncertain</a>: for the economy, for local communities and for the Earth.</p>
<p>Today, electric vehicles are widely considered part of the solution to the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/17/why-the-guardian-is-changing-the-language-it-uses-about-the-environment">climate crisis</a>. Yet they will necessitate <a href="https://techinformed.com/almost-400-new-mines-needed-to-meet-future-ev-battery-demand-data-finds/">a mining surge</a> to <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/09/02/1031726626/these-tribal-activists-want-biden-to-stop-a-planned-lithium-mine-on-their-sacred">meet their battery demands</a>. If societies really want a greener future, technological shifts such as EVs will be just part of the answer, alongside other changes like more sustainable <a href="https://theconversation.com/urban-planning-is-now-on-the-front-line-of-the-climate-crisis-this-is-what-it-means-for-our-cities-and-towns-193452">urban planning</a> and improved public transportation. </p>
<p>But in addition, perhaps other cultures could learn from Andean relations with nature as more-than-human beings: an inspiration to <a href="https://greattransition.org/publication/farewell-to-development">rethink development</a> and turn our own way of living into something less destructive.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200047/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mario Orospe Hernández receives funding from Arizona State University, the Fulbright-García Robles Program and the Mexican National Council for Science and Technology (CONACyT).</span></em></p>
Lithium extraction in Bolivia poses more than environmental questions: It illustrates how notions about ‘raw materials’ can be at odds with Indigenous relations with the land.
Mario Orospe Hernández, Ph.D. Candidate in Religious Studies, Arizona State University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/198232
2023-01-20T18:25:16Z
2023-01-20T18:25:16Z
Peru protests: What to know about Indigenous-led movement shaking the crisis-hit country
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505644/original/file-20230120-22-9yc830.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=27%2C179%2C4573%2C2883&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A movement on the march.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/thousands-of-protesters-coming-from-all-over-the-country-news-photo/1246378481?phrase=peru%20indigenous%20protest&adppopup=true">Carlos Garcia Granthon/Fotoholica Press/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Peru is in the midst of a political and civil crisis. Weeks of protest have culminated in thousands descending on the capital amid violent clashes and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/20/peru-protests-running-battles-police-lima-thousands-march">running battles with police</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>Triggered by the recent <a href="https://theconversation.com/amid-coup-countercoup-claims-what-really-went-down-in-peru-and-why-196207">removal from power of former leader</a> Pedro Castillo, the protests have exposed deep divisions within the country and are being encouraged by a confluence of internal factors and external agitators.</em></p>
<p><em>The Conversation asked Eduardo Gamarra, an <a href="https://pir.fiu.edu/people/faculty-a-z/eduardo-gamarra1/eduardo-gamarra.html">expert on Latin American politics</a> at Florida International University, to explain the wider context of the protests and what could happen next.</em></p>
<h2>What sparked the protests in Peru?</h2>
<p>The immediate trigger was <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-63895505">events on Dec. 7, 2022</a>, that saw now-ousted President Castillo embark on what has <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/what-pedro-castillos-failed-coup-attempt-means-for-peru">been described as an attempted coup</a>. But whether it was a “coup” is subject to debate. Castillo’s supporters say he was trying to head off a different type of coup, one instigated by Congress.</p>
<p>Castillo – a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-57941309">leftist, Indigenous former teacher</a> from the country’s south – tried to shut down a Congress intent on impeaching him over <a href="https://english.elpais.com/international/2022-10-12/president-pedro-castillo-of-peru-faces-new-corruption-accusation.html">corruption claims</a> and <a href="https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/11/24/peruvian-constitutional-court-annuls-treason-complaint-against-president-pedro-castillo/">accusations of treason</a>. He called on the military to support him, and his intention was to form a constituent assembly to reform the country’s constitution. But his plan didn’t work. The military rejected Castillo’s ploy, and Congress refused to be dissolved and <a href="https://theconversation.com/amid-coup-countercoup-claims-what-really-went-down-in-peru-and-why-196207">went ahead with its impeachment vote</a>, removing him from power.</p>
<p>The events of that day set off the protests that have built in momentum over the subsequent weeks. </p>
<p>But while the events of Dec. 7 were the immediate trigger, it is important to understand that this crisis was long in the making.</p>
<h2>What is the wider background of the political crisis?</h2>
<p>The crisis is rooted in the nature of Peru’s political system. In part by design, the <a href="https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Peru_2021.pdf?lang=en">country’s constitution</a>, which was adopted in 1993 but amended a dozen times since, creates ambiguity in who has the greater power – the president or Congress. Constitutionally, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/12/07/1141372595/peru-s-president-dissolves-congress-and-imposes-a-curfew">Congress is given enormous scope</a> to limit executive power, including removal through impeachment. The idea was to serve as a bulwark against the excesses of authoritarian-minded presidents. But in reality, it encourages instability and a weak executive. The constitution is so ambiguously written that it also gives wiggle room for presidents who want to shut down Congress, as Castillo unsuccessfully tried to do.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Peru has seen a dismantling of its old, established political party system. Once-powerful parties no longer exist or struggle to get support. As a result, the country’s party system has fractured – more than a dozen parties are represented in Congress, which makes it hard for any one leader or party to achieve a majority. In short, it makes it hard to govern when you have no legislative base to do so. For example, Castillo had the support of only 15 members of his own party in the 130-seat assembly.</p>
<p>On top of all that, the country is deeply polarized and divided along a number of different lines: ethnic, racial, economic and – as the protests have fully shown – regional.</p>
<h2>Who is protesting and just how large is the movement?</h2>
<p>First off, they are Castillo supporters. While he had no real power base in the country’s capital, Lima, Castillo – as the first real rural president the country has had – had <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/12/16/the-forgotten-ones-rural-supporters-stand-by-perus-castillo">significant support in the south</a>. </p>
<p>The protests have been <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/1/7/anti-government-protesters-attempt-to-take-over-an-airport">concentrated around the city of Puno</a>, but support has come from the whole high Andes of southern Peru.</p>
<p><iframe id="9Py5M" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/9Py5M/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>The area is predominantly <a href="https://minorityrights.org/minorities/highland-aymara-and-quechua/">Quechua and Aymara</a> – the two major Indigenous groups in the Peruvian south. Peruvian Quechua and Aymara are “first cousins” to the same groups over the border in Bolivia. And this is important in the context of the current protests.</p>
<p>Evo Morales, the former president of Bolivia, has long <a href="https://peoplesdispatch.org/2021/04/27/runasur-a-new-latin-american-regional-integration-mechanism-created-in-bolivia/">talked about “runasur</a>” – the concept of uniting Indigenous people across the Andes region. </p>
<p>Morales <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/10/evo-morales-barred-peru-bolivia-pedro-castillo">has been blamed by the Peruvian government</a> for stirring up the protests – indeed he has now been banned from entering Peru. No doubt, <a href="https://elcomercio.pe/politica/gobierno/evo-morales-quienes-son-ocho-operadores-del-expresidente-boliviano-que-no-podran-ingresar-al-peru-y-cual-es-su-historial-pedro-castillo-mas-ipsp-puno-dina-boluarte-cusco-dini-protestas-noticia/">Bolivian allies have been in Peru’s south</a> mobilizing the movement, and some have been arrested. </p>
<p>But what you are really seeing is a “Bolivia-ization” of the protest movement in Peru. The tactics of the protest movement in Peru are similar to those of the forces behind the pro-Morales <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/14/international/americas/death-toll-rises-in-antigovernment-protests-in.html">unrest in Bolivia of both 2003</a> <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bolivia-politics/supporters-of-bolivias-morales-march-with-coffins-of-dead-protesters-idUSKBN1XV1O3">and 2019</a> – the road blockades, the violence against police that has seen <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/peru-police-officer-burned-death-patrol-car-casualties-violent-post-election-protests-reaches-47">at least one officer killed</a> and others injured. That in no way excuses the the brutal response by police, which has seen <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/17/world/americas/peru-protests-democracy.html">more than 50 demonstrators killed</a>.</p>
<p>But even in the treatment of these deaths you see echoes of Bolivia. Just as in Bolivia, protesters are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/11/genocide-investigation-opened-against-peru-president-after-protest-deaths">framing the anti-demonstration violence by authorities as a “genocide</a>” – claiming that police are targeting Indigenous groups because of who they are.</p>
<p>In my view, that is incorrect. The police are obviously using excessive force, but the officers involved are themselves, in many cases, Indigenous.</p>
<h2>What are the demands of protesters?</h2>
<p>Primarily they are trying to force the government in Lima to agree to a <a href="https://constitutionnet.org/news/peru-proposed-constitutional-reform-bring-forward-elections-and-shorten-presidential-and">constituent assembly</a> to devise a new constitution; what that new constitution would look like is a secondary concern.</p>
<p>They are also trying to force the resignation of the woman brought in to replace Castillo, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/07/americas/dina-boluarte-profile-intl-latam/index.html">Dina Boluarte</a>. I believe that is an achievable goal. Boluarte suffers from many of the same problems as her predecessor – she has little real support in Congress and no support in the streets. On top of that, having not been elected into office, she lacks democratic legitimacy in the eyes of many.</p>
<p>President Boluarte has said she <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/peru-protesters-pour-remote-andean-regions-demand-president-resign-rcna66580">will not resign</a>. She is studying the possibility of calling early elections, but there is little chance of her agreeing to a constituent assembly at this time.</p>
<p>As to how this movement will advance the concept of a regional runasur, that is difficult to judge. Certainly the Peruvian situation is no longer just a Peruvian issue – it involves Bolivia, and the protest has vocal support from the Latin American left.</p>
<p>But it is tough to say how well supported the protest movement is within Peru, given how divided the country is. It certainly hasn’t got the backing of urban areas in the north of the country.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, it has shown the mobilizing capacity of Indigenous people – just as in Bolivia. And the goal of many is not to win support, but to demonstrate this strength.</p>
<h2>Will Peru’s protest follow the course of past unrest in the region?</h2>
<p>That is anybody’s guess. If you follow the logic of the Bolivian comparison you will see increasing turmoil, and potentially more violence – such as that country experienced in 2003 and 2019. If that is the case, returning Peru to the old style Lima-centric politics will be difficult. The deep divides in Peruvian society and the fracturing of its political system make it hard to envision a political force emerging that can deal with all of these issues. And that is what makes the current situation so difficult to resolve.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, comparisons to the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2000/07/29/peru-inaugural-incites-protests-against-fujimori/0b8296b0-299a-414a-8bcc-b3bbf5c04789/">protests in Peru that ousted Alberto Fujimori</a> in 2000 may be misplaced. Those protests took place in a very different context – Fujimori was perceived by then as a dictator who had plundered the country of billions of dollars. It was an uprising to remove a dictator.</p>
<p>What you have now is an unpopular ex-president in jail and an unpopular president with contested claims to legitimacy in power. It is very different context. It isn’t a transition from authoritarianism to democracy; it is protest resulting from an inefficient democratic system at a time of a deeply divided country.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198232/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>As an academic and as director of a university research center, I've received funding from foundations, US government agencies, and multilateral institutions.
</span></em></p>
Thousands of demonstrators have descended on Lima amid violent clashes with police. The protest movement could be taking cues from earlier mobilizations in neighboring Bolivia.
Eduardo Gamarra, Professor of Politics and International Relations, Florida International University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/168060
2021-09-20T15:02:37Z
2021-09-20T15:02:37Z
China is financing infrastructure projects around the world – many could harm nature and Indigenous communities
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421988/original/file-20210919-47336-xvl5i4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C0%2C2169%2C1446&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Chinese engineers pose after welding the first seamless rails for the China-Laos railway in Vientiane, Laos, June 18, 2020.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/june-18-2020-workers-from-china-railway-no-2-engineering-news-photo/1221809225">Kaikeo Saiyasane/Xinhua via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>China is shaping the future of economic development through its <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/ng-interactive/2018/jul/30/what-china-belt-road-initiative-silk-road-explainer">Belt and Road Initiative</a>, an ambitious multi-billion-dollar international push to better connect itself to the rest of the world through trade and infrastructure. Through this venture, China is providing over 100 countries with funding they have long sought for roads, railways, power plants, ports and other infrastructure projects. </p>
<p>This mammoth effort could generate <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/regional-integration/publication/belt-and-road-economics-opportunities-and-risks-of-transport-corridors">broad economic growth</a> for the countries involved and the global economy. The World Bank <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/regional-integration/publication/belt-and-road-economics-opportunities-and-risks-of-transport-corridors">estimates</a> that recipient countries’ gross domestic product could rise by up to 3.4% thanks to Belt and Road financing.</p>
<p>But development often expands human movement and economic activity into new areas, which can promote <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aao0312">deforestation</a>, illegal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-0963-6">wildlife trafficking</a> and the spread of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.12.036">invasive species</a>. Past initiatives have also sparked conflict by <a href="https://ejatlas.org/">infringing on Indigenous lands</a>. These projects were often approved without the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14615517.2013.780373">recognition or consent</a> of local Indigenous communities.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01541-w">newly published study</a>, our team of <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Rebecca-Ray-2135726495">development</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=e3-sujUAAAAJ&hl=en">economists</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=tAYhLjUAAAAJ&hl=en">conservation scientists</a> mapped the risks Chinese overseas development finance projects pose for Indigenous lands, threatened species, protected areas and potential critical habitats for global biodiversity conservation. We found that more than 60% of China’s development projects present some risk to wildlife or Indigenous communities. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The Belt and Road Initiative is designed to connect China to the world.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Diverse projects and risks</h2>
<p>Our study examines 594 development projects financed by the China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China. We created a <a href="http://www.bu.edu/gdp/codf">database</a> to track the characteristics and locations of projects that these two “policy banks” supported between 2008 and 2019. During this period, the banks committed more than US$462 billion in development finance to 93 countries – roughly as much as the <a href="https://projects.worldbank.org/en/projects-operations/projects-home">World Bank</a>, the traditional global leader in development finance, committed in that time. </p>
<p>Nearly half of all projects financed by these two banks are located within potential <a href="https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/endangered-species-conservation/critical-habitat">critical habitats</a>. These are areas that might be essential for conservation and require special protection considerations, <a href="https://www.ifc.org/wps/wcm/connect/topics_ext_content/ifc_external_corporate_site/sustainability-at-ifc/policies-standards/performance-standards/ps6">according to the International Finance Corporation</a>, a unit of the World Bank that promotes private investment in developing countries. </p>
<p>One in three of the projects fall within existing protected areas, and nearly one in four overlaps with lands owned or managed by Indigenous peoples. In total, we calculate that China’s development finance portfolio could impact up to 24% of the world’s <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/">threatened amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421883/original/file-20210917-13-1d700zh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Global map of China-financed development risks" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421883/original/file-20210917-13-1d700zh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421883/original/file-20210917-13-1d700zh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=263&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421883/original/file-20210917-13-1d700zh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=263&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421883/original/file-20210917-13-1d700zh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=263&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421883/original/file-20210917-13-1d700zh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=330&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421883/original/file-20210917-13-1d700zh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=330&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421883/original/file-20210917-13-1d700zh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=330&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Selected risks to biodiversity and Indigenous lands within countries receiving Chinese overseas development loans.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Adapted from Yang, et al., 2021</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The greatest risks lie in South America, Central Africa and Southeast Asia. All of the projects that China’s policy banks are financing in Benin, Bolivia and Mongolia overlap with existing protected areas or potential critical habitats. More than 65% of Chinese development projects in Ethiopia, Laos and Argentina are located within Indigenous lands. </p>
<p>On average, risks to Indigenous lands are greatest from extraction and transportation projects, such as mines, pipelines and roads. The greatest threats to nature are energy projects, including dams and coal-fired power plants. For example, a cascade of seven hydropower dams along the the Nam Ou River in Laos has <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/EPoverty/Lao/InternationalRivers.pdf">displaced Indigenous communities</a> that depended on local ecosystems for their livelihoods. </p>
<h2>How the World Bank addresses these risks</h2>
<p>China may be the world’s <a href="https://www.grips.ac.jp/forum/IzumiOhno/lectures/2018_Lectures_texts/S13_fp_20171109_china_development_finance.pdf">largest country-to-country development lender</a>, but it’s not the only funding source for emerging economies. The World Bank, an <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/articles/world-bank-definition/">international organization funded mostly by wealthy nations</a>, has been a <a href="https://worldbank.org/projects">leading source</a> of development finance over the last 40 years – but its approach is markedly different from China’s.</p>
<p>In the 20th century, critics <a href="https://islandpress.org/books/mortgaging-earth">assailed the World Bank</a> for funding projects that caused environmental damage and social conflict. But in the past 30 years it has enacted a series of <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/projects-operations/environmental-and-social-framework">environmental and social reforms</a> that are designed to steer lending toward more inclusive and sustainable development projects. Just this year, the bank <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-change-worldbank-exclusive/exclusive-world-bank-revises-climate-policy-but-stops-short-of-halting-fossil-fuel-funding-idUSKBN2BN3HC">committed</a> to aligning its lending with the <a href="https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement">Paris Agreement on climate change</a> by 2023.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1439280583415369736"}"></div></p>
<p>China’s rapid economic growth since the 1980s has made it <a href="https://phys.org/news/2021-04-china-environmental-world-biggest-polluter.html">one of the world’s top polluters</a>. Now its leaders are working to improve their country’s environmental performance.</p>
<p>China has <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-01563-2">created a national system of protected areas</a> and has pledged to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-10/how-china-plans-to-become-carbon-neutral-by-2060-quicktake">make its domestic economy carbon-neutral</a> by 2060. But it has made no such reforms in its foreign lending. </p>
<p>Comparing projects financed by the World Bank from 2008-2019 with our list of Chinese loans, we found that on average China’s projects pose significantly greater risk to nature and Indigenous lands, primarily in the energy sector.</p>
<p>The World Bank also has a concerning proportion of loans in high-risk areas. Notably, the roads, railways and other transportation projects that it financed during this period pose risks to biodiversity that are nearly equivalent to those posed by similar projects financed by China. </p>
<p>For example, in 2016 the World Bank financed a major road project across the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including Indigenous peoples’ territory, opening them up to the loss of property and livelihoods, as well as violence. A formal internal <a href="https://www.inspectionpanel.org/panel-cases/high-priority-roads-reopening-and-maintenance-2nd-additional-financing-p153836">investigation</a> found that “serious harm” had occurred and directed the World Bank to manage future projects more carefully.</p>
<h2>Making development finance sustainable</h2>
<p>China has an opportunity with the Belt and Road Initiative to improve infrastructure networks around the world in a way that is both sustainable and inclusive. Recently it published the inter-ministerial “<a href="https://en.ndrc.gov.cn/news/mediarusources/202108/t20210810_1293453.html">Green Development Guidelines for Overseas Investment and Cooperation</a>,” a set of voluntary guidelines produced by Chinese experts from universities, governmental and non-government organizations and international experts, including two of us (Kevin Gallagher and Rebecca Ray). This report urges Chinese investors to respect host country environmental standards. When those standards are lower than China’s, the guidelines recommend using international environmental standards. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422015/original/file-20210920-17-13xq9z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two diplomats hold portfolios." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422015/original/file-20210920-17-13xq9z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422015/original/file-20210920-17-13xq9z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422015/original/file-20210920-17-13xq9z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422015/original/file-20210920-17-13xq9z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422015/original/file-20210920-17-13xq9z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422015/original/file-20210920-17-13xq9z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422015/original/file-20210920-17-13xq9z5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi L and his counterpart Lemogang Kwape at a signing ceremony for cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative in Gaborone, Botswana, Jan. 7, 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/jan-7-2021-visiting-chinese-state-councilor-and-foreign-news-photo/1230474930">Xinhua/Tshekiso Tebalo via Getty Images)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In a promising step, President Xi Jinping announced on Sept. 21, 2021 at the U.N. that China <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/09/21/world/un-general-assembly#china-coal-un-general-assembly">would not build new coal-fired power plants abroad</a>. Just as importantly, he announced that China will “step up support for other developing countries in developing green and low-carbon energy.” </p>
<p>Such a powerful shift can open renewable energy access across the developing world. However, our study shows that investments in low-impact sectors can still carry risks to vulnerable ecosystems and communities. We believe these climate commitments should be complemented with similar social and environmental performance standards that take into account local risks to biodiversity and Indigenous peoples.</p>
<p>[<em>Over 110,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>Currently China is preparing to host the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the <a href="https://www.cbd.int/article/new-dates-cop15-october-2021">Convention on Biological Diversity</a> – the main global agreement that commits nations to protect species and ecosystems around the world. Sessions will take place online in October 2021 and in person in Kunming in the first half of 2022. This event is a unique opportunity for China to address social and environmental risks from its global development activities.</p>
<p>We believe that China would be wise to adopt <a href="https://cciced.eco/research/special-policy-study/green-bri-and-2030-agenda-for-sustainable-development-2/">new recommendations</a> set forth by its Ministry of Ecology and Environment, in collaboration with international experts, including two of us (Kevin Gallagher and Rebecca Ray), that would require compulsory environmental management systems for projects supported by public Chinese banks to prevent and mitigate risks. This would raise the bar for Western lenders, who also need to improve their standards but <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2012.12.007">fear losing business to Chinese lenders</a>. </p>
<p>By minimizing harmful impacts from the projects it funds, we believe China could make the Belt and Road Initiative a win-win for itself, host countries and the global economy.</p>
<p><em>This article has been updated to include President Xi Jinping’s Sept. 21 announcement that China will stop building coal-fired power plants abroad.</em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Gn84xRsAAAAJ&hl=en">Hongbo Yang</a>, a former Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center, was joint lead author of the study described in this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168060/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kevin Gallagher serves as the International Co-Chair for the Green BRI and 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development, administered by the foreign cooperation office of the Chinese Ministry of Ecology and the Environment.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Ray was a member of the team of international experts that produced the report for the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development discussed in this article.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Blake Alexander Simmons does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Through its Belt and Road Initiative, China has become the world’s largest country-to-country lender. A new study shows that more than half of its loans threaten sensitive lands or Indigenous people.
Blake Alexander Simmons, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Boston University
Kevin P. Gallagher, Professor of Global Development Policy and Director, Global Development Policy Center, Boston University
Rebecca Ray, Senior Academic Researcher in Global Development Policy, Boston University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/152814
2021-01-21T16:55:06Z
2021-01-21T16:55:06Z
Biden’s peaceful inauguration doesn’t end America’s longtime coup addiction
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379989/original/file-20210121-23-7ivefs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4000%2C2652&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden review the troops from the east steps of the U.S. Capitol during the inauguration on Jan. 20, 2021, in Washington.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(David Tulis/Pool Photo via AP)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Joe Biden is now the 46th president of the United States. He was inaugurated under intense security following the <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/01/06/trump-virtual-coup-turns-real-mob-breaches-capitol/6571251002/">attempted coup</a> on Jan. 6, 2021, by Donald Trump supporters after the former president called for an insurrection against his own country’s government.</p>
<p>In his inauguration address, Biden made reference to the coup attempt and once again held up the U.S. as an example to the rest of the world: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“America secured liberty at home and stood once again as a beacon to the world. That is what we owe our forebears, one another, and generations to follow.”</p>
</blockquote>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qpDlnpNkPdg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Biden makes his inaugural address, via CTV News.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>World responses to the raid on the U.S. Capitol had taken a similar tone, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s incredulous claim that the “<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-55568492">United States stands for democracy around the world</a>.”</p>
<p>But as Biden takes power and the U.S. Senate prepares to hold Trump’s second impeachment trial, it’s important to keep in mind that there was nothing unique about the attempted coup except that it happened at home. Both Republican and Democratic administrations have backed military coups around the world for decades, from Iran in 1953 to Bolivia in 2019.</p>
<p>One study counted <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09636412.2020.1693620">64 covert and six overt coups</a> backed by the United States. Yet the erasing of the history of U.S.-backed coups allows the United States to forget its own acts in toppling other governments, retroactively washing itself clean. </p>
<p>Take George W. Bush, who is increasingly gaining some grudging respect since the end of his presidency. <a href="https://people.com/politics/president-george-w-bush-addresses-violence-at-the-u-s-capitol/">Bush spoke out clearly</a> against the “mayhem unfolding at the seat of our nation’s government” on Jan. 6. “This is how election results are disputed in a banana republic — not our democratic republic,” he tweeted. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/by-inciting-capitol-mob-trump-pushes-u-s-closer-to-a-banana-republic-152850">By inciting Capitol mob, Trump pushes U.S. closer to a banana republic</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The dismissive reference to “banana republics” is more polite than Trump’s comments about “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/01/shithole-countries/580054/">shithole countries</a>” but it amounts to the same preaching of <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-u-s-capitol-raid-exposes-the-myth-and-pathology-of-american-exceptionalism-152668">American exceptionalism</a> and the same contempt for non-white non-Americas. </p>
<h2>Guatemala</h2>
<p>Take one of the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/02/books/review/Kurtz-Phelan-t.html">original supposed “banana republics,”</a> Guatemala. In the early 1950s, president Jacobo Arbenz Guzman, following the recommendations of the World Bank, began a campaign for economic independence that threatened the interests of the United Fruit Company, now Chiquita Brands International. The U.S. company’s highly profitable business in Guatemala was affected by the end of exploitative labour practices in the country.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1347569588674965504"}"></div></p>
<p>The father of modern advertising, Edward Bernays, <a href="https://www.modernmarketingpartners.com/2017/06/01/chiquita-pr-campaign/">set about</a> “engineering consent” for the false accusation that Arbenz was a communist. American officials then egged on Guatemalan army officers to overthrow Arbenz, which they <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674019300">did in 1954</a>. </p>
<p>Military regimes continued for decades, inflicting <a href="https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/military-rule-threatens-guatemalas-highland-maya-indians">violence upon Indigenous Peoples</a>. Guatemala’s truth commission concluded that civil war had claimed <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-19636725">200,000 lives</a> and that the army committed 93 per cent of all human rights violations. </p>
<h2>South Korea, Iran</h2>
<p>This U.S.-backed coup wasn’t the first. In the wake of the Second World War, an American army occupation in <a href="https://thewire.in/history/uncovering-the-hidden-history-of-the-korean-war">South Korea</a> throttled grassroots Korean democracy and imposed U.S. ally Syngman Rhee as president. Several coups followed until the arrival of lasting democracy in the 1980s. </p>
<p>South Korea’s <a href="https://www.usip.org/publications/2012/04/truth-commission-south-korea-2005">truth commission found</a> that tens of thousands of people had either been killed or suffered human rights violations, 82 per cent of them at the hands of the South Korean military. </p>
<p>Most famously, the U.S. helped topple Iran’s first democratic president, Mohammad Mossadegh, in 1953. When Mossadegh echoed the doctrine of governments like Canada that oil resources belonged to the people, he upset British and American oil companies. Their home governments then painted Mossadegh as a dangerous leftist. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379349/original/file-20210118-17-1wh6k55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh rides on the shoulders of cheering crowds." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379349/original/file-20210118-17-1wh6k55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379349/original/file-20210118-17-1wh6k55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379349/original/file-20210118-17-1wh6k55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379349/original/file-20210118-17-1wh6k55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379349/original/file-20210118-17-1wh6k55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379349/original/file-20210118-17-1wh6k55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379349/original/file-20210118-17-1wh6k55.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In this September 1951 photo, Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh rides on the shoulders of cheering crowds outside the parliament building after reiterating his oil nationalization views to his supporters.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo, File)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>U.S. media reports painted him as effeminate and weak. “<a href="https://iranbeyondthenews.wordpress.com/2010/02/21/the-man-who-made-the-world-say-%E2%80%9Cwhat-if%E2%80%9D/">He favoured pink pyjamas</a>,” according to the <em>New York Times</em>. <em>Time</em> magazine called him the “weeping, fainting leader of a helpless country.” Kermit Roosevelt, a CIA operative in Iran, hired paid protesters, and Iran’s army soon toppled the government. </p>
<h2>South Vietnam, Indonesia, Chile</h2>
<p>U.S. governments even approved coups against pro-American rulers. Ngo Dinh Diem’s tenure as president of South Vietnam ended unceremoniously in 1963 when President John F. Kennedy approved a plan for Vietnamese army officers to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1971/07/01/archives/us-and-diems-overthrow-step-by-step-pentagon-papers-the-diem-coup.html">overthrow him</a>. The U.S. would then work with a revolving door of military rulers in South Vietnam until 1973, when it withdrew its forces from the country. </p>
<p>President Lyndon Johnson encouraged a <a href="https://www.insideindonesia.org/accomplices-in-atrocity">coup against Sukarno</a>, Indonesia’s first president, by pro-western army officers. Sukarno was no democrat, but the United States was content with him until he took steps against western oil companies. Yet while trying to isolate his government, the U.S. government kept in contact with pro-western economists and the Indonesian army, as historian Bradley Simpson <a href="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=7853">chronicles</a>. The U.S. embassy aided the mass killing of as many as a million people in 1965-66. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379352/original/file-20210118-13-tf732q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Chilean Gen. Augusto Pinochet is seen in full military garb." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379352/original/file-20210118-13-tf732q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379352/original/file-20210118-13-tf732q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379352/original/file-20210118-13-tf732q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379352/original/file-20210118-13-tf732q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379352/original/file-20210118-13-tf732q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379352/original/file-20210118-13-tf732q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379352/original/file-20210118-13-tf732q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chilean Gen. Augusto Pinochet is seen in this March 1998 photo in Santiago, Chile.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Santiago Llanquin)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>“Jakarta is coming,” graffiti in Chile proclaimed as President Salvador Allende’s policies increasingly irritated U.S. President Richard Nixon. The “<a href="https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2020/05/18/how-jakarta-became-the-codeword-for-us-backed-mass-killing/">Jakarta method</a>” saw an attempt to copy the “success” in Indonesia. Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s forces seized power in 1973, then <a href="https://www.usip.org/publications/2003/09/commission-inquiry-chile-03">“disappeared” and tortured thousands of people</a>. </p>
<h2>Bolivia</h2>
<p>America’s addiction to coups survived the end of the Cold War. The U.S. has backed coups in Haiti, Honduras and elsewhere. Most recently, the Trump administration <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/18/silence-us-backed-coup-evo-morales-bolivia-american-states">cheered the toppling</a> of Bolivia’s president Evo Morales in 2019 after the Organization of American States implied Morales was rigging votes. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-zimbabwe-to-bolivia-what-makes-a-military-coup-127138">From Zimbabwe to Bolivia: what makes a military coup?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Later investigations showed the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/02/26/bolivia-dismissed-its-october-elections-fraudulent-our-research-found-no-reason-suspect-fraud/">claims were groundless</a>. As has often been the case, U.S. corporate interests were at stake.</p>
<p>“<a href="https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/07/29/we-will-coup-whoever-we-want-elon-musk-and-the-overthrow-of-democracy-in-bolivia/">We will coup whoever we want</a>,” said Telsa founder Elon Musk, long <a href="https://socialistproject.ca/2020/07/elon-musk-overthrow-of-democracy-in-bolivia/">interested in the country’s lithium</a>, needed for electric car batteries. </p>
<p>Coup addiction overseas has now come home to Washington. We can draw three lessons. </p>
<h2>Lessons learned</h2>
<p>Firstly, “American exceptionalism” insists that the U.S. is different from all other countries. In fact, it’s derivative. Trump’s forces followed a well-thumbed script. Consent must be manufactured, the enemy demonized — a pattern laid out in the 1950s by Bernays and Roosevelt. If necessary, crowds are mobilized in the pursuit of “regime change.”</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-u-s-capitol-raid-exposes-the-myth-and-pathology-of-american-exceptionalism-152668">The U.S. Capitol raid exposes the myth and pathology of American exceptionalism</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Second, the method of the coup must be made acceptable via demonization and imagining coups as an acceptable way to transfer power. The American penchant for coups normalized this mindset long before Trump. Americans accept violence as simply another item in the political arsenal. </p>
<p>Finally, it helps to bring racism and sexism into play. Mossadegh was deemed weak and effeminate. Diem’s alleged weakness helped convince Kennedy that he had to go. It was easy to convince the American public to accept these faraway coups. Trump’s innovation was to convince millions of Americans that their fellow citizens, especially racialized Americans, were destroying the U.S. at home — <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-u-s-capitol-raid-was-a-failed-self-coup-previously-seen-in-dying-regimes-152917">and that a self-coup to remove that threat</a> was perfectly acceptable. </p>
<p>“<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/nov/30/biden-america-is-back-team-insiders-repeat-mistakes-us-trump">America is back</a>,” says Joe Biden. The many victims of U.S.-backed coups might wish for America to stay home from time to time.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/152814/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Webster receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, but no funds from this grant supported this publication. </span></em></p>
From a global perspective, there was nothing unique about the recent raid on the U.S. Capitol. Both Republican and Democratic administrations have backed military coups around the world for decades.
David Webster, Associate Professor of History / Professeur Agrégé, Département d’Histoire, Bishop's University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/152776
2021-01-11T16:36:22Z
2021-01-11T16:36:22Z
Lake Poopó: why Bolivia’s second largest lake disappeared – and how to bring it back
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377762/original/file-20210108-15-pzpont.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Lake Poopó at a low point in early 2016.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chiliguanca / flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A huge lake in Bolivia has almost entirely disappeared. Lake Poopó used to be the country’s second largest, after Lake Titicaca, and just a few decades ago in its wet season peak it would stretch almost 70km end to end and cover an area of <a href="https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-1-4020-4410-6_137">3,000 sq km</a> – the size of a small country like Luxembourg. Today, the lake is largely a flat expanse of salty mud. </p>
<p>What happened? We’ve looked into this in various scientific studies over the past few years, and the answer is a mix of both climate factors and more direct human factors such as too much irrigation. This does at least provide some hope: Bolivians cannot reverse climate change themselves, but they can do a better job managing their water.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378090/original/file-20210111-13-z608de.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Map of Bolivia" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378090/original/file-20210111-13-z608de.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378090/original/file-20210111-13-z608de.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=740&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378090/original/file-20210111-13-z608de.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=740&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378090/original/file-20210111-13-z608de.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=740&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378090/original/file-20210111-13-z608de.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=930&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378090/original/file-20210111-13-z608de.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=930&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378090/original/file-20210111-13-z608de.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=930&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bolivia is largely divided between the high altitude Altiplano (grey) and the Amazon basin (green). Lake Popoó is in the centre of the picture, south of Oruro.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.google.com/maps/@-17.7564879,-69.0182169,6z">Google Maps</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Lake Poopó, is found at nearly 3,700 meters above sea level in the “Altiplano”, a large plateau in the centre of the Andes mountains. It is an <a href="https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/fluvial-landforms-what-is-an-endorheic-basin.html">endorheic basin</a>: nothing flows out, and water is lost only through evaporation. Since dissolved minerals stick around when water is evaporated, the lake is as salty as the ocean – in some places considerably saltier. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, some decades ago Poopó was home to large communities of plants and animals and was a source of resources for the region’s inhabitants. Nowadays, the situation is drastically different. Water levels have declined over the past two decades, and eventually the lake <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/87363/bolivias-lake-poopo-disappears">dried out entirely</a> at the end of 2015 after the extreme weather phenomenon of El Niño.</p>
<figure> <img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/d8WznwFJnJpNF3CmqX/giphy.gif"><figcaption>The disappearance of Lake Poopó.</figcaption></figure>
<p>This was ecological devastation. Many of the lake’s 200 or so animal species disappeared, including reptiles, mammals, birds – it hosts a huge community of flamingos – and of course fish. There was also an exodus of rural people to the nearest big cities. Worst affected of all are the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/04/the-ecological-catastrophe-that-turned-a-vast-bolivian-lake-to-a-salt-desert">Urus-Muratos</a>, an indigenous community whose entire way of life was based around fishing Lake Poopó. </p>
<p>Throughout Lake Poopó’s history, there have been several <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1623/hysj.51.1.98?needAccess=true">periods when water levels were very low</a> but the lake used to recover by itself thanks to the rainy season and water from its main tributary the Desaguadero River, which itself drains Lake Titicaca and flows into the slightly lower altitude Poopó.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377759/original/file-20210108-21-tlxlsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A river winds through a plateau" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377759/original/file-20210108-21-tlxlsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377759/original/file-20210108-21-tlxlsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377759/original/file-20210108-21-tlxlsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377759/original/file-20210108-21-tlxlsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377759/original/file-20210108-21-tlxlsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377759/original/file-20210108-21-tlxlsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377759/original/file-20210108-21-tlxlsp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The high altitude Desaguadero River.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stefan Haider / shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But during the past few decades, much of the Desaguadero was diverted for irrigation, so there was less water left to top up the lake. As Poopó is <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Bathymetry-of-Lake-Poopo-a-inclined-view-b-viewed-from-top_fig7_276042539">unusually shallow</a>, mostly just a few metres deep, relatively small changes in overall water volume make a big difference to its surface area. Though the lake has partially recovered due to above-average precipitation in the years since 2015, the situation is still dire.</p>
<p>In our <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/12/1/73">most recent study</a>, we analysed satellite data from the Lake Poopó catchment area over the past two decades and found that more water has been gained through precipitation than has been lost through evaporation. This points to poor management of the water resources in the area, rather than climatic variability, as the principle cause of the lake drying up. </p>
<p>This is not to minimise the role of climate variability. In a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022169420309458">separate study</a>, we looked at changes in rainfall patterns and how they affected Lake Poopó. We found that, as time goes by, the rainy season is getting shorter but more intense. This will is amplifying the cycle of water storage in the lake, with the lake holding less water at the end of the dry season and more at the end of the wet one. It will become even more necessary to regulate resources, for instance by storing water during the wet season to use when it is dry.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378046/original/file-20210111-19-v4igs1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Dried shore, boats on lake, hills in distance." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378046/original/file-20210111-19-v4igs1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378046/original/file-20210111-19-v4igs1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378046/original/file-20210111-19-v4igs1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378046/original/file-20210111-19-v4igs1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378046/original/file-20210111-19-v4igs1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378046/original/file-20210111-19-v4igs1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/378046/original/file-20210111-19-v4igs1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fishing boats on Lake Poopó back in 2006.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fishing_boat_Lake_Poopo.jpg">Lovisa Selander / wiki</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We found the highest increases in water losses took place in the area around the city of Oruro, which lies to the north of the lake. This is an area with lots of human activity, urban growth, new highways, and where river water has been used for mining and agriculture. Bolivia is the biggest producer of quinoa in the world and the crop increased by 45.5% from 1980 to 2011. As quinoa became more popular around the world over the past decade, production increased a further <a href="https://www.ine.gob.bo/index.php/estadisticas-economicas/agropecuaria/agricultura-cuadros-estadisticos">60% in just five years</a> to meet global demand.</p>
<p>This all highlights how vulnerable a place such as Lake Poopó can be when relationships between land, human politics and cycles of water and people <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0016718518300861">break apart</a>. The ecological disaster is a consequence of not only natural factors but also human activities – but at least this is one reason there is still hope we can reverse the problem.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/152776/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Juan Torres-Battló receives funding from the University of Surrey. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span><a href="mailto:b.marti-cardona@surrey.ac.uk">b.marti-cardona@surrey.ac.uk</a> receives funding from University of Surrey, UKRI. </span></em></p>
It’s an ecological disaster, but my research shows we should not lose hope.
Juan Torres-Batlló, PhD Candidate, University of Surrey
Belen Marti-Cardona, Lecturer in Earth Observation and Hydrology, University of Surrey
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/152058
2021-01-04T17:07:21Z
2021-01-04T17:07:21Z
The recent appearance of unexplained monoliths offers connections to the ancient past
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375540/original/file-20201216-19-b7egs2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C17%2C5955%2C3979&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The head of a monumental stone statue from Tiwanaku, Bolivia.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In November, news outlets reported the puzzling appearance of several peculiar, highly polished <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/monoliths-around-the-world-2020-b1770335.html">metal monoliths in remote landscapes</a> around the world. </p>
<p>Some, naturally, <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/12/15/monoliths-crop-circles-does-hint-alien-communication-still-prove/">blamed aliens</a>. Others saw similarities with Stanley Kubrick’s <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/2020/11/25/monolith-how-utahs-compares-monolith-movie-2001/6420968002/">iconic metal monolith of <em>2001: A Space Odyssey</em></a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8Dsw8XBBjSA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A Global News report on the appearance and disappearance of monoliths.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As archeologists, we watched these events with some amusement. Imposing, isolated standing stones have been important in many historical cultures of the world, from <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5953/">Mongolia</a> to the British Isles. </p>
<p>Our expertise lies in the monoliths of the South American Andes: monumental, human-like figures carved of single blocks of stone that are remarkable not only in their form and style, but also <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=_ztsDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA293&dq=roddick%20janusek%20home%20powerful%20landscapes&pg=PA287#v=onepage&q&f=false">in the stories they tell</a>. </p>
<h2>The archeology of Bolivia’s monoliths</h2>
<p>The monoliths of highland Bolivia served as the focal point of public religious rituals as far back as 800 BCE and have remained a source of fascination ever since. When Inca armies conquered this area in the 15th century, they saw them as leftovers from <a href="https://utpress.utexas.edu/books/urtinp">the world’s creation</a>. </p>
<p>In the 16th century, the next set of invaders — Spanish conquistadors — were told that they were <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=eWmRDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA3&dq=tiwanaku%20spanish%20monoliths%20giants&pg=PA3#v=onepage&q&f=false">the work of giants</a>. Over the next centuries, they were dynamited to build railroads, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-74907-5_55">stolen by foreign collectors</a> and even used as <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=9aYNPBodILIC&lpg=PA296&dq=tiwanaku%20target%20practice&pg=PA296#v=onepage&q&f=false">target practice by the Bolivian army</a>.</p>
<p>Since the early 20th century, however, a number of new monoliths have come to light during excavations by Bolivian and foreign archeologists, and by local residents during the course of everyday activities such as farming fields and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00776297.2020.1830974">building houses</a>. Many dating to over 2,000 years ago, some <a href="https://static.cambridge.org/binary/version/id/urn:cambridge.org:id:binary:20160927065214384-0955:S0003598X14000325:S0003598X14000325_fig11g.jpeg">quite elaborately carved</a>, have been found <a href="http://dig.ucla.edu/node/1941">throughout the region</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375458/original/file-20201216-19-17ntt1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a man in a pit standing next to a monolith" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375458/original/file-20201216-19-17ntt1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375458/original/file-20201216-19-17ntt1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375458/original/file-20201216-19-17ntt1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375458/original/file-20201216-19-17ntt1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375458/original/file-20201216-19-17ntt1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=707&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375458/original/file-20201216-19-17ntt1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=707&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375458/original/file-20201216-19-17ntt1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=707&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This red sandstone monolith dates to the 7th century BCE, but was poking its head out of the soil before being excavated from a hilltop in 2003.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Taraco Archaeology Project)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The best known monoliths are those of the <a href="https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/567/">UNESCO site of Tiwanaku</a> in Bolivia, a place that was famous in its heyday (400-1000) for attracting pilgrims from across the Andes despite its lung-crushing setting at 3,800 metres above sea level. Many of these volcanic stone monoliths are intricately carved. The largest of these, the Bennett Monolith — <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1878905.stm">recently returned to its original site</a> — stands a staggering seven metres high. Other smaller monoliths are found scattered around the site, but also in house patios in the modern town. </p>
<h2>Animate stones</h2>
<p>The opportunity to interact with monoliths may have been the main attraction of Tiwanaku for its religious devotees. For many Indigenous Peoples of the Andes, stones and mountains are understood as <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/a-culture-of-stone">powerful beings</a> that can intervene in human lives. </p>
<p>And like the mysterious metal monoliths, the importance of the monoliths is associated with their natural environments. <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780884024156">Chemical analyses</a> confirm that the stone for Tiwanaku monoliths comes from mountains that the Aymara people see as sacred, living beings with distinct personalities. In the past, devotees likely sought to interact with these beings in their form as monoliths under altered states of consciousness through drugs, alcohol or musically induced trance. </p>
<p>The principal monoliths of Tiwanaku hold in one hand a drinking vessel — similar to a modern pilsner glass — and in the other <a href="http://dig.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/visual/sais/11.1.jpg">a flat tablet</a> for inhaling hallucinogenic snuff. Archeologists have found both types of artifacts, and even <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/05/ancient-bolivian-ritual-kit-contains-traces-of-hallucinogens/">psychotropic drugs</a>, at Tiwanaku and other sites in Bolivia, Chile and Peru.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An intricately carved monolith of a person holding an item in each hand." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375462/original/file-20201216-13-1etvzoz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375462/original/file-20201216-13-1etvzoz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375462/original/file-20201216-13-1etvzoz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375462/original/file-20201216-13-1etvzoz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375462/original/file-20201216-13-1etvzoz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375462/original/file-20201216-13-1etvzoz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375462/original/file-20201216-13-1etvzoz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1132&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Ponce monolith presenting a drinking vessel (right) and a snuff tablet (left).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(John W. Janusek). Author provided.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When <a href="https://doi.org/10.1525/ap3a.2004.14.175">Tiwanaku’s government collapsed</a> around 1000, monoliths appear to have borne the brunt of people’s anger. Many were <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=9aYNPBodILIC&lpg=PA3&vq=defaced&pg=PA297#v=onepage&q&f=false">decapitated, defaced or broken apart</a>. One broken monolith was united in the late 1970s with its other half: the 998-kilogram upper portion was found 220 kilometres away, across Lake Titicaca, and identified <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/27977708">via microscopic analysis</a>. Other monoliths survived, only to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00776297.2020.1830974">suffer under later Spanish invaders</a>, who pried off gold plating and, in some cases, inscribed them with crosses and dates, and ceremoniously buried them.</p>
<p>For many Bolivian Aymara, stone monoliths continue to live in the present. Current residents of the town near Tiwanaku have told our collaborators of monoliths coming to life at night, wandering the streets. In 2006, Evo Morales — Bolivia’s first Indigenous president — was sworn in at Tiwanaku under <a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5167202">the watchful eye of the Ponce Monolith</a>. </p>
<h2>Monoliths for this century</h2>
<p>Elsewhere, new monoliths are still being born. </p>
<p>In 2007, <a href="https://www.hoybolivia.com/Noticia.php?IdNoticia=146472">sculptor Ruben Herrera</a> signed a contract with the municipality of Guaqui to chisel a replica of the Bennett Monolith. He extracted a 20-tonne rock from a nearby hill using traditional techniques. Despite working for 20 months, he was never paid. The monolith remains in its place of production, but is now incorporated into a property wall. </p>
<p>Villagers told the press that Herrera had a sickness caused by the stone entering his body, and he could only be healed by local shamans (or yatiris). Today, people place candles and flowers at the foot of the replica, and yatiris pour grain alcohol on his work. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A carved monolith lies on its back and forms part of a wall." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375463/original/file-20201216-15-1h1824g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375463/original/file-20201216-15-1h1824g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375463/original/file-20201216-15-1h1824g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375463/original/file-20201216-15-1h1824g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375463/original/file-20201216-15-1h1824g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375463/original/file-20201216-15-1h1824g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375463/original/file-20201216-15-1h1824g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A replica of the famous Bennett Monolith now sits in a house wall.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Andrew Roddick) Author provided.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In our current moment, we are becoming ever more reliant on new and remote technologies. It seems incredible that we still find ourselves entranced by monoliths of metal and stone and the qualities of objects that seem to emerge magically out of the earth. </p>
<p>As archeologists, however, we don’t find this mystifying at all. Artifacts and art like the animate Andean monoliths possess an extraordinary power to capture our attention even as civilizations rise and fall, and remind us of our connections to the places we inhabit.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/152058/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Guengerich currently receives funding from the National Science Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Roddick does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Polished metal monoliths recently appeared in remote locations around the world. In some ways, they’re not unusual — standing stones have been important in many historical cultures of the world.
Andrew Roddick, Associate Professor of Anthropology, McMaster University
Anna Guengerich, Assistant professor, Eckerd College
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/138790
2020-12-18T13:24:11Z
2020-12-18T13:24:11Z
Llamas are having a moment in the US, but they’ve been icons in South America for millennia
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375502/original/file-20201216-17-1u06ww9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=51%2C0%2C5705%2C3800&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Llamas In a pen, Pasajes, Tarija, Bolivia.
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/llamas-in-a-pen-pasajes-tarija-bolivia-news-photo/558032007?adppopup=true">Insights/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>With their long eyelashes, banana-shaped ears, upturned mouths and stocky bodies covered with curly wool, llamas look like creatures that walked out of a Dr. Seuss story. And now they’re celebrities in the U.S. </p>
<p>Because of their gentle and docile demeanor, llamas are often favorites at petting zoos. They appear at festivals and weddings and have even been deployed as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2019/11/15/therapy-llamas-are-coming-portland-hotel-holidays-because-portland/">therapy animals</a>.</p>
<p>Llamas have also made medical news in 2020. Their immune systems produce <a href="https://www.pittwire.pitt.edu/news/llama-nanobodies-could-be-powerful-weapon-against-covid-19">nanobodies</a> – tiny antibody fragments much smaller than human antibodies – that have potential as <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2020/08/11/scientists-create-potent-anti-coronavirus-nanobody-inspired-by-llamas/">COVID-19 treatments</a>. Scientists are also testing synthetic versions of llama nanobodies as technologies for treating diseases such as <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/12/201207131303.htm">cystic fibrosis</a>.</p>
<p>But there’s much more to know about these engaging animals. In my work as a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Emily_Wakild">historian of Latin America</a>, I’ve studied their <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/ahr/rhz939">long relationship with humans</a> in their Andean mountain homelands. These interactions have shaped everything about llamas, from the length and color of their wool to their dispositions and reproductive habits. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1326928261193076738"}"></div></p>
<h2>A camel lineage</h2>
<p>Llamas are the descendants of animals known as wild <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/11186/18540211">guanaco</a>, which were domesticated in South America around 4500 B.C. Llamas and guanaco are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41437-018-0120-z">two of four</a> South American members of the <a href="https://rdcu.be/caU04">camel family</a>. The others are the <a href="http://www.conopa.org/publicaciones/the_questions_alpaca_origins.php">alpaca</a> and the <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22956/145360542">vicuña</a>, a wild species renowned for its soft wool. </p>
<p>Breeders regularly pair female llamas with male alpacas to create offspring endowed with fine, valuable alpaca wool. Male llamas are bred with female alpacas to increase the wool’s weight. </p>
<p>These animals were important to the economy of the Incan Empire, which flourished in Peru from <a href="https://www.ancient.eu/Inca_Civilization/#:%7E:text=The%20Inca%20civilization%20flourished%20in,the%20world%20at%20that%20time.">about A.D. 1400 to 1533</a>. Incas used their wool to make fabric, which doubled as a form of currency. The animals also provided meat and <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/how-inca-empire-engineered-road-would-endure-centuries-180955709/">carried goods</a> over some 25,000 miles of Inca roads. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375506/original/file-20201216-15-tnaf3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Small gold llama figurine, Inca, about AD 1500." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375506/original/file-20201216-15-tnaf3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/375506/original/file-20201216-15-tnaf3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375506/original/file-20201216-15-tnaf3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375506/original/file-20201216-15-tnaf3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375506/original/file-20201216-15-tnaf3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=695&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375506/original/file-20201216-15-tnaf3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=695&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/375506/original/file-20201216-15-tnaf3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=695&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Miniature gold llama figurine, Peru, Inca, about A.D. 1500, British Museum.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Miniature_gold_llama_figurine.jpg">BabelStone/Wikipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But the Incas didn’t view llamas and their kin just as livestock. Rather, they were deeply woven into the region’s culture and spiritual beliefs. Incas and pre-Incas <a href="https://wwwtest.uwpress.wisc.edu/books/0709.htm">sacrificed llamas and alpacas</a> in religious ceremonies to promote fertility in their herds. They served the animals’ meat at <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/972232">state-sponsored celebrations</a> to honor rain gods. And they <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/inka-llama-offerings-from-tambo-viejo-acari-valley-peru/877DCB73D4D804EFA2574443188A79C1">sacrificed and buried</a> these creatures on newly conquered lands to legitimize Inca presence. </p>
<p>[<em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=experts">Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter and get expert takes on today’s news, every day.</a></em>]</p>
<h2>The finest wool</h2>
<p>Archaeologists have <a href="https://www.discovermagazine.com/planet-earth/secrets-of-the-alpaca-mummies">unearthed mummified alpacas and llamas</a> in Peru that were more than a thousand years old. The animals had been sacrificed and buried with beads, wool and silver pieces. </p>
<p>Analysis of these perfectly preserved specimens revealed their handlers’ masterful selective breeding techniques. These animals had soft, wispy, quickly growing wool – finer than today’s best cashmere. So what happened to the genes that produced such high-quality wool? </p>
<p>They disappeared. </p>
<p>After the Spanish took control of the Inca empire in the 1540s, Spanish rulers viewed llamas and alpacas as <a href="https://www.pbs.org/gunsgermssteel/variables/llamas.html">beasts of burden or sources of meat</a>. Many of the animals died from diseases introduced by the Spaniards’ imported sheep and cattle. It took nearly 300 years for Peruvians to achieve independence, and longer for indigenous Andean peoples’ population and traditional husbandry practices to resume. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369475/original/file-20201116-23-eyce7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369475/original/file-20201116-23-eyce7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369475/original/file-20201116-23-eyce7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369475/original/file-20201116-23-eyce7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369475/original/file-20201116-23-eyce7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369475/original/file-20201116-23-eyce7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369475/original/file-20201116-23-eyce7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/369475/original/file-20201116-23-eyce7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Indigenous people still adorn their llamas, a tradition that dates back millennia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/tydence/27331924550/in/photolist-HDefWs-6as3Dj-6hwYce-7S8V8Y-dtvatQ-7AXR6R-6gNdk3-8zEQ9F-w7F7XS-kZbM2-HkqbZ-2cxHb7W-5cGTur-stRQN-775zbd-8GXab-4viMWD-oPEsPg-jdAGY2-znvMt-7psAH-dy6jGp-cUgsTq-7FVs9-77cRHA-5MGER6-pMk95V-oPFdou-djCF9f-9TiSBo-9CFFYT-dybSW5-8KYnFy-cUdSPh-HS1bZV-5tRBoV-85WCLe-yCP6H5-L7iG1-pwvrHC-5MwxYM-FRPWa3-is71Yo-5YMiCZ-5cGUEK-q63H4d-7B6N6H-j4BXuS-5cMc27-83nBUz">Tydence Davis/Flicker</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Llama dressing</h2>
<p>Today it’s not unusual to see llamas dressed in colorful costumes in public squares in Andean towns. This is a longstanding cultural tradition, symbolizing power, respect and reverence among <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/infographic/2016/11/22/cuanto-conoces-a-los-indigenas-de-america-latina">indigenous people</a>, especially in Bolivia and Peru. For example, the <a href="http://www.myperu.org/traditional_dances_qhapaq_qolla.html">Qhapaq Qolla dance</a>, celebrated each July in Paucartambo, Peru, recognizes llamas and their herders as powerful parts of an Andean “cosmovision,” or understanding of the universe.</p>
<p>Andean cultures possess a <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/earth-beings">holistic worldview</a> that encompasses humans, plants, animals, the land, rivers, mountains, rain, snow and, of course, llamas. Many Andeans associate animals with supernatural beings. Herders in Peru’s Ayacucho region believe that their llama and alpaca flocks do not belong to them – they’re the property of the “<a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315418537">wamani</a>” – spirits that reside within waters or mountain peaks. </p>
<p>They believe that llamas act as an essential conduit between people and the wamani, and herders maintain that connection through ritual obligations that often involve the animals. They may adorn llamas, dress up the animals or “marry” llamas to each other on a wedding bed. Docile animals that cooperate in these ceremonies are kept around, reproducing longer and creating future generations with easygoing temperaments.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BagzzcbmXQw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Llamas are an integral part of the yearly Qhapaq Qolla dance in Peru.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The ‘modern’ llama</h2>
<p>Llamas <a href="http://www.reaktionbooks.co.uk/display.asp?ISB=9781780237381">first arrived</a> in the U.S. in the 19th century, imported for zoos and menageries. In 1914 the mayor of Buenos Aires famously <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1914/03/16/archives/llama-for-bryan-ordered-deported-with-five-others-from-argentina-it.html">gave one to then-Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan</a>, though it wasn’t allowed into the country because it was infected with foot and mouth disease. </p>
<p>By the 1980s llamas had become staple attractions at petting zoos, fairs, dude ranches and private parties. Ranchers bought them to chase coyotes away from their sheep. Back-country guides loaded llamas onto jet boats and herded them into Cessnas for “<a href="https://wildernessridgetrailllamas.com/">llama packing</a>” adventures and hunting excursions.</p>
<p>Investors who bought llamas and alpacas as livestock didn’t fare so well, as there wasn’t much of a U.S. market for their milk or wool. Lobbyists managed to help the industry in the early 2000s by including alpacas in Section 179 deductions intended to grow small businesses. These measures, which were <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/04/12/a-u-s-senator-is-in-a-showdown-with-people-who-own-alpacas/">extended in 2010 and remain in force</a>, treat the purchase of alpacas like tractors or other new equipment. </p>
<p>Regardless of these incentives and llamas’ cultural popularity, llama ownership in the U.S. has <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/llamas-disappearing-across-united-states-n994181">declined</a> from nearly 145,000 animals in 2002 to under 40,000 in 2017. While llamas and alpacas can be found in every state, their populations are largely concentrated in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/02/27/why-there-are-so-many-llamas-in-the-united-states/">Arizona and the Pacific Northwest</a>. </p>
<p>Andean cultures have long fostered relationships of reciprocity between humans and other animals. As medical findings about llama nanobodies suggest, that outlook may be wiser than indigenous South Americans could likely have imagined.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138790/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emily Wakild has received funding from the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Fulbright foundation. </span></em></p>
Llama toys, therapy lamas, petting zoo llamas: llamas are hot in the US, surpassing unicorns in popularity, but their relationship with South American people stretches over 7,000 years.
Emily Wakild, Professor of History and Director, Environmental Studies Program, Boise State University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/148901
2020-10-28T18:04:29Z
2020-10-28T18:04:29Z
People’s bodies now run cooler than ‘normal’ – even in the Bolivian Amazon
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/365866/original/file-20201027-15-1w7gjj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=51%2C111%2C1377%2C959&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tsimane children look out over the Maniqui River, in the Bolivian Amazon.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michael Gurven</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Feeling under the weather? Chances are you or your doctor will grab a thermometer, take your temperature and hope for the familiar 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius) everyone recognizes as “normal.” </p>
<p>But what is normal and why does it matter? Despite the fixation on 98.6 F, clinicians recognize that there is no single universal “normal” body temperature for everyone at all times. Throughout the day, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.1992.03490120092034">your body temperature can vary</a> by as much as 1 F, at its lowest in the early morning and highest in the late afternoon. It changes when you are sick, goes up during and after exercise, varies across the menstrual cycle and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.j5468">varies between individuals</a>. It also tends to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/ofid/ofz032">decline with age</a>. </p>
<p>In other words, body temperature is an indicator of what’s going on within your body, like a metabolic thermostat. </p>
<p>An intriguing study from 2020 found that normal body temperature is about 97.5 F in Americans – at least those in Palo Alto, California, where the researchers took hundreds of thousands of temperature readings. That meant that in the U.S., <a href="https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.49555">normal body temperature has been dropping over the past 150 years</a>. People run cooler today than they did two centuries ago. </p>
<p>The 98.6 F standard for “<a href="https://theconversation.com/normal-human-body-temperature-is-a-range-around-98-6-f-a-physiologist-explains-why-139270">normal body temperature</a>” was first established by the German physician Carl Wunderlich in 1867 after studying 25,000 people in Leipzig. But anecdotally, lower body temperatures in healthy adults have been widely reported. And a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.j5468">study in 2017 among 35,000 adults</a> in the U.K. observed a lower average body temperature of 97.9 F.</p>
<p>What might cause these subtle but important changes? And are these provocative hints of changes in human physiology occurring only in urban, industrialized settings like the U.S. and U.K.? </p>
<p>One leading hypothesis is that thanks to improved hygiene, sanitation and medical treatment, people today experience fewer of the infections that would trigger higher body temperatures. <a href="https://advances.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abc6599">In our study</a>, we were able to test that idea directly in a unique setting: among Tsimane horticulturalist-foragers of the Bolivian Amazon.</p>
<h2>Tracking temperature in the Tsimane</h2>
<p>The Tsimane live in a remote area with little access to modern amenities, and we know from firsthand experience that infections are common – from the common cold to intestinal worms to tuberculosis. Having worked with the Tsimane studying a variety of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21515">topics related to health and aging for two decades</a>, our team had a rich opportunity to observe whether body temperatures were similarly declining in this tropical environment where infections are common.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/365863/original/file-20201027-19-eb3gw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="medical workers interview a Tsimane woman" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/365863/original/file-20201027-19-eb3gw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/365863/original/file-20201027-19-eb3gw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365863/original/file-20201027-19-eb3gw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365863/original/file-20201027-19-eb3gw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365863/original/file-20201027-19-eb3gw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365863/original/file-20201027-19-eb3gw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365863/original/file-20201027-19-eb3gw2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tsimane Health and Life History Project physician Karen Arce Ardaya and research assistant Juana Bani Cuata interview a Tsimane woman about recent illnesses during a medical checkup in 2007.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michael Gurven</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As part of our ongoing <a href="http://tsimane.anth.ucsb.edu">Tsimane Health and Life History Project</a>, a mobile team of Bolivian physicians and researchers has been traveling from village to village monitoring health while treating patients. They record clinical diagnoses and lab measures of infection at each patient visit.</p>
<p>When we first started working in Bolivia back in 2002, Tsimane body temperatures were similar to what was found in Germany <a href="https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.49555">and the U.S.</a> two centuries ago: averaging at 98.6 F. But over a relatively short period of 16 years, we observed a rapid decline in average body temperature in this population. The decline is steep: 0.09 F per year. Today Tsimane body temperatures are roughly 97.7 F.</p>
<p>In other words, in less than two decades we’re seeing about the same level of decline as that observed in the U.S. over approximately two centuries. We can say this with confidence, as our analysis is based on a large sample (about 18,000 observations of almost 5,500 adults), and we statistically control for multiple other factors that might affect body temperature, like ambient temperature and body mass. </p>
<p>More importantly, while having certain ailments, like respiratory or skin infections, was associated with higher body temperature during a medical visit, adjusting for these infections did not account for the steep decline in body temperature over time. </p>
<h2>A clear drop, unclear why</h2>
<p>So why have body temperatures decreased over time, both for Americans and Tsimane? Fortunately, we had data available from our long-term research in Bolivia to address some possibilities.</p>
<p>For example, declines might be due to the rise of modern health care and lower rates of lingering mild infections now compared to in the past. But while it may be the case that <a href="https://www.prb.org/bolivia/">health has generally improved in Bolivia</a> over the past two decades, infections are still widespread among the Tsimane. Our results suggest that reduced incidence of infection alone can’t explain the observed body temperature declines. </p>
<p>It could be that people are in better condition, and so their bodies don’t need to work as hard to fight infection. Or more access to antibiotics and other treatments means that duration of infection is lower now than in the past. It’s also possible that greater use of certain medications like ibuprofen or aspirin may reduce inflammation and be reflected in the lower temperatures. However, while lab measures of system-wide inflammation were associated with higher body temperature during patient visits, accounting for this in our analyses did not affect our estimate of the amount that body temperature declined per year.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/365865/original/file-20201027-21-xltuuf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Tsimane man and boys after fishing." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/365865/original/file-20201027-21-xltuuf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/365865/original/file-20201027-21-xltuuf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365865/original/file-20201027-21-xltuuf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365865/original/file-20201027-21-xltuuf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365865/original/file-20201027-21-xltuuf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365865/original/file-20201027-21-xltuuf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365865/original/file-20201027-21-xltuuf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Tsimane man and his sons return with a productive harvest of vonej fish.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michael Gurven</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another possible explanation for the historical declines in body temperature is that bodies now don’t need to work as much to regulate internal body temperature because of air conditioners in the summer and heaters in the winter. While Tsimane body temperatures do change with the time of year and weather patterns, the Tsimane don’t use any advanced technology to regulate their body temperature. They do, however, have more access to clothes and blankets than they previously did.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>Understanding why body temperatures are declining remains an open question for scientists to explore. Whatever the reason, though, we can confirm that body temperatures are below 98.6 F outside of places like the U.S. and U.K. – even in rural and tropical areas with minimal public health infrastructure, where infections are still the major killers.</p>
<p>We hope that our findings inspire more studies about how improved conditions might lower body temperature. As it’s fast and easy to measure, body temperature might one day prove to be a simple but useful indicator, like life expectancy, that provides new insight into population health.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/148901/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Gurven receives funding from National Institutes of Health / National Institute on Aging. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Kraft does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
‘Normal’ body temperature has declined in urban, industrialized settings like the US and UK. Anthropologists find the trend extends to Indigenous people in the Bolivian Amazon – but why?
Michael Gurven, Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara
Thomas Kraft, Postdoctoral Scholar in Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/148355
2020-10-19T13:54:30Z
2020-10-19T13:54:30Z
Bolivia elections: socialist Luis Arce celebrates projected victory amid democratic fragility
<p>Luis Arce, former finance minister in the government of Evo Morales, celebrated with his campaign team in La Paz in the early hours of October 19 as <a href="https://www.la-razon.com/nacional/2020/10/19/segun-datos-de-boca-de-urna-luis-arce-del-mas-gana-en-primera-vuelta-con-524/">an exit poll</a> forecast his victory in the country’s presidential elections. Although the official results will not be announced before October 25, all signs point to Arce’s Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) <a href="https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-bolivia-election/bolivia-polls-start-to-close-in-crossroads-election-as-socialists-eye-return-idUKKBN27407Q?il=0">winning the presidential elections</a> in the first round. </p>
<p>Arce, one of the key architects of economic policy during the Morales presidency, succeeded the former socialist leader – who remains in exile in Argentina – as the leader of the MAS. Although Arce does not come from any of the social movements at the base of the party, he is seen as a leader capable of bringing the party, and country more generally, together.</p>
<p>Despite some heated discussions around polling stations, election day in Bolivia proceeded without a hitch, with many in the country breathing a collective sigh of relief. Nevertheless, Bolivian democracy still faces a number of challenges.</p>
<p>Almost exactly a year has passed since the 2019 vote, which was marred by accusations that the incumbent Morales had committed electoral fraud. After 14 years in power, he was finally <a href="https://theconversation.com/bolivia-in-crisis-how-evo-morales-was-forced-out-126859">forced from office</a> by a <em>coup d’état</em> in early November 2019, with state-perpetrated violence after the putsch leaving <a href="https://woborders.blog/2020/01/04/2019-crisis-deaths-analysis/">scores dead</a>. </p>
<p>There is still much we do not know about those dark days, while many of the issues raised by the 2019 political crisis remain unresolved. The strength of liberal democracy remains weak and the country’s political arena split between those that believe Morales and the MAS were ousted by a coup and those that believe the 2019 elections were fraudulent. </p>
<p>COVID-19 has poured fuel on the fire, as the interim government of Jeanine Añez consistently used the pandemic as a means to consolidate her own political project and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bolivia-politics-election-idUSKCN24O2PY">delay elections</a>. </p>
<h2>Liberal democracy in Bolivia</h2>
<p>Bolivia’s liberal democratic institutions <a href="https://www.viewpointmag.com/2016/02/18/the-latest-turn-of-bolivias-political-merry-go-round-the-constitutional-referendum/">do not match up</a> to the complex political reality at the best of times, but changes in the past decade to the body responsible for overseeing elections further eroded public trust in democracy. Morales’s political opponents believed the executive branch of government had undue influence over Bolivia’s new Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE). These suspicions were, in their minds, confirmed in 2017 when <a href="https://www.hispantv.com/noticias/bolivia/360967/justicia-permite-repostulacion-evo-morales-presidenciales">the TSE accepted</a> Morales’s candidacy for the 2019 elections despite limits on constitutional terms which should have precluded him. </p>
<p>Morales was allowed to run for a fourth term on the grounds of his human rights to democracy, but the price was high. His political opponents mounted a sustained attack on the TSE and painted the 2019 elections as fraudulent in the months leading up the ballot. This was so effective that by September 2019, <a href="https://www.paginasiete.bo/nacional/2019/9/29/segun-la-encuesta-68-cree-que-habra-fraude-electoral-232481.html">68% of Bolivians</a> polled believed there would be fraud in the upcoming elections. </p>
<p>For its part, the TSE did its best to lose what credibility it had left. In October 2019, on the night of the elections, the quick count system known as TREP was stopped unexpectedly. The TSE gave no fewer than four conflicting explanations, angering protesters already suspecting fraud and leading to mass violence in cities across the country. </p>
<p>The Organisation of American States then waded into the fray, <a href="https://www.oas.org/en/media_center/press_release.asp?sCodigo=E-085/19">publicly voicing</a> its concern about electoral fraud in a report that has since received <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/07/world/americas/bolivia-election-evo-morales.html">substantial criticism</a>. The vice president of the TSE, Antonio Costas, then <a href="https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/4493-the-eighteenth-brumaire-of-macho-camacho-jeffery-r-webber-with-forrest-hylton-on-the-coup-in-bolivia">resigned</a>, leaving its reputation in tatters. </p>
<p>The TSE has fared little better in 2020 under its new president, Salvador Romero. Persistent suspicions of fraud led <a href="https://www.la-razon.com/nacional/2020/10/18/el-trep-la-otra-suspension-que-genero-la-anulacion-de-las-elecciones-de-2019/">Romero to cancel</a> the new quick count system, the DIREPRE, a day before the October 18 elections. Until the official count is in, nothing can be taken for granted.</p>
<h2>Competing narratives of crisis</h2>
<p>The streets are still one of the principal sites of Bolivian politics. Violence marked the run up to the 2020 elections, leading <a href="https://www.la-razon.com/nacional/2020/10/07/naciones-unidas-la-ue-y-la-iglesia-piden-a-los-partidos-contribuir-al-clima-de-paz-y-tolerancia/">international observers</a> to call for calm. </p>
<p>Following the events of October 2019, the country polarised around two competing narratives: <em>coup d’état</em> or electoral fraud. These narratives were staked out in the streets. </p>
<p>On the one hand, fraud was initially denounced in massive <em>cabildos</em> (public assemblies) in the weeks preceding the 2019 vote and later through the burning of electoral counting houses. More recently, <a href="https://correodelsur.com/seguridad/20201006_resistencia-cochala-intensifica-protestas-en-sucre-fiscalia-ratifica-que-lanchipa-no-renunciara.html">right-wing motorcycle gangs</a> took to the streets in the cities of Cochabamba and Sucre to defend against the return of the MAS. </p>
<p>On the other hand, protests against the coup in El Alto, a majority indigenous city, and Sacaba, the stronghold of the coca growers’ union and the MAS, were met with <a href="https://woborders.blog/2020/01/04/2019-crisis-deaths-analysis/">brutal state violence</a>. Human Rights Watch has accused the Añez government of <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2020/09/11/justice-weapon/political-persecution-bolivia">wielding the justice system “as a weapon”</a> against these protesters. </p>
<p>Thankfully, the elections have proceeded peacefully so far. But Bolivia is like a powder keg and the stakes remain high. </p>
<p>As the pandemic rages and Latin America remains in the grip of economic decline, Arce’s new administration will face an uphill struggle . The October 18 vote is not the last word and the powerful interests behind the toppling of Morales remain in the shadows. Bolivian society continues to be divided and its liberal democracy fragile.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/148355/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Angus McNelly's research is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.</span></em></p>
Exit polls suggest Luis Arce, a former finance minister under Evo Morales, has won Bolivia’s presidential elections.
Angus McNelly, Honorary Research Fellow in Latin American Politics/International Development, Queen Mary University of London
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/144386
2020-09-07T13:15:14Z
2020-09-07T13:15:14Z
Bolivia reverses years of progress with new draconian cocaine policy, supported by the EU
<p>Bolivia has seen <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/bolivia-protest-blockade-anez-evo-coronavirus/2020/08/11/7ffceb50-db48-11ea-809e-b8be57ba616e_story.html">widespread public protests</a> in recent months against the interim government, led by Jeanine Añez, which has twice postponed elections due to coronavirus. Her government has repeatedly violated its mandate by passing new laws and persecuting its political opponents, including <a href="https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-53112041">coca growers</a> in the Chapare region east of Cochabamba, who <a href="https://ain-bolivia.org">we collaborate</a> with on <a href="https://research.reading.ac.uk/coca-cocaine-bolivia-peru/">research projects</a>.</p>
<p>Bolivia is the world’s third largest producer of cocaine, a drug manufactured from coca leaves, which is central to Andean culture. Under the previous government of Evo Morales, coca growers benefited from <a href="https://www.un-ilibrary.org/drugs-crime-and-terrorism/bulletin-on-narcotics-volume-lxi-2017_98360021-en">a programme</a> that allowed them to cultivate a plot of coca up to 2,500 square metres, and actively engaged farmers to self-police to respect these limits.</p>
<p>This policy, which emphasised community participation and respect for human rights, was lauded and funded by the <a href="http://www.oecd.org/derec/ec/Evaluation-cooperation-ec-bolivia-annexes-en.pdf">European Union</a>. Internationally recognised in the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/14/opinion/how-bolivia-fights-the-drug-scourge.html">mainstream press</a> as <a href="http://www.oas.org/documents/eng/press/Introduction_and_Analytical_Report.pdf">best practice</a> in this area, Bolivia’s community coca control programme has long served as an example for cooperation <a href="https://research.reading.ac.uk/coca-cocaine-bolivia-peru/wp-content/uploads/swho%20did%20she%20present%20it%20to%20if%20not%20the%20public,%20officials?ites/127/Unorganized/Turning-over-a-new-leaf.pdf">in other parts</a> of the world.</p>
<p>But this approach was recently reversed. One former EU official in the country confidentially told us that this represents a “significant setback”. Yet the EU has been helping to make this happen. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Three women and two children read green leaflets." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354662/original/file-20200825-16-3sfplw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354662/original/file-20200825-16-3sfplw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354662/original/file-20200825-16-3sfplw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354662/original/file-20200825-16-3sfplw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354662/original/file-20200825-16-3sfplw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354662/original/file-20200825-16-3sfplw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354662/original/file-20200825-16-3sfplw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Family of Chapare coca growers learn about the EU-supported community coca control initiative in 2011.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Proyecto de Apoyo de Control Social</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In February, the EU <a href="https://www.paginasiete.bo/nacional/2020/2/17/union-europea-dona-27-millones-de-euros-bolivia-246943.html">promised to</a> provide €10 million (£9 million) in drug control funding for Bolivia’s interim government, and support its new “drug free” five-year strategy. On August 16, the Bolivian press reported that the EU representative to Bolivia, Joerg Schreiber, <a href="https://twitter.com/AsuntoCentral/status/1295002646072496128">had affirmed</a> this commitment. </p>
<p>This sparked criticism from former interim president and ex-head of the supreme court <a href="https://twitter.com/erveltze/status/1295041656811642880?s=20">Eduardo Rodríquez</a> and former president <a href="https://twitter.com/evoespueblo/status/1295690983552749575?s=21">Evo Morales</a>. Support of Bolivia’s new drug control strategy stands in stark contrast to the EU’s long-term focus in Bolivia and its internal policy guidelines.</p>
<h2>An interim government</h2>
<p>Jeanine Añez came to power without a <a href="https://www.wola.org/2019/11/bolivia-crisis-evo-morales-peaceful-path-forward/">constitutional mandate</a> on November 12 2019, two days after Morales was forced to resign at the military’s “request” after a police mutiny. The next day, the military unleashed lethal force against demonstrators protesting Morales’ ousting.</p>
<p>Human rights violations, arbitrary detentions and threats against human rights defenders soon followed, as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25621&LangID=E">Michelle Bachelet</a> has <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/SP/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=26184&LangID=Si">frequently noted</a>. Añez’s interim government <a href="https://www.paginasiete.bo/nacional/2020/2/28/gobierno-rechaza-informe-de-bachelet-senala-que-es-un-ataque-la-democracia-248072.html">has rejected</a> Bachelet’s statements as “subjective, erroneous assumptions” and an “attack against democracy expressed by the people”.</p>
<p>The post-election crisis last year resulted in <a href="https://hrp.law.harvard.edu/press-releases/black-november-report/">at least</a> 35 deaths and 800 injuries, most of them during army and police operations. Dozens of former government officials and people related to the former administration have been persecuted.</p>
<p>Bolivia’s Interior Minister, Arturo Murillo, continuously makes troubling public statements. He has, for example, <a href="https://www.paginasiete.bo/seguridad/2020/1/23/ministro-de-gobierno-la-peor-lacra-de-la-humanidad-es-el-drogadicto-244330.html">referred to</a> people with drug dependency as “the worst scourge of humanity”. </p>
<p>He joined the rest of Añez’s cabinet in signing a law guaranteeing impunity for police and military actions that led to the death of <a href="http://hrp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Black-November-English-Final_Accessible.pdf">ten coca growers</a> and the wounding of over 100 others on November 15. A subsequent military and police attack on unarmed protesters left <a href="http://hrp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Black-November-English-Final_Accessible.pdf">11 dead</a> and scores injured.</p>
<h2>Collaboration or conflict</h2>
<p>The “<a href="https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/publications/habeas-coca-bolivia-s-community-coca-control">community coca control</a>” programme adopted during the Morales years (2006-2019) focused on working with coca leaf growers to shrink crops destined for illegal markets, while increasing human rights, alternatives to coca and permitting traditional uses of the plant. This successfully reduced illegal production, and was <a href="https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/librarypage/hiv-aids/development-dimensions-of-drug-policy.html">hailed by</a> the UN Development Programme as an innovative approach superior to decades of forced eradication.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man wearing a suit gives a speech above a crowded square." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354668/original/file-20200825-21-o44bfk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354668/original/file-20200825-21-o44bfk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354668/original/file-20200825-21-o44bfk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354668/original/file-20200825-21-o44bfk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354668/original/file-20200825-21-o44bfk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=670&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354668/original/file-20200825-21-o44bfk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=670&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354668/original/file-20200825-21-o44bfk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=670&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">EU Official Nicolaus Hansmann inaugurates the Community Coca Control Office in June 2011.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Programa de Apoyo de Control Social</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Añez government quickly drafted its own <a href="https://comunicacion.gob.bo/?q=20200228/28857">drug strategy</a>, “Together and Drug Free,” in coordination with the EU technical experts and DITISA, an EU-funded consulting firm. The strategy was later later rebranded as “<a href="http://ain-bolivia.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Estrategia.Final_.3.06-GD-FINAL.pdf">Bolivia: Drug Free</a>” after the original name provoked outcry that the EU was granting legitimacy to Añez’s government by incorporating her party’s name (Together) in the title.</p>
<p>It presents a hardline and often muddled stance on drug use, interdiction and supply control issues, demonstrating little knowledge of existing Bolivian policy or national dynamics. Its authors copied text from the US international narcotics control <a href="http://ain-bolivia.org/wp-content/uploads/INCSR-Bolivia-2020-VOL-I.pdf">strategy report</a> and press articles word for word and dismissed the previous strategy as “permissive and impractical” and “merely a political discourse”.</p>
<p>Aggressive statements from key high-ranking Añez officials characterise Chapare coca farmers as “<a href="https://eldeber.com.bo/pais/luis-fernando-lopez-el-chapare-es-un-micro-estado-narcoterrorista-independiente_163203">narco-terrorists</a>”. Ongoing threats of intervention against growers by Bolivia’s security forces fly in the face of longstanding EU policy in the country. </p>
<p>Añez <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=503257990617701&ref=watch_permalink">announced</a> the plan on state television only 11 days after the EU announced funding, but the full text wasn’t made available to the public until three months later. “This lack of transparency is problematic,” a Bolivian drug policy expert who asked to not be identified told us. “Neither government nor the EU has provided information about the action plan that has to accompany all EU-funded strategies”.</p>
<p>The strategy also fails to comply with EU <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/echo/files/policies/sectoral/Gender-AgeMarker_liens_bd_2014.pdf">gender and generational</a> funding requirements. Although the policy cites a focus on “vulnerable populations”, it makes no reference to accompanying integrated development with direct involvement of the project beneficiaries, another <a href="https://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/30727/drugs-strategy-2013_content.pdf">EU requisite</a>.</p>
<h2>Loss of trust</h2>
<p>The lack of consultation as well as the Añez government’s suspension of existing development projects has eroded the high level of trust in government that <a href="https://www.stabilityjournal.org/articles/10.5334/sta.440/">previously existed</a> in coca-growing regions.</p>
<p>“Before, we worked closely with the European Union to control coca so as to stay within the legal limits,” a coca-grower leader who didn’t want his name used because of fear of government retaliation told us. “We want to keep doing this, but everything has broken down with this de facto government. They don’t communicate or coordinate with us at all.”</p>
<p>The EU had <a href="https://research.reading.ac.uk/coca-cocaine-bolivia-peru/wp-content/uploads/sites/127/Unorganized/Turning-over-a-new-leaf.pdf">actively explored</a> adapting the previous policy to neighbouring countries. But now, the lessons from the community-based experience are quickly being lost. “It would be a disaster to lose all the progress Bolivia made on coca control,” lamented one drug policy expert. “The technical focus has gone down the drain.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144386/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kathryn Ledebur is the director of the Andean Information Network, a human rights organisation that works on coca, development and human rights issues. . She receives funding from the Global Challenges Research Fund for research and on coca policy in Peru and Bolivia and from the Open Society Foundation for coca, development and drug policy in Bolivia. She has worked as a senior expert consultant on coca, development, drug policy and gender for the European Union and research organisations.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Linda Farthing receives funding from the University of Reading Global Challenges Research Fund. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Grisaffi receives funding from Global Challenges Research Fund. He has previously been a fellow of the Leverhulme Trust and the OSF/SSRC's Drugs, Security and Democracy Program. </span></em></p>
Bolivia’s drug control strategy was once internationally applauded.
Kathryn Ledebur, Visiting Fellow in Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science, University of Reading
Linda Farthing, Visiting Fellow in Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science, University of Reading
Thomas Grisaffi, Lecturer in Human Geography, University of Reading
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/139160
2020-05-30T08:08:49Z
2020-05-30T08:08:49Z
Peru’s war on drugs is an abject failure – here’s what it can learn from Bolivia
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337658/original/file-20200526-106823-69mbkl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Drying coca, Chapare, Bolivia </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Thomas Grisaffi</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Peruvian government forces began eradicating coca leaf, the raw material for cocaine, without warning in a remote corner of Peru’s principal coca growing region last November, they were met by growers armed with sticks and rocks. The security forces backing the eradication brigades responded by firing bullets and tear gas, <a href="https://www.academia.edu/40912151/Bullets_in_Lieu_of_Dialogue_Coca_Eradication_in_Perus_Central_Jungle">seriously wounding five farmers</a>.</p>
<p>“We have an abusive government. They hit hard at the coca growers … They shot at us with tear gas, with high calibre weapons,” community leader Rúben Leiva told us.</p>
<p>Drug crop production is <a href="https://www.swansea.ac.uk/media/Drugs-and-Development-The-Great-Disconnect.pdf">primarily thought of</a> as a crime and security issue. But most people are forced into production due to poverty and lack of opportunities in the legal economy. </p>
<p>For 40 years, policies in Peru have prioritised forced eradication of coca leaf under intense pressure from the US government. Weak economies, farmers turned into outlaws, and human rights violations are the <a href="https://www.wola.org/analysis/what-does-it-mean-to-have-a-human-rights-oriented-drug-policy/">result</a> of this militarised crop and drug control strategy.</p>
<p>Coca production has not <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/256716908_Caught_in_the_middle_Colombia%27s_war_on_drugs_and_its_effects_on_forest_and_people">shrunk overall</a>, merely shifting its location, often through extensive replanting, which <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es102373d">aggravates deforestation</a>. Global cocaine manufacture in 2017 reached its highest level ever: an estimated 1,976 tons, more than double the amount <a href="https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2019/">recorded in 2013</a>, guaranteeing the <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=KpvmDQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Anti-Drug+Policies+under+Plan+Colombia:++Daniel+Mej%C3%ADa.&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiY25Wuo-joAhWxj3IEHW52AdEQ6AEwAHoECAQQAg#v=onepage&q=Anti-Drug%20Policies%20under%20Plan%20Colombia%3A%20%20Daniel%20Mej%C3%ADa.&f=false">flow of drugs northward</a>.</p>
<h2>The search for alternatives</h2>
<p>These negative outcomes have stimulated <a href="http://www.globalcommissionondrugs.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/ENG-2018_Regulation_Report_WEB-FINAL.pdf">regional debate</a> around the violence, corruption and instability fuelled by current drug policies. Bolivia has emerged as a <a href="https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/uploads/dd3082d5-1bab-4fa0-9cb5-273a921ea32b/habeas-coca-bolivias-community-coca-control-20150706.pdf">world leader</a> in promoting a new model based on farmer participation and non-violence. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337227/original/file-20200524-124822-12majp1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337227/original/file-20200524-124822-12majp1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337227/original/file-20200524-124822-12majp1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337227/original/file-20200524-124822-12majp1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337227/original/file-20200524-124822-12majp1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337227/original/file-20200524-124822-12majp1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337227/original/file-20200524-124822-12majp1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A woman stands in front of a mural depicting coca growing. The Chapare, Bolivia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Thomas Grisaffi</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Beginning in 2004, successive governments have allowed growers to cultivate a restricted amount of coca leaf, with compliance conducted by local coca grower unions themselves. This coca leaf is sold to registered intermediaries and domestic markets as a mild stimulant, similar to caffeine. The leaf also packs a powerful punch of nutrients such as calcium and vitamin C. </p>
<p>This community-based model <a href="https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/bulletin/2017/Bulletin_on_Narcotics_V1705843.pdf">has proven more effective</a> in reducing coca acreage than police and military repression, and has extended social and civil rights in previously peripheral regions. Government investment, gender equity policies, and the 2013 international recognition of Bolivians right to consume the leaf domestically have strengthened local stability.</p>
<p>In turn, this has encouraged economic diversification away from coca. In Bolivia, 23,100 hectares were under coca cultivation in 2018, <a href="http://ain-bolivia.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/TURNING-OVER-A-NEW-LEAF.pdf">less than half</a> that in Peru.</p>
<p>The programme is recognised as a “<a href="http://fileserver.idpc.net/library/OAS-Analytical%20Report_The-drug-problem-in-the-Americas.pdf">best practice</a>” by the Organisation of American States. The <a href="https://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/people/health/Development_Dimensions_of_Drug_Policy.pdf">United Nations Development Programme</a> reported in 2019 that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>By recognizing coca cultivation as a legitimate source of income, the [Bolivian] government has helped stabilize household incomes and placed farmers in a better position to assume the risk of substituting illicit crops with alternative crops or livestock.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337660/original/file-20200526-106811-1u7gdms.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337660/original/file-20200526-106811-1u7gdms.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337660/original/file-20200526-106811-1u7gdms.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337660/original/file-20200526-106811-1u7gdms.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337660/original/file-20200526-106811-1u7gdms.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337660/original/file-20200526-106811-1u7gdms.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337660/original/file-20200526-106811-1u7gdms.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Two workers take a break to chew coca, Chapare, Bolivia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Thomas Grisaffi</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While drug crop policy was undergoing profound change in Bolivia, neighbouring Peru continued eradication-based strategies designed and (until 2011) funded by the US. </p>
<p>Peru’s programmes experience <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-29082-9_8">the same problems</a> as Bolivia’s <a href="https://www.wola.org/sites/default/files/downloadable/Drug%20Policy/past/ddhr_bolivia_brief.pdf">before 2004</a> when it changed tack, but within a context of greater violence both by the state and <a href="https://jied.lse.ac.uk/articles/10.31389/jied.7/">insurgent forces</a>. Peru’s growers have endured repeated cycles of forced eradication, failed development and violence by the state, insurgents and drug traffickers. </p>
<h2>Could it work in Peru?</h2>
<p>An urgency to trying something different led some Peruvian coca growers and their organisations to travel to Bolivia’s coca growing regions in 2019. Three delegations from six regions spoke with coca farmers, visited state-financed projects to promote alternative crops and fish farming and met with Bolivian officials, including the head of the anti-narcotics police and members of congress.</p>
<p>They came away with a solid understanding of what Bolivia’s community control could offer. Grower organisations subsequently educated their members about the model, as well as proposing its possible adoption with the European Union and the state coca crop control organisation (DEVIDA). </p>
<p>“We could do a pilot project of the Bolivian model here,” insisted grower leader Marianne Zavala from Peru’s Junin province. “I know it would work well and we really want to try this.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337661/original/file-20200526-106823-11hmunr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337661/original/file-20200526-106823-11hmunr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337661/original/file-20200526-106823-11hmunr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337661/original/file-20200526-106823-11hmunr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337661/original/file-20200526-106823-11hmunr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337661/original/file-20200526-106823-11hmunr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337661/original/file-20200526-106823-11hmunr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Coca left to dry in the street, Chapare, Bolivia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Thomas Grisaffi</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But for Bolivia’s model to have any hope of success in Peru, two obstacles must be addressed. Peru’s rural union structures lack the grassroots cohesion that has proven critical in Bolivia. Coca grower organisations in Peru, as well as local municipalities, will need extensive training and capacity building, as well as assistance in forging a regional and national consensus on an alternative approach.</p>
<p>This challenge is compounded by the inordinately high distrust among Peru’s rural populations, including coca growers, towards the state, particularly the security forces and DEVIDA. Bolivia’s experience offers ideas for how <a href="https://www.academia.edu/30977537/Social_Control_in_Bolivia_A_Humane_Alternative_to_the_Forced_Eradication_of_Coca_Crops">this mistrust can be diminished</a>. </p>
<p>Bolivian coca growers designed the community control policy, staffed related state institutions, and have seen their own political representatives in positions of power. They emphasised political participation to their Peruvian counterparts. “We could never have reached as far if we had only worked as a growers’ union,” Bolivian leader Felipe Martinez told the Peruvians. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337884/original/file-20200527-141303-1jynhhg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337884/original/file-20200527-141303-1jynhhg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337884/original/file-20200527-141303-1jynhhg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337884/original/file-20200527-141303-1jynhhg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337884/original/file-20200527-141303-1jynhhg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337884/original/file-20200527-141303-1jynhhg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337884/original/file-20200527-141303-1jynhhg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Farmers prepare coca seedlings.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Thomas Grisaffi</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10714839.2020.1733217?scroll=top&needAccess=true">destabilisation of Bolivia</a> in November 2019, when President Evo Morales was ousted after accusations of conducting a fraudulent election, highlights how dependent community-based control of coca is on the commitment of the government in power. </p>
<p>The anti-Morales interim Añez government has threatened a return to <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/z3bq9w/the-worlds-biggest-legal-coca-industry-might-get-shut-down">forced eradication</a> so as to undermine local unions loyal to Morales. It has killed nine people during a coca grower protest, and continues threats towards growers’ leaders under the guise of combating drug trafficking. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337662/original/file-20200526-106832-1ehps99.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337662/original/file-20200526-106832-1ehps99.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337662/original/file-20200526-106832-1ehps99.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337662/original/file-20200526-106832-1ehps99.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337662/original/file-20200526-106832-1ehps99.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337662/original/file-20200526-106832-1ehps99.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337662/original/file-20200526-106832-1ehps99.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A memorial for the nine coca farmers killed in November 2019, Cochabamba, Bolivia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Thomas Grisaffi</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The trust that coca growers once had in government has evaporated, and with it the underpinnings of community control. This holds an important lesson. If a government continues to treat coca growers as enemies – people whom policies should act upon rather than collaborate with – then the violence, failed development and coca cultivation will continue unabated.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/139160/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Grisaffi receives funding from the Global Challenges Research Fund. He has previously received funding from the Social Science Research Council/Open Society Foundations (Drugs, Security and Democracy Program), the Leverhulme Trust and the Economic and Social Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kathryn Ledebur is the director of the Andean Information Network, a human rights organization that works on coca-related issues. . She receives funding from the Global Challenges Research Fund for research and editing on coca policy in Peru and Bolivia and from the Open Society Foundation for coca and drug policy in Bolivia. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Linda Farthing receives funding from the Global Challenges Research Fund for research and editing on coca policy in Peru and Bolivia. She is affiliated as a consultant with the Andean Information Network, a human rights organization that works on coca-related issues.</span></em></p>
Production of coca leaf, the raw material in cocaine, is surging in Peru despite 40 years of forced eradication designed to convince farmers to abandon it. Bolivia shows a better way forward.
Thomas Grisaffi, Lecturer in Human Geography, University of Reading
Kathryn Ledebur, Visiting Fellow, University of Reading
Linda Farthing, Visiting Fellow, University of Reading
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/129399
2020-02-11T11:37:22Z
2020-02-11T11:37:22Z
Bolivia: contribution of indigenous people to fighting climate change is hanging by a thread
<p>Earth’s forests oxygenate the atmosphere and store vast quantities of planet-warming carbon dioxide (CO₂). But research suggests that the health of these vast ecosystems in large part depends on the work of indigenous people. </p>
<p>Indigenous territories and protected areas cover 52% of the Amazon forest and store 58% of its carbon. <a href="https://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1913321117">A recent study</a> found that these areas had the lowest net loss of carbon between 2003 and 2016, with 90% of net emissions coming from outside these protected lands.</p>
<p>“Where indigenous people live, [in Central America] you will find the best preserved natural resources,” <a href="https://www.iucn.org/content/map-shows-indigenous-peoples-guardians-central-american-ecosystems">declared</a> the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 2018. A <a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-peoples-are-crucial-for-conservation-a-quarter-of-all-land-is-in-their-hands-99742">study</a> published that year found that “indigenous people are crucial for the conservation of a quarter of the land of the Earth”.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/colombia-being-an-environmental-activist-in-some-countries-is-much-more-dangerous-than-in-others-127956">Colombia: being an environmental activist in some countries is much more dangerous than in others</a>
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<p><a href="https://www.wri.org/blog/2019/08/ipcc-calls-securing-community-land-rights-fight-climate-change">In the forest territories that indigenous people maintain</a> deforestation is lower, more carbon is stored and less emitted, biodiversity is better conserved, and resources are more sustainably and fairly managed.</p>
<p>But indigenous territories and the biodiversity and carbon they protect are under siege. For indigenous people to continue in this invaluable role, they need secure land tenure and strong local governance systems. Nowhere is this currently more apparent than in Bolivia.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314509/original/file-20200210-109896-1bl1lnc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314509/original/file-20200210-109896-1bl1lnc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314509/original/file-20200210-109896-1bl1lnc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314509/original/file-20200210-109896-1bl1lnc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314509/original/file-20200210-109896-1bl1lnc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314509/original/file-20200210-109896-1bl1lnc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314509/original/file-20200210-109896-1bl1lnc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A native tour guide traverses the jungle of Madidi National Park, Bolivia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/native-tour-guide-jungle-madidi-national-434788141">Matyas Rehak/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>From championing to co-opting indigenous rights</h2>
<p>On indigenous territories in Bolivia that have secured property rights, deforestation rates are <a href="https://www.wri.org/publication/climate-benefits-tenure-costs">2.8 times lower</a> than outside of them. Such lands cover 20% of the country’s territory, so the contribution of indigenous peoples in Bolivia to fighting climate change is substantial.</p>
<p>But this situation has been undermined by Bolivia’s development policies, and could be threatened further with the recent shift to a right-wing government.</p>
<p>In the last two decades, Bolivia has led the world in championing indigenous rights. Upon taking power in 2006, Evo Morales helped write a new national constitution. It paved the way to redistribute land to indigenous peoples and support their claims for self-government. </p>
<p>Morales also put indigenous peoples at the forefront of climate change discussions, when in 2010, he organised the <a href="https://therightsofnature.org/cochabama-rights/">People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth</a>. The <a href="https://therightsofnature.org/wp-content/uploads/Cochambamba-Peoples-Agreement.pdf">People’s Agreement</a> that emerged highlighted the important role that indigenous peoples play safeguarding the planet.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314508/original/file-20200210-109935-nyg87v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314508/original/file-20200210-109935-nyg87v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314508/original/file-20200210-109935-nyg87v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314508/original/file-20200210-109935-nyg87v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314508/original/file-20200210-109935-nyg87v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314508/original/file-20200210-109935-nyg87v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314508/original/file-20200210-109935-nyg87v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Evo Morales swept to power in 2005, and was re-elected in three consecutive elections.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/potosi-bolivia-jan-6-scene-on-160257788">De Visu/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>But during his second term in power, the government’s commitment to indigenous rights and to the fight against climate change faltered. In 2010, Morales approved the construction of a road through an <a href="http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-85292017000200373">indigenous territory and protected area</a>, which was bitterly resisted by the Mojeño people, alongside other indigenous peoples of the lowlands and highlands.</p>
<p>Morales announced his intention in 2013 to <a href="https://www-sciencedirect-com.uea.idm.oclc.org/science/article/pii/S0013935115301092">expand farming lands from three to 13 million hectares</a> over ten years – allowing agriculture businesses to encroach on indigenous homelands. Morales then increased the area of land that small producers are allowed to deforest from five to 20 hectares, and made the conditions <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2015/06/bolivias-aggressive-agricultural-development-plans-threaten-forests/">more flexible for this process to continue</a>. Support for biofuel production from soya plantations and cattle grazing for beef export encouraged the opening up of new lands, with people using fire to clear forests for farming.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/defending-the-environment-now-more-lethal-than-soldiering-in-some-war-zones-and-indigenous-peoples-are-suffering-most-118098">Defending the environment now more lethal than soldiering in some war zones – and indigenous peoples are suffering most</a>
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<p>Between August and September 2019, Bolivia was wracked by the worst forest fires of the last two decades. A total of 3.6 million hectares were burned, and <a href="http://www.ftierra.org/index.php/component/attachments/download/194">two</a> <a href="https://www.iwgia.org/es/recursos/publicaciones/3470-incendios-en-territorios-indigenas-y-areas-protegidas-en-bolivi">reports</a> showed that 57% of these fires were set in state-owned lands (which are largely composed of protected areas) and indigenous titled territories. </p>
<p>The push to expand agriculture has continued with Bolivia’s new government. Shortly after Morales resigned on November 10 2019, the legislative assembly of Beni – a lowland region – approved a law which would <a href="https://www.paginasiete.bo/sociedad/2019/11/27/promulgan-ley-de-plan-de-uso-del-suelos-del-beni-en-medio-de-cuestionamientos-238753.html">open 42% of the land to farming and industrial activities</a>. On December 16 2019, Beni’s Indigenous <a href="https://www.paginasiete.bo/economia/2020/1/2/agroindustria-tomara-10-mm-de-hectareas-de-territorio-de-beni-242158.html">declared a state of emergency</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314507/original/file-20200210-109939-1ewl35w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314507/original/file-20200210-109939-1ewl35w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314507/original/file-20200210-109939-1ewl35w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314507/original/file-20200210-109939-1ewl35w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314507/original/file-20200210-109939-1ewl35w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314507/original/file-20200210-109939-1ewl35w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314507/original/file-20200210-109939-1ewl35w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bush fires ravaged the Chiquitos region of Bolivia in late August, 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://webgate.epa.eu/webgate">EPA-EFE/Martin Alipaz</a></span>
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<h2>Indigenous autonomy in the balance</h2>
<p>By granting autonomy rights to indigenous people, the state would effectively recognise their right to govern themselves in matters related to the land and natural resources. Without this, people have no real control of their territories, and there is little that indigenous people can do to control environmental degradation.</p>
<p>Out of 33 claims for territorial self-government that were raised between 2009 and 2019, only three have been approved by the Bolivian government. <a href="http://www.uea.ac.uk/documents/18634712/20350354/Territorios%2C+justicias+y+autonomias_Bolivia.pdf/1675affd-69d0-6f99-eef8-b8078d7454c0">Our research suggests</a> that the main reason so few have succeeded is the new laws enacted during the Morales era, which make autonomy claims a complex and cumbersome process.</p>
<p>We’ve been working with the Monkoxi Indigenous Nation from the Bolivian lowlands since 2013, <a href="https://www.uea.ac.uk/documents/18634712/20350354/LIBRO+LOMERIO+2DA+EDICIO%5FN+DIGITAL+FINAL.pdf/c9516012-f562-7993-4c3c-b058e1e65bd1">to help advance their claim</a> to political autonomy in their territory. The Monkoxi belong to one of the 30 groups that are still waiting for their rights to be recognised, having initiated the legal claim in 2009.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314716/original/file-20200211-146690-1bo4reb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314716/original/file-20200211-146690-1bo4reb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314716/original/file-20200211-146690-1bo4reb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314716/original/file-20200211-146690-1bo4reb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314716/original/file-20200211-146690-1bo4reb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314716/original/file-20200211-146690-1bo4reb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314716/original/file-20200211-146690-1bo4reb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Autonomy rights allow indigenous people to govern their lands independent of the state.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Iokiñe Rodríguez</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Bolivia is now in the hands of an interim conservative leader, Jeanine Añez, who has been accused by <a href="https://www.culturalsurvival.org/news/cultural-survival-stands-indigenous-peoples-bolivia">indigenous rights organisations</a> of holding strong anti-indigenous convictions.</p>
<p>Since expansion of the farming frontier was agreed between the right and Morales while he was in power, it’s doubtful the former will change this arrangement if they remain in power after general elections in May 2020. The pending autonomy claims that would allow indigenous people to consolidate their territorial control are also likely to stagnate.</p>
<p>The recent history of Bolivia shows the danger of allowing the fight for indigenous rights and climate action to be co-opted. To ensure that indigenous rights and climate change remain high in the next goverment’s agenda, indigenous peoples must work hard to reunite and recover the independence that they once had from mainstream politics.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/imagine-newsletter-researchers-think-of-a-world-with-climate-action-113443?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=Imagineheader1129399">Click here to subscribe to our climate action newsletter. Climate change is inevitable. Our response to it isn’t.</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/129399/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Iokiñe Rodríguez receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). She works for the School of International Development at the University of East Anglia, UK </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mirna Inturias does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
A new study revealed that indigenous territories store more than half the carbon in the Amazon forest.
Iokiñe Rodríguez, Senior Lecturer in Environment and Development, University of East Anglia
Mirna Inturias, Lecturer in Environmental Justice, Universidad Nur
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/126998
2019-12-05T12:39:18Z
2019-12-05T12:39:18Z
Bolivia after Morales: An ‘ungovernable country’ with a power vacuum
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305263/original/file-20191204-70155-hdjvii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C5472%2C3628&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A supporter of former Bolivian president Evo Morales tells a police officer to respect the nation's indigenous people, in La Paz, Bolivia, Nov. 12, 2019. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/APTOPIX-Bolivia-Protests/5ae96e714ec94682b7bbd9bba640d028/57/0">AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Evo Morales is hardly Bolivia’s first president to be ousted in a mass uprising. </p>
<p>Both of his immediate predecessors – <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/25676070?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-2456.2005.tb00319.x">Carlos Mesa</a> – resigned after waves of mass protest. So did at least <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/212465/summary">seven other Bolivian presidents</a> since 1870. </p>
<p>The power of the Bolivian people is so formidable that former president Mesa, upon resigning in 2005, declared the country “<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1548-2456.2005.tb00319.x">ungovernable</a>.” </p>
<p>Bolivia’s new interim president, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/14/bolivia-president-jeanine-anez-cabinet-indigenous">Jeanine Añez</a>, may well echo the sentiment. Deadly protests have gripped Bolivia since she took power on Nov. 11, and Morales’ socialist party, MAS, retains a <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/bolivia-caught-in-a-power-struggle-between-anez-at-home-and-morales-in-exile">two-thirds majority</a> in both the lower and upper houses of Congress. </p>
<p>Añez, a former senator from Bolivia’s weak opposition, has virtually no power. Her party stands little chance of passing legislation. And <a href="https://elpais.com/internacional/2019/11/29/actualidad/1575039515_623830.html">protests against her government</a> continue.</p>
<h2>Power to the people</h2>
<p>Throughout Bolivian history, protests have been an important way indigenous people and rural peasants, long excluded from the halls of power, have <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498543569/Fragile-States-in-the-Americas">made their voices heard</a>. </p>
<p>Whether to force more equitable land distribution in the 1952 <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1557-203X.2011.01110.x">Bolivian National Revolution</a>, demand the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/01/landlocked-bolivias-request-for-chile-to-grant-ocean-access-rejected-by-un">return of the coastal province</a> conquered by Chile in 1883 or call for the <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/whith18&div=17&id=&page=">nationalization of resources such as oil and gas</a>, these marginalized communities have often earned major concessions via protest. </p>
<p>As I have argued in my <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/sais.2007.0001">political analyses of the South American country</a>, Bolivian government institutions are so weak that effective governance requires at the least some populist compromise. </p>
<p>Indigenous Bolivians organize massive marches, <a href="https://eldeber.com.bo/156899_cocaleros-piden-renuncia-de-jeanine-anez-y-amenazan-con-bloqueo-indefinido-de-carreteras">blocking roads into major urban centers</a> to prevent food and fuel from entering and <a href="https://time.com/5727991/clashes-bolivia/">exploding dynamite</a> to highlight their dismay. By paralyzing cities, including the seat of government, these indigenous protest strategies have effectively overwhelmed numerous Bolivian governments.</p>
<p>That’s how <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/brownjwa23&div=10&id=&page=">Morales himself rose to power</a>: He was the highly visible leader of the 2003 and 2005 protests that ousted his immediate predecessors. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305265/original/file-20191204-70116-12hbn5c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305265/original/file-20191204-70116-12hbn5c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305265/original/file-20191204-70116-12hbn5c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305265/original/file-20191204-70116-12hbn5c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305265/original/file-20191204-70116-12hbn5c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305265/original/file-20191204-70116-12hbn5c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305265/original/file-20191204-70116-12hbn5c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305265/original/file-20191204-70116-12hbn5c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A roadblock on a freeway into the Bolivian capital of La Paz was part of weeks-long protests against President Carlos Mesa, June 3, 2005.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Associated-Press-International-News-Bolivia-BOL-/dc0d69a228e1da11af9f0014c2589dfb/102/0">AP Photo/Juan Karita</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A military mutiny</h2>
<p>The shocked tone of Morales’ <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkQxs6nMHAI">last press conference as president</a>, held on Nov. 10, made clear his outrage at <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/20191117-la-paz-is-a-city-under-siege-bolivia-s-capital-struggles-as-food-runs-out-1">being on the receiving end</a> of a similar mass mobilization.</p>
<p>Morales was forced to resign amid protest after he <a href="http://www.startribune.com/the-latest-morales-leads-bolivia-vote-but-runoff-likely/563515732/">declared victory</a> in Bolivia’s contested Oct. 20 presidential election. Few doubt that he won the race, however. What was in dispute is whether he won by <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bolivia-election-idUSKBN1X31M4">a margin of 10%</a> – enough to avoid a runoff with his closest competitor, <a href="https://theglobalamericans.org/2019/07/an-interview-with-former-bolivian-president-and-current-presidential-candidate-carlos-mesa/">the former president Carlos Mesa</a>, who 12 years ago resigned amid protests.</p>
<p>Morales and his most ardent supporters said he beat Mesa by just over 10%. Opposition parties, their supporters and the <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/11/bolivia-morales-calls-elections-oas-audit-191110110329121.html">Organization of American States</a> found the narrow margin suspicious and called for a new vote.</p>
<p>Morales eventually agreed amid wild protest, but not before a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bolivia-election-ticktock-insight-idUSKBN1XO2PQ">police mutiny</a> encouraged <a href="http://www.resumenlatinoamericano.org/2019/11/10/bolivia-queman-la-casa-de-la-hermana-del-presidente-esther-morales-en-oruro/">violence</a> against <a href="http://www.la-razon.com/ciudades/seguridad_ciudadana/Bolivia-oruro-renuncia-alcalde-quema-casa_0_3254674555.html">his political allies</a>. The military announced that it <a href="https://www.eltribuno.com/jujuy/nota/2019-11-9-19-50-0-fuerzas-armadas-se-pronuncian-sobre-la-crisis-y-anuncian-que-nunca-se-enfrentaran-con-el-pueblo">would not use force</a> to subdue anti-Morales protesters. Soldiers looked on as demonstrators <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/bolivia-latest-evo-morales-resignation-coup-la-paz-protest-military-fire-house-a9198211.html">looted</a> and <a href="https://correodelsur.com/local/20191110_gobernador-de-chuquisaca-anuncia-su-renuncia-al-cargo.html">burned</a> to the <a href="https://www.eldeber.com.bo/156441_vandalos-rondan-en-rodados-de-la-policia-hay-zozobra-en-yapacani">ground</a> the houses of some MAS party members. </p>
<p>Ultimately, the police and military compelled Morales to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2019/11/10/world/americas/10reuters-bolivia-election-military-stability.html">resign</a>. It was clear he had lost control. </p>
<h2>Complete paralysis</h2>
<p>Yet Morales opponents weren’t necessarily eager to see Carlos Mesa, who <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/10/14/how-evo-morales-running-again-again-undermines-bolivias-democracy/">still commands very little devotion</a>, elected president. They just wanted Morales out. And though Morales’ base <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17442222.2013.808495">has frayed somewhat</a> over 14 years due to his government’s pursuit of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13642987.2016.1179869">natural gas development in indigenous areas</a>, he remains by far the most popular politician in Bolivia. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305264/original/file-20191204-70167-1wr8nyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305264/original/file-20191204-70167-1wr8nyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305264/original/file-20191204-70167-1wr8nyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305264/original/file-20191204-70167-1wr8nyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305264/original/file-20191204-70167-1wr8nyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305264/original/file-20191204-70167-1wr8nyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305264/original/file-20191204-70167-1wr8nyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305264/original/file-20191204-70167-1wr8nyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Evo Morales went into exile in Mexico after he was forced by police and the military to resign on Nov. 10.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/The-Week-That-Was-in-Latin-America-Photo-Gallery/6134495460d041c19e0784649d1eb1b0/1/0">AP Photo/Marco Ugarte</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Morales is now <a href="https://twitter.com/evoespueblo">leading by tweet</a> from exile in Mexico, urging his supporters to wage their own mutiny against the new interim government and <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/11/bolivia-evo-morales-finish-term-191117051645116.html">hinting at his return</a>.</p>
<p>“[T]he struggle continues,” he wrote in <a href="https://twitter.com/evoespueblo/status/1195522207868432386">a Nov. 15 tweet</a> that painted Bolivia’s history as a fight between indigenous people and the powers that would oppress them. “I will return and I will be millions.” </p>
<p>Massive protests have virtually paralyzed Bolivia, as <a href="https://www.jornada.com.mx/ultimas/mundo/2019/11/17/largas-filas-en-bolivia-por-comida-y-gasolina-por-bloqueos-carreteros-4672.html">indigenous roadblocks</a> keep food and fuel from La Paz and angry protesters attempt to march on the presidential palace itself. The city of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/16/bolivia-protests-five-killed-in-rally-calling-for-exiled-moraless-return">Cochabamba</a> and its surroundings are also rocked by violent protest. Thus far, Bolivian military and police have <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/bolivia-crisis-evo-morales-deaths-protests-jeanine-anez-united-nations-a9206266.html">shot dead</a> at least <a href="https://www.france24.com/es/20191116-bachelet-advierte-que-la-situaci%C3%B3n-en-bolivia-puede-salirse-de-control">14 people</a>.</p>
<h2>Ungovernable country</h2>
<p>While the new government has the support of both the Bolivian military and the police, this does not make the country governable. </p>
<p>Añez, ruling without a mandate, has only one real responsibility: to <a href="https://elpais.com/internacional/2019/11/20/actualidad/1574261743_294861.html">organize elections</a>. The Congress has now voted on a plan to hold another presidential vote, although no date has been set, and Morales has agreed he will not be a candidate.</p>
<p>Setting new elections without Morales is a win for the opposition in Bolivia and a fundamental step toward restoring a semblance of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/23/bolivia--slides-into-chaos-mountain-barricades-city-protests-morales">normalcy</a>. </p>
<p>But Morales’ base is unlikely to simply accept the results, whatever they may be.</p>
<p>To paraphrase the Bolivian historian Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui, the indigenous Bolivians who adore Morales are “<a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/oppressed-but-not-defeated-peasant-struggles-among-the-aymara-and-qhechwa-in-bolivia-1900-1980/oclc/16518379">oppressed but not defeated</a>.” </p>
<p>[ <em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126998/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marten W. Brienen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Evo Morales is at least the ninth Bolivian president to by forced out of office by a mass uprising. But even in exile he remains by far the most popular politician in the country.
Marten W. Brienen, Lecturer in Global Studies, Oklahoma State University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/126961
2019-11-26T11:52:29Z
2019-11-26T11:52:29Z
Now Evo Morales is out, Bolivia’s celebrated ‘plurinational revolution’ has an uncertain future
<p>Just over a decade ago in late January 2009, I was standing in front of the Palacio Quemado, the government headquarters in the heart of the Bolivian administrative capital La Paz, amid a crowd of euphoric Bolivians. A quilt of national tricolour flags and multicolour wiphalas, the traditional Andean flags, was waiting for President Evo Morales to appear and celebrate the overwhelming results of a referendum that had just ratified a new constitution. </p>
<p>That was perhaps the last epic moment of the “plurinational revolution” that began with Morales’s election in 2005 and the installation of the first Bolivian government led by a popular coalition of peasant and indigenous movements. </p>
<p>Today, the epic tale of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Evo-Morales">Bolivia’s first Indian president</a> has reached a tragic end. Morales and most of his close political entourage <a href="https://theconversation.com/bolivia-in-crisis-how-evo-morales-was-forced-out-126859?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=facebookbutton&fbclid=IwAR2_-UggI8KrF7TTEuC0PlDee2KMVkUPUC8upwJ1KD0RPBNBQc06Z1ZeUJU">resigned on November 10 and left the country</a> after mass protests and pressure from the military precipitated a political crisis triggered by the disputed results of October’s presidential elections. </p>
<p>Since Morales’s departure, confrontations between his supporters and armed forces have <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-50497632">left at least 32 people</a> dead and hundreds wounded. The UN <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/bolivia-crisis-evo-morales-deaths-protests-jeanine-anez-united-nations-a9206266.html">warned</a> in late November that the unrest could “spin out of control”. </p>
<p>The political crisis has sparked a deep polarisation between those condemning an “illegitimate coup” and those celebrating the “return of democracy” in Bolivia. This polarisation has grown out of the complexity of Morales’s legacy, his government’s unprecedented achievements and its inability to overcome authoritarian tendencies. </p>
<h2>A nation changed</h2>
<p>This dramatic outcome for a government that still showed rates of support <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/25/bolivia-evo-morales-narrowly-wins-fourth-presidential-term">of over 40%</a> after 14 years in office was hardly predictable, even for its political opponents. The longstanding political loyalty of many Bolivians to Morales is partly due to the fact that he represented traditionally excluded sectors of society, mainly peasant and, at least initially, indigenous peoples. </p>
<p>He also cultivated pragmatic relationships with economic elites and the armed forces. At the same time, cautious management of the economy, particularly of the revenues from natural resource exports, supported significant efforts to redistribute the country’s wealth. During Morales’s time in office, the number of people in extreme poverty fell from <a href="https://www.bolpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/xxx.pdf">38% to 18% of the population</a>. Bolivia also transitioned to become <a href="https://www.economiayfinanzas.gob.bo/index.php?id_idioma=2&opcion=com_prensa&ver=prensa&id=1467&seccion=78&categoria=20">a middle-income country</a>. </p>
<p>Alongside other countries of the so-called <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4311957.stm">Pink Tide</a> – the wave of leftist governments elected across Latin America in the first decade of the new millennium – Morales’s Bolivia embraced a commitment to championing socio-economic rights, as well as newer rights, such as cultural and environmental rights. Some key examples were the creation of indigenous autonomous territories, as well as the historic 2010 <a href="http://www.lse.ac.uk/GranthamInstitute/law/the-mother-earth-law-and-integral-development-to-live-well-law-no-300/">Law of Mother Earth</a>, which guaranteed the rights of nature. </p>
<h2>Concentration of power</h2>
<p>The alleged <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2019/11/11/world/americas/11reuters-bolivia-election-audit-factbox.html">electoral fraud</a> in October was the tipping point that led to Morales’s ousting. However, it followed a series of violations, manipulations and peculiar interpretations of fundamental democratic principles by the government. </p>
<p>At the same time, little had been done to strengthen Bolivia’s institutions. As my colleague <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/dech.12418">Jean Grugel and I have argued</a>, in Bolivia, as in other like-minded countries in the region, the strengthening of socio-economic, cultural and environmental rights came at the expense of other rights, namely political rights and civil liberties. According to data from <a href="http://www.humanrightsdata.com/">CIRI Human Rights Dataset</a> and <a href="https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/freedom-world-2018">Freedom House</a>, Bolivia is significantly below the Latin American average in its respect for association and organisation rights, freedom of expression and belief, rule of law and personal autonomy and individual rights.</p>
<p>One of the root causes of this problem was the concentration of power in the hands of a strong and close executive, with a strict control over the state apparatus and authoritarian ways of managing dissent. Few incentives existed for co-operation with the opposition, or for a collegial approach to power that would favour leadership transitions. In the classic Latin American tradition of strongman leadership, Morales tried to perpetuate his power by circumventing democratic institutions and the will of the majority. </p>
<p>He ignored the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/22/bolivia-evo-morales-president-national-referendum-fourth-term">results of the 2016 referendum</a> in which Bolivians voted no to his re-election and, with the support of a Constitutional Tribunal, changed the constitution to <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-42161947">allow his candidacy</a> for a fourth mandate. </p>
<p>Morales’s government was also incapable of including the urban middle classes in its reform process. It was the <a href="https://theconversation.com/bolivia-in-crisis-how-evo-morales-was-forced-out-126859">middle classes</a> who strongly reacted to his abuses of power and eventually took to the streets of major Bolivian cities demanding his resignation. </p>
<h2>An uncertain future</h2>
<p>Morales certainly holds political responsibility for the conditions underlying the current crisis. But rather than focusing on his administration’s culpability, it’s now urgent to address the question of how to safeguard the process of social and economic inclusion that he started. Over the past few decades, Bolivia has transformed in a way that many considered irreversible – but perhaps it was premature to assume that.</p>
<p>In recent weeks there has been a resprouting of racism and intolerance in Bolivia and the rise of a new ultra-right opposition with <a href="https://theconversation.com/old-religious-tensions-resurge-in-bolivia-after-ouster-of-longtime-indigenous-president-127000">fundamentalist religious narratives</a>. These should be warning signs for a country, and a region, where revolutions and counter-revolutions are all too common avenues of political expression.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126961/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lorenza Fontana receives funding from the European Commission Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions. </span></em></p>
Many thought Bolivia had changed for good under Evo Morales – but perhaps that thinking was premature.
Lorenza Fontana, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Fellow, Newcastle University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/127138
2019-11-20T09:23:28Z
2019-11-20T09:23:28Z
From Zimbabwe to Bolivia: what makes a military coup?
<p>Evo Morales, president of Bolivia since 2006, <a href="https://theconversation.com/bolivia-in-crisis-how-evo-morales-was-forced-out-126859">resigned</a> on November 10 following weeks of demonstrations triggered by a disputed election in October. Morales won the election amid allegations that the result was rigged in his favour. </p>
<p>The turning point in Morales’s departure from office was the intervention of Williams Kaliman, commander of the Bolivian armed forces. Speaking at a press conference, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-50369591">Kaliman urged Morales</a> to resign “for the good of our Bolivia”. Morales has since gone into exile in Mexico and the manner of his departure has sparked <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/12/world/americas/bolivia-evo-morales-coup.html">passionate debate</a> about whether it was tantamount to a military coup.</p>
<p>Two years ago this month, the Zimbabwean military placed former President Robert Mugabe under house arrest. Subsequently, SB Moyo, a major general in the army, accompanied by a high-ranking air force officer, <a href="https://www.enca.com/africa/full-statement-by-zim-army-on-state-broadcaster">publicly broadcast the message</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>This is not a military takeover of government. What the Zimbabwe Defence Forces is doing is to pacify a degenerating social, political and economic situation in our country. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The military insisted it was only targeting criminals around Mugabe who were perpetrating “crimes that are causing social and economic suffering in the country”. The officers vowed that the situation would return to normal, once they brought the “criminals” to justice. The “criminals” were never brought to justice, but Mugabe resigned from office a week later. </p>
<p>Like the recent case in Bolivia, the Zimbabwean military’s intervention generated animated discussion about whether it was actually a military coup. Some Zimbabwean ruling political elites, international media and political commentators described it as a <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/southern-africa/zimbabwe/b134-zimbabwes-military-assisted-transition-and-prospects-recovery">“military-assisted transition”</a>, “<a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2017-11-20-zimbabwe-when-is-a-coup-not-a-coup/">non-coup-coup</a>”, and a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/21/zimbabwes-strange-crisis-is-a-very-modern-kind-of-coup">“modern”</a> intervention, among other names.</p>
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<h2>Call it by its name</h2>
<p>My <a href="https://academic.oup.com/afraf/advance-article/doi/10.1093/afraf/adz024/5607894?searchresult=1">new research</a> provides some clarity on how to understand the Zimbabwean military’s action in November 2017: the intervention was a coup bearing substantial commonalities with historical coups in Africa. </p>
<p>The coup happened because Zimbabwe’s generals were dissatisfied with Mugabe’s demotion of those who had fought in the country’s 1970s liberation struggle within the structures of the ruling ZANU PF party. Mugabe’s waning authority also coincided with growing political ambitions of some generals and insecurity in the military’s higher ranks caused by job insecurity and fear of criminal prosecution.</p>
<p>The way the military justified its political manoeuvres were similar to justifications used by other military forces in Africa since the 1960s. Crucially, the military also violated <a href="https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Zimbabwe_2013.pdf">Zimbabwe’s constitution</a> by deploying without the president’s authorisation. </p>
<p>These and other indicators that the military’s action was a coup went largely unrecognised at the time by many commentators and journalists. Mugabe was also <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03057070.2014.933646?journalCode=cjss20">a demonised politician</a>, particularly by sections of the Western media and diplomats, who were keen to see him leave political office.</p>
<p>The more coups have <a href="http://www.operationspaix.net/DATA/DOCUMENT/8211%7Ev%7EThe_African_Union_as_a_norm_entrepreneur_on_militarycoups_detat_in_Africa__19522012___an_empirical_assessment.pdf">become widely unacceptable</a> in Africa since the early 2000s, the more pervasive strategic uses and misuses of the term coup have become. Mugabe’s international adversaries chose not to call the military’s intervention a coup, lest that saved him from an ignominious fall from power. In a volte-face, when <a href="https://theconversation.com/robert-mugabe-as-divisive-in-death-as-he-was-in-life-108103">Mugabe died in September 2019</a>, Western media and diplomats often described him, in their <a href="https://theconversation.com/mugabe-is-dead-but-old-men-still-run-southern-africa-123611">obituaries and commentaries</a> on his political career, as having lost power in a military coup. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/robert-gabriel-mugabe-a-man-whose-list-of-failures-is-legion-121596">Robert Gabriel Mugabe: a man whose list of failures is legion</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Subjective uses of the word coup risk banalising and misrepresenting a term that has a clear meaning. Patrick McGowan, an accomplished researcher on coups in Africa, has offered a <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-modern-african-studies/article/african-military-coups-detat-19562001-frequency-trends-and-distribution/C7E923CE86B78DD099FDEFAF89F1F88E">usefully precise definition</a>. Coups are ejections from power of political leaders, through unmistakably unconstitutional means, mainly by part of the army: “Either on their own or in conjunction with civilian elites such as civil servants, politicians and monarchs.” Zimbabwe’s 2017 coup played out along the lines of McGowan’s definition. </p>
<p>Whether events in Bolivia constitute a military coup will become clearer in the coming weeks and months as researchers and investigative journalists uncover the elite politics at play behind the scenes and the exact motivations of Kaliman and his fellow military commanders. </p>
<h2>In the aftermath</h2>
<p>In Zimbabwe today, the state of affairs looks much like the aftermath of first-time coups seen in African countries such as Benin in 1963 or Uganda in 1971. First-time coups are often extremely popular, so a government that emerges as a result of such a “maiden” coup commands significant legitimacy early on. </p>
<p>But that legitimacy soon fades when pledges to deliver a credible post-coup election and to conduct substantive political, social and economic reforms do not materialise. As legitimacy wanes, authoritarianism re-emerges. </p>
<p>This is a key part of the post-coup situation in Zimbabwe today. Two years on, reforms are cosmetic and proceed slowly. And an election held in July 2018 was not deemed credible by <a href="https://thecommonwealth.org/media/news/zimbabwe-election-commonwealth-releases-observer-group-report">Commonwealth</a>, <a href="https://www.news24.com/Africa/Zimbabwe/eu-observers-say-zimbabwe-election-fell-short-on-fairness-20181010">EU</a> and <a href="https://apnews.com/e460f71c3e7b477cbff3cf58484370d9/The-Latest:-US-based-election-observers-criticize-Zimbabwe">American</a> election observers. Legitimacy has dwindled and authoritarianism returned, as demonstrated by the military’s <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/ffd8b486-1b45-11e9-9e64-d150b3105d21">strong repression of protests</a> against fuel price increases in January 2019.</p>
<p>In 1970, the South African scholar and anti-apartheid activist <a href="https://www.ruthfirstpapers.org.uk/term/cluster/barrel-gun">Ruth First warned</a> that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Once the army breaks the first commandment of its training – that armies do not act against their own governments – the initial coup sets off a process… the coup spawns other coups. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Perhaps First is wrong and Zimbabwe’s 2017 coup was simply an aberration, a never-to-be-repeated occurrence now consigned to the history books. But one can never be too certain. The quip by American historian <a href="https://academic.oup.com/afraf/advance-article/doi/10.1093/afraf/adz024/5607894?searchresult=1#165697513">Walter Laqueur</a> rings true: “Coups d’état are annoying not only for practising politicians but also from the point of view of the political scientist”, because they are capricious.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127138/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Blessing-Miles Tendi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
When the military intervened against Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe in 2017, it wasn’t widely called a military coup. New research shows that’s exactly what it was.
Blessing-Miles Tendi, Associate Professor in the Politics of Africa, University of Oxford
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/127000
2019-11-19T17:04:49Z
2019-11-19T17:04:49Z
Old religious tensions resurge in Bolivia after ouster of longtime indigenous president
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302485/original/file-20191119-111697-1qxs8f1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=25%2C12%2C4264%2C2843&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Supporters of former Bolivian president Evo Morales rally with indigenous flags outside the city of Cochabamba, Bolivia, Nov. 18, 2019.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Bolivia-Protests/b6e54609714043fdb19cf2f3b991f2bb/10/0">AP Photo/Juan Karita</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Days after the powerful Bolivian leader Evo Morales was forced to resign as president after <a href="https://www.as-coa.org/articles/poll-tracker-bolivias-2019-presidential-race">allegations of election fraud</a>, Bolivia’s new interim president made her <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/12/world/americas/evo-morales-mexico-bolivia.html">first public appearance</a>. </p>
<p>Climbing to the balcony of the Presidential Palace in La Paz, Jeanine Áñez – formerly a senator representing Bolivia’s weak political opposition – grabbed a Bible. </p>
<p>“This Bible is very important to us. Our strength is God,” <a href="https://twitter.com/LaRazon_Bolivia/status/1194405431625560065">said the 52-year-old politician from the lowlands province of Beni</a>, holding the modern, pink-covered book up for the cameras. “Power is God.”</p>
<p>Invoking a Christian god as the source of political power, while commonplace in many countries, is a radical departure in Bolivia after Morales’ 14-year tenure. </p>
<p>Morales, a native Bolivian of Aymara indigenous descent, was the South American country’s first indigenous leader since independence from Spanish colonial rule in 1825. Indigenous people and symbols – like the <a href="https://chiletoday.cl/site/the-wiphala-what-does-this-indigenous-flag-mean/">multicolored Wiphala flag</a> that represents the many Andean indigenous groups, and the Andean cross, or <a href="https://www.prensaindigena.org/web/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=25254:peru-wayra-katari-y-la-nueva-historia-andina&catid=86&Itemid=435">chakana</a> – filled the halls of power in Bolivia during his three terms.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301814/original/file-20191114-26222-yiaieu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C17%2C6000%2C3844&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301814/original/file-20191114-26222-yiaieu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301814/original/file-20191114-26222-yiaieu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301814/original/file-20191114-26222-yiaieu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301814/original/file-20191114-26222-yiaieu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301814/original/file-20191114-26222-yiaieu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301814/original/file-20191114-26222-yiaieu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bolivia’s new interim President, Jeanine Añez, has ties to conservative Christian groups, Nov. 13, 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Bolivia-Protests/e63c10cabadc43eb8c24c1332f135730/14/0">AP Photo/Juan Karita</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Indigenous religiosity</h2>
<p>Bolivia, a mountainous country north of Argentina, is 41% <a href="https://www.iwgia.org/en/bolivia">indigenous</a>, according to the 2012 census. Most of the rest of Bolivia’s 11 million people consider themselves to be mixed race, though analysts say that self-reported census data <a href="http://www.cejis.org/bolivia-censo-2012-algunas-claves-para-entender-la-variable-indigena/">tends to undercount the indigenous population</a>. </p>
<p>Religion does not map neatly onto ethnic divisions in Bolivia. Only around 4% of Bolivians claim to practice indigenous religions. The majority – about 75% – are Catholic, and 18% belong to <a href="http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/stand-in-president-brings-back-bible-to-bolivian-politics/article/561763">evangelical or other Protestant denominations</a>.</p>
<p>However, <a href="https://asu.academia.edu/MatthewPeterCasey">as my ongoing research shows</a>, religion, ethnicity and culture are tightly woven together in the Andes region. In Bolivia, as <a href="https://theconversation.com/day-of-the-dead-from-aztec-goddess-worship-to-modern-mexican-celebration-124962">elsewhere in Latin America</a>, indigenous people may belong to Christian churches and also observe native religious practices. </p>
<p>Since independence, Bolivian political leaders have promoted the country’s Hispanic and Catholic heritage, not in addition to its indigenous history but to the exclusion of it. In the 20th century, indigenous people who <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-18727510">revolted against their economic and social marginalization</a> were brutally repressed.</p>
<p>Throughout the Cold War, <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/book/14026">Bolivian Fascist party</a> members pushed for a Catholic republic modeled on Francisco Franco’s Spain. Generations of Catholic school students were taught <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/fascismo-en-bolivia-tactica-y-estrategia-revolucionarias/oclc/14370576">Christian nationalism from their Spanish Jesuit teachers</a>. </p>
<p>Morales, a former coca farmer, recognized indigeneity as the heart of Bolivian nationhood. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302480/original/file-20191119-111640-c1v6ml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302480/original/file-20191119-111640-c1v6ml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302480/original/file-20191119-111640-c1v6ml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302480/original/file-20191119-111640-c1v6ml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302480/original/file-20191119-111640-c1v6ml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302480/original/file-20191119-111640-c1v6ml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302480/original/file-20191119-111640-c1v6ml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302480/original/file-20191119-111640-c1v6ml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Evo Morales (center) was Bolivia’s first indigenous president.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Peru-Americas-Summit/8a54f2daee0248929e1d7709c9783efe/20/0">AP Photo/Martin Mejia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Under Morales’ leadership, Bolivia’s name was changed to the Plurinational State of Bolivia in 2009, and the law now <a href="https://www.opinion.com.bo/articulo/pais/las-36-naciones-de-bolivia/20130806020300444625.html">recognizes 36 indigenous languages and ethnicities</a>. Morales also protected the right of indigenous communities to practice their religion. August became the Month of Pachamama, the Andean mother earth – <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/21/world/americas/21witch.html">30 days of ancestral celebrations</a> kicked off by the ritual sacrifice of llamas and other animals on the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyhEon3LgXE">banks of Lake Titicaca</a>.</p>
<p>Morales also built a new government building designed to acknowledge the country’s indigenous heritage. The 29-story <a href="https://www.dw.com/es/evo-morales-inaugura-monumental-casa-grande-del-pueblo-en-la-paz/a-45030140">Casa Grande del Pueblo</a> – “Big House of the People” – blends hyper modern design with indigenous artistic flourishes. The <a href="https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-45229290">interior decor</a> is inspired by the ceremonial ruins of the pre-Inca civilization of Tiahuanaco, located 40 miles east of La Paz.</p>
<h2>Distancing Bolivia from Catholicism</h2>
<p>Morales, who has taken asylum in Mexico since resigning as president, also worked to separate church from state in Bolivia. Bolivia’s new <a href="https://www.lexivox.org/norms/BO-CPE-20090207.html">constitution, written in 2009</a>, formally ended the Catholic Church’s designation as the protected religion of the state.</p>
<p>Morales is <a href="https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/mundo/tras-salida-de-evo-morales-la-biblia-y-el-poder-politico-cristiano-irrumpen-en-bolivia">Catholic</a>. But he is openly critical of the Catholic Church, which supported <a href="https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=acls;iel=2;view=toc;idno=heb03631.0001.001">the Spanish colonization of Latin America</a> in the 16th century and, throughout the 20th century, aided <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/transatlantic-fascism">Fascist party organizing</a>. </p>
<p>In 2015, he famously gave Pope Francis a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2015/07/10/americas/pope-crucifix/index.html">hammer and sickle crucifix</a> designed by the Bolivian priest Luis Espinal before his assassination in 1980 – a symbol of Liberation Theology, a <a href="https://www.alainet.org/es/active/66203">progressive Latin American strand of Catholicism</a> that challenged dictatorships and championed the cause of the poor during the 1970s and 1980s.</p>
<p>Morales’ secular agenda was met with criticism from conservative Christian groups. Some viewed the reforms as fomenting “<a href="https://www.actuall.com/laicismo/evo-morales-pretende-meter-la-carcel-obispos-curas-predicar-evangelio/">paganism</a>.” Others said he promoted <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aI0x5b8nOcc">atheistic socialism</a>.</p>
<h2>A Christian nationalist revival</h2>
<p>The interim administration in Bolivia has ties to the <a href="https://www.pagina12.com.ar/231205-satanas-fuera-de-bolivia-el-ritual-de-camacho-y-sus-seguidor">conservative Christian groups</a> that were highly critical of Morales throughout his administration.</p>
<p>As senator, interim President Áñez made <a href="https://www.laprensagrafica.com/internacional/Estos-son-los-agresivos-tuits-contra-originarios-e-indigenas-que-borro-Jeanine-Anez-la-presidenta-de-Bolivia-20191116-0518.html">openly anti-indigenous statements</a>. In a 2013 tweet, now deleted, she referred to native Aymara celebrating their new year with ancestral rituals as “satanic.”</p>
<p>And just <a href="https://factual.afp.com/estos-son-los-agresivos-tuits-contra-originarios-e-indigenas-que-borro-la-presidenta-interina-de">five days before her innaugeration</a>, Áñez mocked a group of indigenous Quechua men on Twitter because they were dressed in ritual vestments with modern shoes and blue jeans, writing, “Original Peoples???”</p>
<p>Her rise to power has reignited some of the anti-indigenous sentiment that was so dominant in Bolivia before Morales’ administration. Since Morales’ ouster, there are reports of Wiphalas flags being torn down and burned. Police officers and military members were <a href="https://magnet.xataka.com/en-diez-minutos/que-hace-ejercito-cortando-banderas-conflicto-etnia-clase-religion-crisis-bolivia">filmed</a> cutting the indigenous flag from their uniforms.</p>
<p>“Bolivia for Christ, Pachamama will never again enter this palace,” said the protest leader Luis Fernando Camacho, an Áñez ally, <a href="https://www.telesurtv.net/bloggers/Bolivia-golpe-de-Estado-y-la-irresuelta-guerra-entre-la-Biblia-y-la-Wiphala-20191113-0001.html">kneeling before the Bible on the Bolivian flag</a> at the government palace on Nov. 10. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302478/original/file-20191119-111630-izh2ns.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302478/original/file-20191119-111630-izh2ns.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302478/original/file-20191119-111630-izh2ns.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302478/original/file-20191119-111630-izh2ns.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302478/original/file-20191119-111630-izh2ns.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302478/original/file-20191119-111630-izh2ns.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302478/original/file-20191119-111630-izh2ns.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302478/original/file-20191119-111630-izh2ns.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Security forces block supporters of former President Evo Morales outside Cochabamba, Bolivia, Nov. 18, 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/APTOPIX-Bolivia-Protests/f056effea372414d9e630e6b402a6e77/7/0">AP Photo/Juan Karita</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Indigenous Bolivians fearful</h2>
<p>Indigenous Bolivians are concerned about the direction their country is headed under Áñez, though she may only be in power for a few months until new elections are called.</p>
<p>In the days since Morales left office, masses of Morales supporters have marched in from the countryside to convene in Bolivian cities, where they’re <a href="https://twitter.com/Marco_Teruggi/status/1196514476784263168">calling for the end to the interim government</a>. </p>
<p>Many say they fear repression from the military under the interim government. They worry that the political violence that has gripped Bolivia since its Oct. 20 election will turn into a racialized, religious violence targeting indigenous people. </p>
<p>“All of us who have Indian-looking faces are signaled as part of Morales’ party, especially indigenous women,” the feminist activist Adriana Guzmán <a href="https://www.telesurtv.net/news/caracter-racista-golpe-estado-bolivia-comunidad-indigena-20191113-0035.html">said to the news outlet Telesur news after Morales’ removal</a>.</p>
<p>With dozens dead and more than 700 injured in <a href="https://www.pagina12.com.ar/231398-carta-blanca-para-la-represion-y-la-impunidad-en-bolivia">military opperations ordered by Áñez</a> “to re-establish order,” the political situation <a href="https://www.msn.com/es-us/noticias/mundo/la-cidh-denuncia-que-hay-al-menos-23-muertos-y-715-heridos-desde-el-inicio-de-la-crisis-en-bolivia/ar-BBWSGBX">remains volatile</a>. </p>
<p>[ <em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127000/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Casey-Pariseault does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Indigenous people, symbols and religious practices filled the halls of power in Bolivia during Evo Morales’ 14-year tenure. Now a new conservative Christian leader seems to be erasing that legacy.
Matthew Casey-Pariseault, Clinical Assistant Professor of History, Arizona State University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/127139
2019-11-15T17:03:55Z
2019-11-15T17:03:55Z
Bolivian lithium: why you should not expect any ‘white gold rush’ in the wake of Morales overthrow
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301967/original/file-20191115-66921-127w1cn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Salar de Uyuni salt flat contains much of the world's lithium.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ksenia Ragozina / shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The overthrow of Bolivian president Evo Morales shows how the politics of environmentalism and social justice intersect in a silvery-white metal. As Morales flew to exile in Mexico, commentators <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/11/12/after-morales-ousted-coup-lithium-question-looms-large-bolivia">wondered</a> what will become of Bolivia’s lithium, a strategic resource used in consumer electronics and electric cars. </p>
<p>Lithium batteries are the most energetic ever created, and have inspired hopes that electric vehicles can help <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-dumbest-experiment-2018-9?r=US&IR=T">reverse</a> climate change, as well as expectations of a boom in “white petroleum” or “white gold,” as boosters refer to lithium. These are loaded analogies in a country defined by the brutal legacy of the Spanish conquest, and this history has guided how the Morales government approached the question of natural resources. </p>
<p>Its goal with lithium was to produce raw materials and battery components as part of a plan to foster domestic industrialisation. Depending on your ideological perspective, the fall of Morales either signals a return to the <a href="https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/bolivia-coup-against-morales-opens-opportunity-for-multinational-mining-companies/">bad old days</a> or heralds an era of <a href="https://twitter.com/jczuleta/status/1194486117099331584">rational resource development</a>.</p>
<p>Will Bolivia get its white gold rush under new management? The short answer is probably not, for reasons that have as much to do with the paradoxes of public policy and the global market for electric cars as with persistent north-south inequity. </p>
<h2>Electric cars caused a lithium boom</h2>
<p>Essentially, Bolivian lithium gained value thanks to California air quality policy. In 1990, the Golden State basically <a href="https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/zero-emission-vehicle-program">forced</a> the auto industry to produce battery electric vehicles. Automakers were aghast because batteries have shorter lifespans than electric motors, and this durability dilemma primarily rewards battery-making, not auto-making. In response, they fiercely lobbied to delay their commitments, infamously recalling and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaZSeuIWqEk">“killing”</a> their small fleets of leased electrics around the turn of the millennium. </p>
<p>In the late 2000s, though, electrics staged a comeback, largely thanks to Tesla Motors, a start-up that benefited from heavy <a href="https://cleanvehiclerebate.org/eng/ev/incentives/state-and-federal">state</a> and federal <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2015/01/tesla-and-its-subsidies-phil-kerpen/">subsidies</a>. In turn, Tesla’s survival led some mainstream automakers to grudgingly reconsider electrics.</p>
<p>And that stimulated the global lithium industry, especially in South America, home to the <a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/photographers-blog/2013/04/05/the-lithium-triangle/">“lithium triangle”</a>, a vast area of lithium-rich salt pans in the Andean high desert that overlaps Argentina, Bolivia and Chile. Over the past decade, Bolivia’s neighbours became important exporters of lithium carbonate, the basic form of refined lithium, and the Morales government wanted in, too. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301984/original/file-20191115-66941-1v2u668.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301984/original/file-20191115-66941-1v2u668.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301984/original/file-20191115-66941-1v2u668.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301984/original/file-20191115-66941-1v2u668.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301984/original/file-20191115-66941-1v2u668.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301984/original/file-20191115-66941-1v2u668.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301984/original/file-20191115-66941-1v2u668.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301984/original/file-20191115-66941-1v2u668.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There’s white gold in them thar salt flats.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">elleon / shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Bolivia has at least a quarter of the world’s lithium, including the single largest deposit in the Salar de Uyuni, a salt pan so large it can be seen from <a href="https://www.space.com/37431-satellite-sees-bolivian-salt-plain-photo.html">space</a>. In 2008, the government started work on a pilot plant to refine lithium carbonate and in 2018 struck a <a href="https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-bolivia-lithium/bolivia-to-invest-in-billion-dollar-lithium-deal-with-aci-systems-idUKKBN1HS0RW">deal</a> with a German company called ACI Systems to build an integrated plant producing lithium compounds and battery components.</p>
<h2>Isolated, impure and hard to extract</h2>
<p>Sceptical observers <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-12-03/bolivia-s-almost-impossible-lithium-dream">pointed out</a> that this ambitious scheme faced a host of serious technical, economic and geopolitical obstacles from the outset. Lithium is mined in two ways: from hard rock, as in <a href="http://www.lithiummine.com/lithium-mining-in-australia">Australia</a>, one of the world’s largest producers, or by evaporating the thin layer of brine that covers salt pans. This is how it is done in the Chilean and Argentine deposits. </p>
<p>But the Uyuni is wetter and at a higher altitude (3,656 metres), so evaporation there is less efficient. Moreover, Bolivian lithium contains more impurities, <a href="https://www.mining.com/bolivia-walks-away-from-lithium-project-with-german-company/">complicating</a> the extraction process. ACI said it could overcome these problems with new technology, but delays and disputes about royalties led the Bolivian government to <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/bolivia-scraps-joint-lithium-project-with-german-company/a-51100873">cancel</a> the deal in early November. Days later, Morales was deposed.</p>
<p>It is impossible to abstract lithium politics from Bolivia’s longstanding social crisis, often characterised as a <a href="https://www.alongdustyroads.com/posts/2016/4/14/santa-cruz-bolivia-guide-things-to-do-backpacking-activities">struggle</a> pitting white economic elites based in the lowland city of Santa Cruz, the commercial centre, against the largely indigenous political class in highland La Paz, the national capital. Critics argued that the integrated lithium operation had been <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bolivia-lithium-analysis/bolivia-seeks-investors-to-power-up-lagging-lithium-output-idUSKBN1EL1JB">ill-coordinated</a> and some <a href="https://twitter.com/jczuleta?lang=en">welcomed</a> the coup as an opportunity to reorganise and speed up the effort.</p>
<h2>Electric vehicle uncertainty is bad for business</h2>
<p>The reality is that Bolivia is beholden to forces largely out of its control. Its lithium reserves are isolated and hard to process, but the main factor preventing a white gold rush is the uncertain market for all-battery electric vehicles. </p>
<p>There are around <a href="https://www.iea.org/gevo2019/">5 million</a> electric vehicles in the world today. An impressive figure in historical context, but electric cars still represent only <a href="https://www.iea.org/tcep/transport/electricvehicles/">0.7%</a> of overall production, and mainstream automakers are not keen to ramp it up. The cars generally lose money and remain <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/50135750">expensive</a>. </p>
<p>Because the electric vehicle fleets are so new, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/billroberson/2019/09/30/the-clock-is-ticking-on-electric-car-batteriesand-how-long-they-will-last/">nobody knows</a> what battery lifetime and lifecycle costs might be and who is going to pay for replacement packs. Right now, those costs are decoupled from market demand and obscured by public subsidies that in some cases are being <a href="https://www.energy.gov/eere/electricvehicles/electric-vehicles-tax-credits-and-other-incentives">phased out</a>.</p>
<p>And these uncertainties are bad news for lithium producers. Expecting an electric vehicle boom, they overinvested and created a <a href="https://www.spglobal.com/en/research-insights/articles/why-lithium-has-turned-from-gold-to-dust-for-investors">supply glut</a> that slashed the price of lithium carbonate from US$25,000 to US$10,000 per metric tonne over the past two years. You might think that this would make for cheaper batteries, but battery packs are actually <a href="https://about.bnef.com/blog/behind-scenes-take-lithium-ion-battery-prices/">less sensitive to the prices of commodity materials</a> than typically assumed – instead, much of the cost comes from <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-01/panasonic-says-gigafactory-profit-in-sight-as-tesla-ramps-output">manufacturing inefficiencies</a>. </p>
<p>If the coup-makers believe that getting rid of Morales is going to change any of this, they are likely to be disappointed. The former president represented a <a href="http://www.amigosdeboliviayperu.org/NewsStories2012/B680BolOpensFirst%20LithiumPlant.html">constituency</a> that is in no hurry to develop the country’s resources if that means giving control and most of the profits to outsiders. The changing fortunes of the electric car industry, symptomatic more of a vast experiment than a true commercial enterprise at this stage, bear out this cautious approach. What is certain is that the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-50413981">civil unrest</a> provoked by the coup will not do Bolivia’s lithium industry any good.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127139/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Eisler does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Bolivia’s huge lithium reserves are isolated and hard to extract, and global uncertainty over electric vehicles is bad for business.
Matthew Eisler, Strathclyde Chancellor's Fellow, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Strathclyde
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/126859
2019-11-12T13:01:32Z
2019-11-12T13:01:32Z
Bolivia in crisis: how Evo Morales was forced out
<p>Evo Morales has <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-50383608">left Bolivia</a> on a plane for Mexico, a day after he resigned as president. Morales and his vice-president, Álvaro García Linera, stood down <a href="https://www.paginasiete.bo/nacional/2019/11/11/la-renuncia-de-evo-deja-un-vacio-de-poder-no-se-sabe-quien-asumira-las-riendas-del-pais-237040.html">from office</a> on November 10, following a <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/11/political-vacuum-bolivia-morales-announces-resignation-191111043447380.html?fbclid=IwAR2ABXrp4JHOvKkokgBPsi5dQwXEP-7E2I9mXop7R9QSXXfefaXpRzs_08U">suggestion</a> by the head of the military, Williams Kaliman. </p>
<p>Met with jubilation and despair by different sectors of Bolivian society, the resignations were the culmination of weeks of <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-50134451">unrest following presidential and parliamentary elections</a> on October 20. Morales initially appeared to have won in the first round, but the whole process was overshadowed by accusations of electoral fraud and the spectre of military intervention. </p>
<p>Nothing at the moment is black and white. The events represent both a military coup d’état and a moment of mass protest that unseated the government.</p>
<h2>For and against Morales</h2>
<p>The social base of Morales’s political party, Movement Towards Socialism (MAS), are the peasant organisations of the Andean highlands <em>altiplano</em> and the semi-tropical valleys of Cochabamba, alongside a group of unions and federations which represent peasants and rural proletarian labourers. They have an <a href="https://www.cis.gob.bo/publicacion/no-somos-del-mas-el-mas-es-nuestro-historias-de-vida-y-conversaciones-con-campesinos-indigenas-de-bolivia/">organic relationship</a> with the MAS and as such will all turn out to vote for and defend it on the streets. </p>
<p>This hard core of social support is complemented by those who work in sectors that have benefited from the politics of the MAS. These include swaths of the informal petty commodity producers and hidden wage labourers found in the popular economy, miners employed by both the state and cooperatives, and sections of the lower middle and professional classes who feel Morales has reduced the stigma they confront in their day-to-day lives. These groups, as I <a href="https://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/60636">examined in my own PhD research</a>, felt excluded and unrepresented within the liberal parliamentary democracy before the election of Morales in 2006.</p>
<p>The opposition to Morales is also comprised of multiple different – and contradictory – currents. First, there is a group concerned with the abstract notion of representative democracy, comprised of the urban middle-classes and university students. This is probably the largest opposition group and is found in all nine departmental capitals. </p>
<p>The second are indigenous groups which do not share the developmental agenda of the MAS government, and are in the pathways of extractive or large-scale infrastructure projects. The most visible of this opposition has come from the lowland indigenous groups, particularly those in the Isiboro Sécure National Park and Indigenous Territory and groups in the Chaco regions affected by hydrocarbon extraction. Others include groups in the Madidi national park opposing the megadams Bala and Chapete and the <em>ayllus</em>, socio-territorial units of Aymara indigenous communities, of North Potosí. </p>
<p>Increasingly powerful regional opposition groups are also concerned with the distribution of power and resources within the country. The indigenous opposition to Morales in the city of Potosí can be categorised as part of this group, as can the civic committees of the departments of Beni, Pando, Santa Cruz and Tarija.</p>
<h2>Coup d'état?</h2>
<p>Time accelerated in the period following presidential and parliamentary elections in Bolivia on October 20, with a decade’s worth of political events unfolding in the space of a couple of weeks, reorienting the political terrain. Yet time has also slowed down, with observers from afar looking on as if at a car crash in slow motion.</p>
<p>That Morales and García Linera stood down at the behest of the military is no surprise, and the possibility of a coup became increasingly likely in the days of protests and civic strikes between election day and November 10.</p>
<p>But the story of a coup d’état is by no means the whole story – and the ability of the three opposition groups to construct a multitude of popular forces powerful enough to direct the political currents in this moment has been astounding. In the wake of the election, the city of Santa Cruz was shut down for weeks by <a href="https://eldeber.com.bo/155997_la-ciudad-es-una-boca-que-grita-un-cuerpo-que-no-duerme-ni-se-cansa">a general strike</a> – the longest in the city’s history – while the streets of La Paz, Oruro, Potosí and Cochabamba were also barricaded.</p>
<p>The disorganised masses who congregated and <a href="http://www.la-razon.com/nacional/animal_electoral/violencia-apoderan-Santa-Cruz-indefinido_0_3243275701.html">burnt down</a> vote counting stations in Oruro, Potosí, Santa Cruz and Tarija following the suspension of the quick count broadcast on the night of October 20, coalesced into a movement strong enough to coordinate and sustain political activity against the MAS government. </p>
<p>During Morales’s final days in office, they were joined by social groups once supportive of the MAS, including the <a href="https://www.paginasiete.bo/nacional/2019/11/10/la-cob-pide-la-renuncia-de-evo-morales-236994.html">Bolivian Workers’ Central</a>. In this sense, the resignation of Morales and García Linera follows weeks of massive social protest.</p>
<p>Probably the most remarkable dynamic in this sped-up unfurling of history is the emergence of Luis Fernando Camacho, head of the Pro Santa Cruz Committee, from the backwaters of regional, right-wing politics in Santa Cruz to a political figure on the national scene. The arrival of the evangelical right to Bolivian politics – first in the form of presidential candidate Chi Hyun Chung and now in the figure of Camacho – has been a long time coming, but is nothing to celebrate. </p>
<p>Camacho, who speaks of bringing the bible to Bolivian politics, has been one of the more prominent figures <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/20191103-bolivia-opposition-figure-calls-on-military-in-election-crisis">calling for military intervention</a>. The far-right currents in the opposition movements have created the conditions that allowed more extreme opposition groups to burn down the houses of <a href="https://www.elcomercio.com/actualidad/incendio-casa-hermana-evo-morales.html">several prominent MAS allies</a> during the night of November 9.</p>
<p>These acts of violence, coupled with the initial findings of an audit of the election by the <a href="http://www.la-razon.com/nacional/animal_electoral/bolivia-elecciones-informe-oea-irregularidades-manipulacion_0_3255274450.html">Organisation of American States</a> of the elections, led Morales to call for new elections, overseen by a reconstituted Supreme Electoral Tribunal. But by the day of Morales’s resignation the demands of many protesters had surpassed the call for new elections and now only Morales’s exit would do. </p>
<h2>Power vacuum</h2>
<p>In the wake of the resignations, both <a href="http://www.la-razon.com/nacional/animal_electoral/Mesa-OEA-confirmo-Evo-Alvaro_0_3255274462.html">Carlos Mesa</a>, Morales’s main electoral opponent and Camacho demanded new elections without the participation of Morales. The urban support base of the MAS took to the streets in violent protest. </p>
<p>The preliminary report from the <a href="http://www.la-razon.com/nacional/animal_electoral/bolivia-elecciones-informe-oea-irregularidades-manipulacion_0_3255274450.html">OAS audit</a> into electoral fraud – whose methodology has been <a href="http://cepr.net/images/stories/reports/bolivia-elections-2019-11.pdf?v=2">questioned by some experts</a> – stated that even though there were numerous voting irregularities, it’s highly probable that Morales would have captured the largest share of the vote anyway. </p>
<p>Without Morales on the ballot paper in a future election, a large section of the electorate will not be able to vote for their candidate. This is a situation that some will call justice, given the way Morales skirted around the constitutional term limits, but that will leave a large, mainly rural, indigenous section of the population disenfranchised. Such frustration will lead to further violence if left unresolved. </p>
<p>The resignation of Morales and García Linera has now left a power vacuum. The deputy head of the senate, <a href="https://www.paginasiete.bo/nacional/2019/11/11/quien-es-jeanine-anez-la-posible-futura-presidente-bolivia-237051.html">Jeanine Anez</a>, is likely to step into the breach as interim president, but the route to new elections under a reconstituted Supreme Electoral Tribunal remains far from clear.</p>
<p>In 1983, Bolivian social theorist René Zavaleta Mercado noted the inability of Bolivian democracy to represent its <em>sociedad abigarrada</em> – its motley society. In 2019, the route forward appears to be the exclusion of a large proportion of Bolivians. The <em>wiphala</em>, the square banner that has long been a symbol of indigenous peoples and resistance, has been torn from government buildings and <a href="https://twitter.com/BenjaminNorton/status/1193689050894475264?s=20">unceremoniously burnt</a>. </p>
<p>If <a href="https://jornada.com.mx/2019/11/11/politica/008n2pol">Camacho’s proclamation</a> that “Pachamama (indigenous people) will never return to the palace. Bolivia is Christ” is anything to go by, Bolivian democracy remains incapable of managing the country’s motley society.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126859/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Angus McNelly received funding for his doctoral research from the Economic and Social Research Council. </span></em></p>
Recent events in Bolivia represent both a military coup d'état and a moment of mass protest.
Angus McNelly, Lecturer in Latin American Politics/International Development, Queen Mary University of London
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/126336
2019-11-11T23:21:27Z
2019-11-11T23:21:27Z
What’s going on in South America? Understanding the wave of protests
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300882/original/file-20191108-194633-1wtsvo3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C388%2C4401%2C2134&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Demonstrators clash with a police water cannon during a recent anti-government protest in Santiago, Chile. Several South American countries have been experiencing massive social unrest in recent months.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The news that Bolivian President Evo Morales <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/10/americas/bolivia-new-election-audit/index.html">is resigning amid an election fraud scandal</a> highlights an unfortunate reality about South America. Even though the continent has made big economic strides in recent years, it’s often still plagued by political and civil unrest.</p>
<p>With more than 425 million people, South American countries are among the world’s largest producers and exporters <a href="https://www.statista.com/chart/19127/biggest-producers-of-beef/">of beef</a> <a href="https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/world-leaders-in-soya-soybean-production-by-country.html">and soy</a> (Brazil), <a href="https://www.opec.org/opec_web/en/about_us/171.htm">oil</a> (Venezuela), <a href="http://www.ico.org/trade_statistics.asp">coffee</a> (Colombia), <a href="https://oec.world/en/profile/hs92/2204/">wine</a> (Argentina and Chile), <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/264626/copper-production-by-country/">copper</a> (Chile and Peru) and <a href="https://www.theoilandgasyear.com/market/bolivia/">natural gas</a> (Bolivia). </p>
<p>But South America has also long been known for its <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/why-political-turmoil-is-erupting-across-latin-america/2019/10/10/a459cc96-eab9-11e9-a329-7378fbfa1b63_story.html">political instability</a> and public policy tensions. </p>
<p>In the past century, several South American countries faced coups, military dictatorships and social uprisings. The last few months have shown that the turmoil is hardly a thing of the past.</p>
<h2>Wave of demonstrations</h2>
<p>In addition to Venezuela, where <a href="https://theconversation.com/5-reasons-why-trumps-venezuela-embargo-wont-end-the-maduro-regime-121538">political and economic crises</a> have resulted in a humanitarian disaster known around the world, there has been recent turbulence elsewhere in South America.</p>
<p>Paraguay has been experiencing massive protests against President Mario Abdo. Paraguayans are angry about <a href="https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2019/08/22/a-secret-hydropower-deal-with-brazil-causes-a-political-crisis-in-paraguay">an agreement with Brazil on the Itaipu hydroelectric power plant</a> that’s considered detrimental to the smaller country. </p>
<p>With the government at a 69 per cent disapproval rating, the opposition has started an <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-paraguay-president/paraguayan-presidents-popularity-plummets-amid-brazil-linked-political-crisis-idUSKCN1V421O">impeachment process against Abdo and his vice-president that’s close to completion</a>. The impeachment comes just seven years after <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jun/22/paraguay-fernando-lugo-ousted">former president Fernand Lugo was himself impeached</a> in 2012 amid land disputes that resulted in 17 deaths. </p>
<p>In Peru, President Martin Vizcarra <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/5972760/peru-president-dissolves-congress-corruption/">has dissolved congress</a> in an attempt to force new parliamentary elections. His actions have resulted in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Im5LX4Nc0sg">several demonstrations</a> around the country, including one that <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/11/reuters-america-update-2-mmgs-las-bambas-copper-mine-faces-production-halt-amid-protests.html">blocked access to a copper mine and caused production to cease</a>. </p>
<p>Vizcarra was the vice-president until last year, after <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/peru-kuczynski-resign-1.4587182">former president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski resigned</a> due to a possible connection to a bribery scandal involving Brazilian construction company Odebrecht. Another Peruvian president, Alan García, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-47965867">killed himself last April</a> when the police arrived at his home to arrest him for involvement in the same case.</p>
<h2>Election results disputed</h2>
<p>Bolivia has also been experiencing a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/28/bolivian-election-protests-santa-cruz-block-roads-la-paz">massive wave of demonstrations</a>. The opposition <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/bolivia-opposition-leader-calls-for-new-election-amid-unrest/a-51100841">did not accept the results of recent elections</a>, which gave the victory to Morales in the first round of voting for his fourth term. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301110/original/file-20191111-194637-31ckza.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301110/original/file-20191111-194637-31ckza.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301110/original/file-20191111-194637-31ckza.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301110/original/file-20191111-194637-31ckza.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301110/original/file-20191111-194637-31ckza.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301110/original/file-20191111-194637-31ckza.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301110/original/file-20191111-194637-31ckza.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301110/original/file-20191111-194637-31ckza.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Morales attends a news conference in La Paz, Bolivia, on Nov. 10, 2019. Morales is calling for new presidential elections and an overhaul of the electoral system.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Juan Karita)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Leading the country since 2006, Morales accepted <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bolivia-election/bolivia-split-as-opposition-calls-for-morales-to-step-down-rejects-audit-idUSKBN1XB4SA">a ballot audit</a> from the Organization of American States (OAS), which found the results of October’s elections could not be validated because of “serious irregularities.” He announced he was quitting for “the good of the country.”</p>
<p>Since the election, roads were closed across the country and daily riots were routine. Santa Cruz, the richest province in Bolivia, <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/20191029-dozens-injured-in-clashes-as-bolivia-s-election-standoff-enters-second-week">is experiencing an ongoing general strike</a>.</p>
<p>In Ecuador, President Lenin Moreno withdrew a subsidy on fuel, in place since the 1970s, due to an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). <a href="https://time.com/5705202/what-happens-next-in-ecuador/">The price of fuel has since skyrocketed</a>, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/ecuador-unrest-led-mass-protests-191010193825529.html">provoking massive protests</a> that paralyzed parts of the country in October.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300885/original/file-20191108-194661-1ndlc29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300885/original/file-20191108-194661-1ndlc29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300885/original/file-20191108-194661-1ndlc29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300885/original/file-20191108-194661-1ndlc29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300885/original/file-20191108-194661-1ndlc29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300885/original/file-20191108-194661-1ndlc29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300885/original/file-20191108-194661-1ndlc29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Anti-government demonstrators scale the facade of a residence to reach the rooftop in search of a better vantage point to battle with police in Quito, Ecuador, in October 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-50010190">Moreno has accused</a> his predecessor, Rafael Correa, and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of being behind the demonstrations, which continued <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/14/ecuador-protests-end-after-deal-struck-with-indigenous-leaders">even after the return of the subsidy</a>. </p>
<p>Chile, the South American country with the <a href="http://hdr.undp.org/en/composite/HDI">highest human development index</a> and one of the <a href="https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-richest-countries-in-south-america.html">highest GDPs per capita in the region</a>, is facing the biggest wave of public turmoil since the re-democratization of the nation in 1990. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/how-chile-went-from-an-economic-star-to-an-angry-mess/2019/10/29/9d575fe8-fa41-11e9-9e02-1d45cb3dfa8f_story.html">The triggers</a> were the increases in public transit fares and electricity bills at the beginning of October. </p>
<h2>Education, old-age pensions</h2>
<p>Issues relating to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/stunning-wealth-poor-services-behind-massive-chile-protests/2019/10/28/93e8e3e4-f93a-11e9-9e02-1d45cb3dfa8f_story.html">education</a>, mostly private and expensive, and the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/stunning-wealth-poor-services-behind-massive-chile-protests/2019/10/28/93e8e3e4-f93a-11e9-9e02-1d45cb3dfa8f_story.html">pension regime</a> are fuelling a lot of the unrest in Chile, particularly among youth and the elderly. The protests have resulted in at least 20 deaths and thousands injured amid charges of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/24/chile-protests-human-rights-un-investigation">state-sanctioned violence</a>.</p>
<p>Fortunately, Brazil and Argentina, the largest countries in South America, are not currently dealing with similar turmoil even though both countries recently held elections that revealed deeply divided electorates.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301111/original/file-20191111-194669-1o0fytt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301111/original/file-20191111-194669-1o0fytt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301111/original/file-20191111-194669-1o0fytt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301111/original/file-20191111-194669-1o0fytt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301111/original/file-20191111-194669-1o0fytt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301111/original/file-20191111-194669-1o0fytt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301111/original/file-20191111-194669-1o0fytt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro smiles during an event in Brasilia, Brazil, in October 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In October 2018, Brazil elected right-wing former army captain <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/28/americas/brazil-election/index.html">Jair Bolsonaro</a>. The onetime congressman defeated the leftist candidate, resulting in the first defeat of the Workers Party since 1998.</p>
<p>Regardless of the defeat and the wear caused by several corruption scandals, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-46013408">Brazil’s left-wing parties</a> still have a large number of seats in parliament as well as state governors. </p>
<p>In Argentina, the recent election of <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/alberto-fernandez-wins-argentine-presidential-election/a-51011631">Alberto Fernandez</a> has brought back the leftist party of former president Cristina Kirchner, who became vice-president. Even in defeat, former leader Mauricio Macri received 41.7 per cent of the vote, showing that, just as in Brazil, the opposition against Fernandez is strong. </p>
<h2>Possible consequences</h2>
<p>The resurgent unrest in South America has some similarities from country to country.</p>
<p>Most started because of minor causes, like bus or subway fare increases, but pertain to broader public policy problems like corruption, access to education, health care or pensions. <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-05/south-american-economies-dive-south-as-growth-outlook-dims">Economic issues</a> have played a significant role in the widespread dissatisfaction. </p>
<p>The strong economic indicators of years past in South America <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-latam-economics-recession-analysis/latin-america-lacks-ammunition-to-fight-global-economic-slowdown-idUSKCN1VA1YH">have weakened</a>. Many countries are now facing low GDP increases and high unemployment. </p>
<p>Even Chile is experiencing a decline in its economic outlook. The country is often considered <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editorials/chiles-ascent-from-3rd-to-1st-world/article12298793/">the first developed Latin American nation</a>. It is a bit early to say if the recent events could change that status. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/chile-protests-escalate-as-widespread-dissatisfaction-shakes-foundations-of-countrys-economic-success-story-125628">Chile protests escalate as widespread dissatisfaction shakes foundations of country's economic success story</a>
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<p>The unrest in South America is <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2019-10-24/protests-across-south-america-unleash-public-anger-at-elected-leaders">already being compared</a> to the Arab Spring, the wave of pro-democracy demonstrations in North Africa and Middle East. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/30/arab-spring-aftermath-syria-tunisia-egypt-yemen-libya">In 2010 and 2011</a>, the Arab Spring fuelled the fall of autocratic presidents in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, and generated civil war in Yemen. </p>
<p>Although there are similarities, South American countries are largely democratic, even if some of those democracies are fragile. The most recent South American elections have seen voters swinging between left- and right-wing parties.</p>
<p>The following weeks will determine the impact of these collective South American backlashes. Despite the amount of natural wealth in the region, instability in South America is commonly generated by economic crises, resulting in the type of massive civilian protests we’re seeing now. </p>
<p>[ <em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126336/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lenin Cavalcanti Guerra does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
In the last century, several South American countries faced coups, military dictatorships and social uprisings. Despite economic improvements in recent years, the continent remains mired in unrest.
Lenin Cavalcanti Guerra, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Saskatchewan
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/124385
2019-10-09T16:50:28Z
2019-10-09T16:50:28Z
The Latin American left isn’t dead yet
<p>Argentina, Bolivia and <a href="https://www.elpais.com.uy/informacion/politica/elecciones-dicen-encuestas-cara-octubre.html">Uruguay</a> will all hold presidential elections in October. And, for now, leftists are <a href="https://www.as-coa.org/content/guide-2019-latin-american-elections/argentina">strong contenders</a> in all three countries. </p>
<p>This is a somewhat unexpected development. Beginning in 2015, <a href="https://nacla.org/news/2016/12/09/right-turn">conservatives toppled</a> major leftist strongholds, including in Brazil, Argentina and Chile. The socially progressive Latin American left was <a href="https://aulablog.net/2019/01/09/a-right-turn-in-latin-america/">declared dead</a> <a href="https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/07/pink-tide-latin-america-chavez-morales-capitalism-socialism/">many times over</a>. </p>
<p>But the left-leaning populist Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/andres-manuel-lopez-obrador-was-elected-to-transform-mexico-can-he-do-it-99176">victory in Mexico</a> in July 2018 showed that Latin American political winds don’t all blow in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/mexicos-left-turn-and-the-road-to-uncertainty-106847">same direction</a>.</p>
<p>So what can be learned from the failures and successes of Latin America’s leftist parties and governments in the very recent past?</p>
<h2>Latin America’s ‘left turn’</h2>
<p>About two-thirds of all Latin Americans lived under some form of leftist government <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/book/1866">by 2010</a> – a “pink tide” that washed over the region following the election of Hugo Chávez in Venezuela in 1998. </p>
<p>Only a few countries – notably Colombia and Mexico – remained under conservative political leadership during this period.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296464/original/file-20191010-188792-1ysbkxb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296464/original/file-20191010-188792-1ysbkxb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296464/original/file-20191010-188792-1ysbkxb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296464/original/file-20191010-188792-1ysbkxb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296464/original/file-20191010-188792-1ysbkxb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296464/original/file-20191010-188792-1ysbkxb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296464/original/file-20191010-188792-1ysbkxb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296464/original/file-20191010-188792-1ysbkxb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Argentina, Bolivia and Uruguay have elections in October.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock.com/The Conversation</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Academics conventionally grouped this <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/welfare-and-party-politics-in-latin-america/BFE6B43ED35B5CB02919279F5620AB73">Latin American left</a> into <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=eKOwSqYH5rcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=uruguay+social+democratic+left&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiBl7LNpY_lAhXQl-AKHaIlB7QQ6AEwAHoECAEQAg#v=onepage&q=uruguay%20social%20democratic%20left&f=false">two camps</a>. </p>
<p>There was the moderate “social democratic” left of Brazil, Chile and Uruguay, which embraced an agenda of egalitarianism while accepting the basic precepts of market economics. </p>
<p>This group was generally contrasted with the <a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=3IVjDgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT5&ots=8jhwLduGbl&sig=eLyxmkw3j55zS5nuIfqGGkj6WI8#v=onepage&q&f=false">more radical “populist” left</a> that ran Venezuela, <a href="https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cuny/cp/2016/00000048/00000004/art00003">Bolivia</a>, Nicaragua and Ecuador. These governments shared the moderate left’s commitment to progressive social change but had bolder aims: an alternative to market economics and profound changes to political institutions. </p>
<p>Such groupings did little to predict these countries’ divergent fates.</p>
<p>In a few places, leftist governments have remained popular, vibrant and electorally competitive after over a decade in power – namely <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/bolivia/2018-02-14/key-evo-morales-political-longevity">Bolivia and Uruguay</a>. </p>
<p>But by 2015, <a href="https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/bolsonaro-and-brazils-illiberal-backlash/">Brazil</a>, <a href="https://www.wola.org/sites/default/files/Venezuela/Smilde%20Current%20History--final.pdf">Venezuela</a> and <a href="https://nacla.org/news/2018/07/25/nicaragua-view-left">Nicaragua</a> had all become political and economic catastrophes. <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/party-vibrancy-and-democracy-in-latin-america-9780190870041?cc=us&lang=en&">Chile’s leftist government</a> sharply declined in popularity. </p>
<h2>The conformist temptation</h2>
<p>Our <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ob2gBJoAAAAJ&hl=en">political science research</a> identifies some shared weaknesses of the <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=d7yzgzQAAAAJ&hl=en">Latin American left</a>.</p>
<p>The first lesson comes from the Workers Party, which governed Brazil between 2003 and 2016. </p>
<p>Like many progressive parties, the Workers Party’s founding leaders were idealistic – committed to <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300050745/workers-party-and-democratization-brazil">upending Brazilian politics as usual</a>. </p>
<p>Under the Workers Party, Brazil experienced a massive <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11186-019-09351-7">expansion of social citizenship rights</a>. By 2008, Brazilian President Lula da Silva was arguably the <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-brazil-tilts-rightward-lulas-leftist-legacy-of-lifting-the-poor-is-at-risk-65939">world’s most popular president</a>.</p>
<p>But the Workers Party became <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/politics-international-relations/comparative-politics/transformation-workers-party-brazil-19892009?format=PB&isbn=9780521733007">detached from the social movements</a> it once championed. Deeply immersed in the normal – even <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-brazil-is-winning-its-fight-against-corruption-71968">corrupt</a> – give-and-take of Brazilian politics, the party came to be molded by the flawed system it sought to change.</p>
<p>We call this pitfall the “conformist temptation.” </p>
<p>The Workers Party rule ended with the <a href="https://theconversation.com/impeachment-culture-wars-and-the-politics-of-identity-in-brazil-59436">2016 impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff</a>, Lula’s hand-picked successor. Although Rousseff herself <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-brazilian-president-dilma-rousseffs-real-crime-59363">faced no corruption charges</a>, the Workers Party left power associated with corruption scandals, campaign finance violations and economic mismanagement – the exact problems it had promised to fix.</p>
<p>Chile’s Socialist Party met a similar fate. </p>
<p>Under Presidents Ricardo Lagos and Michelle Bachelet, moderate leftists who governed Chile almost uninterrupted from 2001 to 2018, the party <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/12/18/chile-just-elected-a-billionaire-president-these-are-the-4-things-you-need-to-know/">distanced itself from its supporters in social movements</a>.</p>
<p>In 2011, students and teachers began <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2011/08/student-protests-in-chile/100125/">protesting</a> Chile’s low levels of public education funding and <a href="https://www.borgenmagazine.com/economic-inequality-in-chile/">high inequality</a>. The <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1866802X1600800305">youth protest movement</a> grew, exposing Chileans’ disappointment at the Socialists’ limited progress on social reforms. </p>
<p>These divisions on the left <a href="https://theconversation.com/chile-heads-into-presidential-runoff-with-a-transformed-political-landscape-86453">allowed Chile’s strong right wing to win</a> Chile’s 2018 presidential election.</p>
<h2>The autocratic temptation</h2>
<p>Crises in Venezuela, Nicaragua and Ecuador result from a different fatal flaw. </p>
<p>In these three countries, leftist leaders succumbed to what we call the “autocratic temptation” – the idea that a charismatic leader or popular political movement not only can speak for an <a href="https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/latin-americas-authoritarian-drift-the-threat-from-the-populist-left/">entire nation</a> but that they can <a href="https://theconversation.com/bolivia-is-not-venezuela-even-if-its-president-does-want-to-stay-in-power-forever-93253">do so forever</a>.</p>
<p>Like many authoritarian leaders, Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro and Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega have lost touch with their constituents. When leaders become too insulated, <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-dictators-dilemma-9780190228552?cc=us&lang=en&">research shows</a>, safeguards against corruption and irresponsible public policies weaken. </p>
<p>Authoritarian leaders are less likely to change course when things go wrong. </p>
<p>The consequences may be devastating – like Maduro’s egregious failure to adjust Venezuela’s exchange rate policies during its descent into economic crisis and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/venezuelas-crisis-in-5-charts/2019/01/26/97af60a6-20c4-11e9-a759-2b8541bbbe20_story.html">hyperinflation</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Weyland-24-3.pdf">Authoritarian leadership</a> has degraded democracy in Venezuela, Nicaragua and Ecuador in other ways, too. <a href="https://theconversation.com/ecuadors-populist-electoral-victory-for-moreno-shows-erosion-of-democracy-75157">Checks and balances on presidential authority</a> have been weakened and press freedoms restricted. In Venezuela and Nicaragua, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/nicaragua-protests-threaten-an-authoritarian-regime-that-looked-like-it-might-never-fall-95776">electoral process was manipulated</a>.</p>
<p>The autocratic temptation to lionize a charismatic founding leader weakens the governing political party, too, by making it extremely difficult for new leaders to emerge and carry forward the party’s long-term transformative agenda.</p>
<p>In Nicaragua and Venezuela, that has meant that <a href="https://theconversation.com/nicaraguans-try-to-topple-a-dictator-again-98123">autocrats have clung to power</a> despite popular demand that they leave.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://aulablog.net/2018/02/02/ecuador-referendum-marks-critical-juncture-for-moreno-and-correa/">Ecuador</a>, the current and former presidents – Lenín Moreno and Rafael Correa – are engaged in a bitter dispute. Protests have rocked Ecuador over Moreno’s <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-49955695">economic policy shifts</a> away from Correa’s agenda.</p>
<h2>Leftist exceptions</h2>
<p>So what explains the resilience of the left in <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/when-movements-become-parties/F06BEE9DEA9BA4E7DCFBD9A87266FAB8#fndtn-information">Bolivia</a> and <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/how-party-activism-survives/93C5584DB63DF0A80B51F3EEB68BC8E9">Uruguay</a>, where leftist parties have reduced <a href="http://www.santiagoanria.com/data.html">inequality</a> and made tremendous progress toward <a href="https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/delegative-democracy-revisited-more-inclusion-less-liberalism-in-bolivia/">social and political inclusion</a>? Left-wing candidates are polling well in both countries’ <a href="http://www.startribune.com/evo-morales-not-trending-among-bolivia-s-youth-ahead-of-vote/562382812">presidential races</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296075/original/file-20191008-128681-1cs7t1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296075/original/file-20191008-128681-1cs7t1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296075/original/file-20191008-128681-1cs7t1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296075/original/file-20191008-128681-1cs7t1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296075/original/file-20191008-128681-1cs7t1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296075/original/file-20191008-128681-1cs7t1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296075/original/file-20191008-128681-1cs7t1u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Argentine presidential candidate Alberto Fernandez and running mate, former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, at a campaign rally, Aug. 7, 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://pictures.reuters.com/CS.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&VBID=2C0BXZSUWZX3IE&SMLS=1&RW=1920&RH=996#/SearchResult&VBID=2C0BXZSUWZX3IE&SMLS=1&RW=1920&RH=996&POPUPPN=8&POPUPIID=2C0BF1MYIRFG1">Reuters/Agustin Marcarian</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In our assessment, what sets Bolivia and Uruguay apart is the strength of the ties between the leftist parties and <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/when-movements-become-parties/F06BEE9DEA9BA4E7DCFBD9A87266FAB8#fndtn-information">allied social movements</a> there. That has encouraged the accountability and responsiveness lacking in Venezuela, Brazil and Chile. </p>
<p>Civil society in Bolivia and Uruguay also retained its capacity for independent mobilization, constraining any possible slide into autocracy or unbridled ambition. </p>
<p>That may explain why Bolivia has so far <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/bolivia/2018-02-14/key-evo-morales-political-longevity">avoided the worst social and economic consequences of the autocratic temptation</a> – despite its charismatic indigenous president, Evo Morales, <a href="https://theconversation.com/bolivia-is-not-venezuela-even-if-its-president-does-want-to-stay-in-power-forever-93253">eliminating term limits and consolidating power</a> over the past 14 years. </p>
<p>In Argentina the left’s possible comeback has more to do with conservative president Mauricio Macri’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/sep/10/argentina-economic-crisis-imf-debt-default">economic mismanagement</a>. But the center-left ticket leading Argentina’s presidential race has also succeeded because the candidates formed a broad national coalition – one that includes an array of social movements, from labor unions to feminist groups.</p>
<p>The Latin American left has some life in it yet.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Progressives are leading in the presidential elections of Argentina, Uruguay and Bolivia, bucking the region’s recent rightward trend. But there are lessons in the failures of leftists past.
Santiago Anria, Assistant Professor of Political Science and Latin American Studies, Dickinson College
Kenneth M. Roberts, Richard J. Schwartz Professor of Government and Director, Latin American Studies Program, Cornell University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.