Bolivia News, Week 30 January – 5 February 2016
Bolivia Announces 2-Year Plan to Combat Zika Virus
TeleSur - 4 Feb- The South American country has registered only four cases of the mosquito-borne virus
but isn't taking any chances. The Bolivian government has launched a two-year strategic plan for the
prevention and control of the mosquito-borne viruses Zika, dengue and chikungunya. The Health Ministry
revealed Thursday that the cabinet approved a series of prevention and treatment programs against the
three infections […] Bolivia has only registered one native case of the Zika virus but four Bolivians caught
the virus while in Brazil, where the fever originated […]
Read more:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Bolivia-Announces-Two-Year-Plan-to-Combat-Zika-Virus-20160204-0031.html
Bolivia Truck Strike Chaos Leaves 11 Dead: Police
The Peninsula (Qatar) La Paz, Bolivia, (AFP) 3 Feb - Disruptions during a strike by truck drivers in Bolivia left
11 people dead in recent days, authorities said on Tuesday. Nine people died and 36 were hurt when their
bus crashed Tuesday as it drove around a road block set up by protesters, police chief Edgar Tellez said.
The two other victims, a woman and a male truck driver, died in separate incidents over recent days during
altercations at road blocks. Drivers have blocked roads across the country since Sunday during the strike
in a dispute over tax credits. The government has called for talks to end the strike that has hit five regions
of the South American country.
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/news/international/368869/bolivia-truck-strike-chaos-leaves-11dead-police
Larger Natural Gas Production Leads to Drop in Imports Last Year
Buenos Aires Herald, 30 Jan - Thanks to an increase in production, Argentina has been able to lower its
natural gas imports to a quarter of the amount needed to supply the domestic demand, according to a
report by the Abeceb consultancy published yesterday. Natural gas extraction rose 3.5 percent in the
second half of 2015, compared to the first six months of the year, an increase mainly reached thanks to
state-controlled energy company YPF. The firm’s production rose 14.2 percent in 2015, consequently
leading to fewer natural gas imports, mainly from Bolivia. Argentina not only imported less natural gas but
it also saved money as the price paid to Bolivia steeply dropped throughout the year thanks to the decline
in oil prices worldwide […] Read more:
http://www.buenosairesherald.com/article/207767/larger-natural-gas-production-leads-to-drop-inimports-last-year
Bolivia Posts First Trade Deficit Since 2003
LA PAZ – The value of Bolivia’s exports in 2015 fell by 31.6 percent to leave the Andean nation with its first
trade deficit after 12 straight years of surpluses, the National Statistics Institute reported Wednesday.
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Bolivia ran a trade surplus of $2.46 billion in 2014, on exports of $13.03 billion and imports of $10.56
billion. Last year, exports declined in value to $8.9 billion, while imports slipped to $9.68 billion, resulting
in a deficit of $773.8 million. Bolivia’s first negative trade balance since 2003 can be explained mostly by a
sharp decline in the value of its hydrocarbon exports amid plummeting global prices for crude oil […] Read
more:
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2404878&CategoryId=14919
Is the Long-Awaited ‘Bolivian Lithium Boom’ About to Happen?
John Bartlett
Latin Correspondent, 1 Feb - Bolivia’s lithium dream is nothing new. Generations of politicians have long
made hollow declarations about the country’s lithium potential; but is demand finally catching up with the
nation’s bountiful supply? Practically, the compound lithium carbonate is used in small quantities in the
manufacture of lithium-ion batteries – common in smart phones and electric cars. As the automotive
industry turns increasingly towards electric-powered and hybrid cars, the price of lithium has again been
predicted to rise 20 percent by 2017. It is thought that Bolivia harbors about half of the world’s lithium.
However, it is far from certain exactly how much lies below the vast, bleached expanse of the Salar de
Uyuni salt flats in the southwest of Bolivia – the largest of their kind in the world […] Read more:
http://latincorrespondent.com/2016/02/is-the-long-awaited-bolivian-lithium-boom-about-to-happen/
Bolivia’s Lithium Dream Bound to Come True? Nation’s Lithium Potential Foreseen to
Boost Economic Growth
KJ Mariño
Latin Post, 2 Feb - Bolivia, Chile and China are three of the most notable countries in the world where the
alkali metal lithium exists. And Bolivia has set to become a significant part in the development of green
technology. Considered as a very poor landlocked South American nation, Bolivia is a country where many
of its people work in salt [sic] mines. But thanks to salt and brine, which are essential in developing
commercial quantities of lithium, it may turn the country as the new Saudi Arabia of Latin America […]
Today, it is used in the production of thermonuclear weapons as well as in smartphones, robotics and
electric cars […] Read more:
http://www.latinpost.com/articles/112820/20160202/bolivia-s-lithium-dream-bound-come-true-nationlithium-potential-foreseen-boost-economic-growth.htm
China's Eximbank Discussing Loans for Bolivia's Mining Project
ECNS.cn, 31 Jan - A delegation from the Eximbank of China on Friday met with Bolivia's mining minister to
discuss the El Mutun iron ore exploration project […] On Jan. 19, Chinese state-owned enterprise Sinosteel
Equipment won the bid for the mining project, located in the eastern town of Puerto Suarez, the
investment cost of which is at least 450 million U.S. dollars. The objective is to produce 150,000 tons of
rolled steel a year within the next decade. This would fulfill 60 percent of the domestic demand in Bolivia,
which currently imports all its rolled steel from Brazil and Peru. According to Navarro, the contract with
Sinosteel will be signed in February. He predicted that Bolivia will save more than 230 million U.S. dollars
a year once this project is fully under way […] Read more:
http://www.ecns.cn/business/2016/01-31/197711.shtml
Rousseff Open to Idea of Brazil-Bolivia Rail Link
Latin American Herald, BRASILIA, 4 Feb – Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said Tuesday after a meeting
with Bolivian counterpart Evo Morales that her government is willing to study a project to build a railroad
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between the Atlantic coast of her country and Bolivia […] Rousseff did not say whether this project would
connect with the railroad system that her government agreed last year to develop in partnership with Peru
and China, and which would link northeastern Brazil with Peruvian ports on the Pacific. She said her
government will support any initiative that leads to greater integration with Bolivia, a country she
considers “fundamental” for Brazilian development […] Read more:
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2404785&CategoryId=14090
Bolivia Interior Minister Slams 'Dirty War' Against Evo Morales
TeleSur, 1 Feb - Bolivia’s Interior Minister, Carlos Romero, said the country’s right-wing opposition plans to
intensify its “dirty war” before the Feb. 21 referendum that will determine whether President Evo Morales
can seek a third consecutive term in 2019. “For sure they will multiply the dirty war in these two weeks,
especially because all the polls are clear and trends are favorable for us,” Romero said in a phone interview
with local media on Monday. According to Romero, the war is marked by a series of lies intended to
prevent Morales’s re-election. “The opposition politicians do not have electoral proposals or alternatives,
that's why they just use insults and do not respect Bolivians,” he said […] Read more:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Bolivia-Interior-Minister-Slams-Dirty-War-Against-Evo-Morales20160201-0007.html
Man Who Murdered Bolivian Leftist Leader in 1980 Captured
Fox News (EFE), 1 Feb - Bolivian President Evo Morales announced the arrest of a man convicted for the
1980 assassination of socialist leader Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz during the course of a military coup led
by Luis Garcia Meza. Morales said at a Sunday night press conference that Felipe Froilan Molina
Bustamante, alias “Killer,” was arrested at a secret hideout on the roof of a home in the Cota Cota
neighborhood in La Paz after a two-hour search by 80 police officers who came to the site after following
the fugitive's daughter. The president said that “Killer must know the location of the remains of Quiroga
Santa Cruz,” who disappeared July 17, 1980, when paramilitaries attacked the headquarters of the COB
labor federation during Garcia Meza's coup […] Read more:
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2016/02/01/man-who-murdered-bolivian-leftist-leader-in-180captured/
Bolivia Announces Mid-2016 Joint Military Exercise
Jonathan Olguin
Guadalajara, Mexico - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly, 1 Feb - General Gonzalo Durán Flores, commander of
the Bolivian Armed Forces, on 28 January announced a large-scale joint military exercise is slated for the
last week of July for “assessing and improving operational capabilities, training, force interaction, and
generating esprit de corps among the armed forces” […] Read more:
http://www.janes.com/article/57629/bolivia-announces-mid-2016-joint-military-exercise
Washington Attacks Against Bolivia Have Intensified
TeleSur 4 Feb- In an exclusive interview for teleSUR Thursday, Bolivia's Cabinet Chief Juan Ramon Quintana
criticized United States for interfering in the Andean country, accusing Washington of providing financial
and organizational support to the government's opposition. Former Bolivian leaders have been carrying
out destabilization plans and smear campaigns against Morales since he was elected in 2006, Quintana
said […] Read more:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Washington-Attacks-Against-Bolivia-Have-Intensified-201602040043.html
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Bayan Taunts US Ambassador On Mamasapano, Expulsion from Bolivia
Kristine Angeli Sabillo
Inquirer (Philipines), 29 Jan - Militant group Bagong Alyansang Makayaban (Bayan) on Friday hit US
ambassador Philip Goldberg for his statements on the Mamasapano incident, saying it is not the first time
that the envoy involved himself in a country’s local operations. “Goldberg is one to speak of legal
framework. He was previously expelled from Bolivia also for interfering in that country’s internal affairs,”
Bayan spokesperson Nato Reyes said in a text message to media. It was in 2008 when Bolivian President
Evo Morales declared Goldberg “persona non grata” from his country. Morales accused Goldberg of
“conspiring against democracy and seeking the division of Bolivia.” Goldberg, in a television interview, said
the support America offered during the controversial Mamasapano operation was “within the legal
framework” of the Philippines and the United States […] Read more:
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/135831/bayan-taunts-us-ambassador-on-mamasapano-expulsion-frombolivia#ixzz3zInMUJkB
CONTACT:
ROBERT BROCKMANN
NATIONAL INFORMATION OFFICER
UNITED NATIONS INFORMATION CENTER – LA PAZ (UNIC-L A PAZ)
+591 2 2624 412
ROBERT .BROCKMANN @UNIC.ORG
UNIC.LAPAZ@UNIC .ORG
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