Timeline Bolivia
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History: http://www.boliviaweb.com/history.htm
Bolivia Hist: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/botoc.html
An ancient Inca site at Tiwanaku,
Bolivia, indicates
the sowing of over 2,000 varieties of potato. The Aymara-speaking
people once ruled the region around lake Titicaca, northwest of Cerro
Rico. The 650-square-foot Akapana pyramid at Tiwanaku was entirely
man-made.
(Hem., Dec. '95, p.24)(NH, 11/96, p.37)(Arch, 1/05,
p.10)
Bolivia has 9 departments under elected provincial
governors. These and their capitals include Chuquisaca (Sucre);
Cochabamba (Cochabamba); El Beni (Trinidad); La Paz (La Paz); Oruro
(Oruro); Pando (Cobija); Potosi (Potosi); Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz de la
Sierra) and Tarija (Tarija).
(Econ, 4/23/05, p.40)(www.statoids.com/ubo.html)
Bolivia is nearly eight times bigger than New York state.
(AP, 5/22/06)
6000BC
Researchers in 2007 reported that evidence for the use of chili peppers
date back to this time in Ecuador. Botanists if general agreed that
chili peppers originated in Bolivia. Evidence for early use was also
found in the Bahamas, Colombia, Panama, Peru and Venezuela.
(SFC, 2/16/07, p.A7)
3000BC The use of coca in Bolivian culture can be
traced back to at least this time. It is commonly called hoja sagrada,
or sacred loaf.
(SFC, 6/29/00, p.A12)
1200 The Inca Empire conquered the
area of Bolivia around this time and remained in control until arrival
of Spaniards.
(AP, 12/17/05)
c1470 The Quechua-speaking Incas
came to dominate what is now Bolivia a mere 75 years before the
Spaniards arrived.
(NH, 11/96, p.37)
1545 The Spanish discovered the
silver mines of Potosi, Bolivia. From the town of Cerro Rico, which
means Hill of Riches, they took out the equivalent of $2 billion from
one mountainside.
(NH, 10/96, p.4)(NH, 11/96, p.38)
1548 Jul 16, La Paz, Bolivia, was
founded.
(MC, 7/16/02)
1561 Santa Cruz (Bolivia) was
founded by the Spaniard Nuflo de Chavez as a bulwark against Portuguese
expansion.
(WSJ, 12/6/96, p.A12)
1573 The city of Potosi, Bolivia,
at the foot of Cerro Rico grew to surpass Seville, Madrid, Rome or
Paris.
(NH, 11/96, p.38)
1781 Tupak Katari, Aymara Indian
leader, laid siege to La Paz, Bolivia, for 109 days. A Spanish army
finally broke through and Katari was executed by being drawn and
quartered.
(SFC, 4/5/01, p.A12)(WSJ, 1/8/04, p.A1)
1783 Jul 24, Simon Bolivar
(d.1830), was born in Caracas, Venezuela. He was a soldier and
statesmen who led armies of liberation throughout much of South
America, including Ecuador, Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Peru and
Bolivia, which took its name from Bolivar. Bolivar, called "the
Liberator," was a leader in Venezuela for struggles of national
independence in South America. He formed a Gran Colombia that lasted 8
years but broke apart into Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador. Bolivar
died of tuberculosis.
(AHD, p.148)(SFC, 6/14/97, p.E3)(AP, 7/24/97)(HNQ,
3/30/00)
1825 Aug 6, Simon Bolivar drew up
a constitution for Bolivia in which a life president appointed his
successor. Sucre served as the sole capital until losing a brief civil
war to La Paz in 1899. Upper Peru became the autonomous republic of
Bolivia.
(Econ, 7/1/06, p.77)(AP, 7/21/07)(AP, 8/6/08)
1826-1828 Gen. Antonio Jose de Sucre (1793-1830),
Venezuela-born national hero of Ecuador, served as president of Bolivia.
(www.famousamericans.net/antoniojosedesucre/)
1830 Dec 17, Simon Bolivar
(b.1783), called "the Liberator," died of TB in Santa Marta, in
Colombia. He was a leader in Venezuela for struggles of national
independence in South America. He formed a Gran Colombia that lasted 8
years, but broke apart into Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador. In 2006
John Lynch authored “Simon Bolivar: A Life.”
(AHD, p.148)(SFC, 6/14/97, p.E3)(AP, 12/17/97)(Econ,
7/1/06, p.77)
1830 Mayor de San Andres,
Bolivia’s major university, was founded in La Paz.
(www.ddg.com/LIS/aurelia/boltou.htm)
1834 Bolivia’s Penal Code of
1834, Article 139, stated: "Anyone who conspires directly and in fact
to establish another religion in Bolivia or (promotes) that the
Republic cease to profess the Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic Religion,
is traitor and will be punished with the death penalty."
(http://religiousfreedom.lib.virginia.edu/rihand/Bolivia.html)
1839 Jan 20, Chile defeated a
confederation of Peru and Bolivia in the Battle of Yungay.
(AP, 1/20/98)
1860-1947 Don Simon Iturbi Patino, part Indian
Bolivian miner, made a fortune in tin. While working as a clerk a
customer in debt offered him the deed to an old tin mine. It turned out
to be one of the richest deposits on earth. He served as an ambassador
to Spain and France but was shunned by Bolivian aristocracy
(WSJ, 1/11/98, p.R18)
1879-1883 In the War of the Pacific, Chile’s army won
the nitrate-rich desert lands from Peru and Bolivia. The war was fought
over the treatment of Chilean investors in the desert territories. The
area remained in contention until a 1929 agreement proposed by Pres.
Herbert Hoover.
(SFC, Z-1, 4/28/96, p.5)(SFEC, 11/14/99, p.A22)
1887 Nov 28, Ernst Roehm, early
Nazi and German staff member, later Bolivian leader, was born.
(MC, 11/28/01)
1898 In Bolivia Sucre began to
lose its pre-eminence to La Paz following a decline at the nearby
silver mine at Potosi.
(Econ, 7/28/07, p.39)
1899 La Paz became the seat of
Bolivia’s legislative and executive branches after winning a brief
civil war against Sucre, which retained the country’s high courts.
(AP, 8/6/97)(Econ, 7/1/06, p.77)(AP, 7/21/07)
1904 Oct 20, Bolivia and Chile
signed a treaty ending the War of the Pacific. The treaty recognized
Chile's possession of Bolivia's nitrate-rich coastal province of
Antofagasta, but provided for construction of a railway to link La Paz,
Bolivia, to Arica on the coast.
(HN, 10/20/98)(Econ, 12/6/03, p.34)
1907 Robert Leroy Parker and Harry
Longabaugh, known as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, held up
another bank in Argentina. They sold their ranch in Patagonia to a beef
syndicate and went to Bolivia where they were gunned down by soldiers
after robbing a mine payroll.
(SFC, 1/19/98, p.A10)
1926 May 10, Hugo Banzer (d.2002),
later dictator and president, was born in Concepcion.
(SFC, 5/6/02, p.B5)
1926-1930 Hernando Siles Reyes led the country.
(SFC, 8/8/96, p.A22)
1928 Dec 5, Paraguay initiated a
series of clashes, which led to full-scale war with Bolivia in spite of
inter-American arbitration efforts. Both belligerents moved more troops
into the Chaco Boreal, a wilderness region north of the Pilcomayo River
and west of the Paraguay River that forms part of the Gran Chaco. By
1932 war was definitely under way.
(www.onwar.com/aced/data/charlie/chaco1932.htm)
1929 Jun 3, Chile, Peru &
Bolivia signed an accord about the Tacna-Arica area. Chile and Peru
accepted a proposal by Pres. Herbert Hoover over the outcome of the
1879-1893 War of the Pacific. Chile would retain Arica and return Tacna
to Peru and grant access to the Arica port as a compromise. The accord
was not implemented until 1999.
(SFEC, 11/14/99, p.A22)(MC, 6/3/02)
1932-1935 The Chaco War was fought between Paraguay
and Bolivia. The war was waged over disputed territory in the Chaco
Boreal, a plain shared by both South American countries. Although
outnumbered and poorly equipped, the Paraguayan army won every major
engagement with the Bolivians. Some 90,000 people were killed in the
war. A commission of neutral nations awarded most of the disputed
territory to Paraguay in 1938.
(HNQ, 7/18/98)(SFC, 8/17/06, p.A10)
1932-1935 Prisoners of the Chaco War built the
one-lane Unduavi-Yolosa highway from La Paz to the Yungas region. It
was called the world's most dangerous highway and every week at least
one vehicle fell off its edge.
(SFC, 2/24/00, p.A12)
1933 May 10, Paraguay declared war
on Bolivia.
(MC, 5/10/02)
1933 Dec 11, Reports said Paraguay
had captured 11,000 Bolivians in the war over Chaco.
(HN, 12/11/98)
1935 Jun 14, A commission of
neutral nations (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru, and the
United States) declared an armistice in the Chaco War between Bolivia
and Paraguay. A definite settlement was finally reached in 1938.
(http://countrystudies.us/bolivia/15.htm)
1936 The YPFB (Yacimientos
Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos) was created with the exclusive right
to explore, produce and distribute hydrocarbons.
(WSJ, 2/14/97, p.A8)
1937 Bolivia under the nationalist
administration of General David Toro nationalized its energy sector.
Toro cancelled the Standard Oil Company's oil contracts and seized the
US company's holdings in exchange for a 1.7 million dollar
indemnification.
(http://coanews.org/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=872)
1941 Jun 7, Jaime Laredo,
violinist (Queen Elisabeth of Belgium prize 1959), was born in Bolivia.
(SC, 6/7/02)
1942 Jun 7, Victor Paz Estensorro
founded the National Revolutionary Movement (MNR party).
(SFC, 6/8/01, p.D5)
1952 Apr 9, A popular uprising in
Bolivia broke the grip by three families on the rich silver and tin
lodes of Oruto and Potosi in the altiplano. This led to the state owned
Minera de Bolivia known as Camibol. Hernan Siles Zuazo led the
revolution that brought far-reaching social and economic reforms.
Feudalism was replaced with universal suffrage. Every business of note
was passed into the hands of the state.
(WSJ, 5/23/96, p.A-9)(SFC, 8/8/96, p.A22)(WSJ,
8/15/95, p. A-6)(MC, 4/9/02)
1952 The MNR Party was the driving
force behind a revolution that launched agrarian reforms, the universal
right to vote, and the nationalization of Bolivia’s mines. The MNR was
also accused of assassinations and torture.
(SFC, 6/8/01, p.D5)
1952 In Bolivia many of the
largest haciendas were broken up as part of agrarian reforms, thousands
of indigenous worked on the plantations in near slavery.
(AP, 7/5/03)
1952-1956 Victor Paz Estensorro founder of the
National Revolutionary Movement, served his 1st of 4 terms as president.
(SFC, 6/8/01, p.D5)
1953 Bolivia’s agrarian reform of
1953, born of the1952 revolution, was adversely affected by corruption
and pressure groups. By 1996, 55 million hectares had been handed over
to large landholders, and 45 million hectares to small farmers.
(http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32429)
1953-1955 Bolivia’s President Paz Estenssoro
established universal suffrage. The government reduced the size and
budget of the armed forces. The three major tin companies were
nationalized, to be run by the Mining Corporation of Bolivia (Comibol).
Strongly influenced by peasants, the government enacted sweeping
agrarian reform. Miners organized the Bolivian Labor Federation (COB).
(http://tinyurl.com/s7dzd)
1956-1960 In Bolivia Hernan Siles Zuazo (1913-1996)
became president.
(SFC, 8/8/96, p.A22)
1960-1964 Victor Paz Estensorro founder of the
National Revolutionary Movement, served his 2nd of 4 terms as president.
(SFC, 6/8/01, p.D5)
1964 Hugo Banzer was appointed
director of the military academy.
(SFC, 5/6/02, p.B5)
1964 A string of military coups
began in Bolivia, but it returned to democratic rule in 1982.
(AP, 12/17/05)
1964-1965 Victor Paz Estensorro founder of the
National Revolutionary Movement, served his 3rd of 4 terms as president.
(SFC, 6/8/01, p.D5)
1965-1981 Military regimes ran the country. Their
human rights violations were documented in the 1993 book “Never Again
for Bolivia” by Jesuit author Federico Aguilo.
(SFC, 3/15/97, p.A11)
1967 Pres. Barrientos had peasant
support with distribution of 25-acre plots and the adoption of Indian
rights measures. This made it very difficult for revolutionary activity
to take hold.
(SFC, 5/12/96, Z1p.4)
1967 Jan, Ernesto “Che” Guevara
began organizing the National Liberation Army in
Bolivia.
(SFC, 5/12/96, Z1p.4)
1967 Apr, French author Regis
Debray (b.1940) was imprisoned in Bolivia shortly before the capture of
Che Guevara [see Nov 17].
(www.tamilnation.org/ideology/debray.htm)
1967 Aug 31, Haydee Tamara Bunke
Bider, aka Tania the Guerrilla, was killed when her guerrilla column
was ambushed by Bolivian soldiers. The remains of Bider, who was born
in Argentina, were uncovered in Sep. 1998 in Vallegrande and returned
to Cuba, her adopted homeland.
(SFC, 12/15/98, p.A17)
1967 Oct 8, Che Guevara was
captured by US trained Bolivian Rangers near Vado del Yeso.
(SFC, 5/12/96, Z1p.4)(SFEC, 7/13/97, p.A10)
1967 Oct 9, Latin American
guerrilla leader Che Guevara (b.1928), Ernesto Serna, was executed
while attempting to incite revolution in Bolivia. Guevara was captured
the previous day and executed on the orders of Bolivia’s Pres. Gen.
Rene Barrientos. Guevara believed that a man of action could
revolutionize a people and strove to fight what he perceived as the
American domination of Latin America. ”Pueblo unido jamas sera
vencido.” (A United people will never be overcome.)
(AP, 10/9/97)(SFC, 12/23/04, p.A18)(SFC, 10/9/07,
p.A17)
1967 Oct 10, The body of Che
Guevara was laid out at the Lord of Malta Hospital in Villegrande,
Bolivia, 300 miles from the site of capture. The next day his body
vanished. His body was found in a common grave on Jun 28, 1997.
(SFC, 5/12/96, Z1p.1)(SFEC, 7/13/97, p.A10)
1967 Nov 17, French author Regis
Debray (b.1940) was sentenced to 30 years in Bolivia. Debray (b.1940)
was jailed in Bolivia shortly before Che Guevara was captured and was
convicted of having been part of Guevara's guerrilla group. He was
released in 1970 after an international campaign for his release which
included Jean-Paul Sartre, André Malraux, General De Gaulle and
Pope Paul VI.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regis_Debray)
c1968 Gen. Juan Jose Torres
selected economist Hugo Torresgoitia as vice president.
(SFC, 7/14/03, p.A2)
1969 Apr 27, Gen. Rene Barrientos
(b.1919), military president of Bolivia, died in a helicopter crash.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Barrientos_Ortu%C3%B1o)
1969 Nov 5, Bolivia nationalized
its energy sector a 2nd time. Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz, the Minister
of Mines and Petroleum, nationalized the assets and concessions of the
Gulf Oil Company, under the administration of General Alfredo Ovando
Candia (1969-1970).
(http://countrystudies.us/bolivia/60.htm)(http://tinyurl.com/blqnw7)
1970 Nov 27, Pope Paul VI,
visiting the Philippines, was slightly wounded at the Manila airport by
Benjamin Mendoza, a dagger-wielding Bolivian painter disguised as a
priest.
(AP, 11/27/02)
1970 Dec 23, French journalist
Regis Debray (b.1940), arrested in 1967, was freed in Bolivia.
(www.indopedia.org/1970.html)(www.lrb.co.uk/v30/n03/hard01_.html)
1971 Jan, Gen. Juan Jose Torres
dismissed Hugo Banzer from his position as director of the military
academy. Banzer followed with a coup attempt and was exiled to
Argentina.
(http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_gx5221/is_/ai_n19134773)
1971 Aug 22, A coup led by Col.
Hugo Banzer Suarez deposed leftist army Gen’l. Juan Jose Torres, who
had created a Soviet-style legislature. Torres fled to Argentina.
(WUD, 1994, p. 1688)(SFC, 3/15/97, p.A11)(SFC,
11/23/99, p.A16)
1971 Oct, Bolivia restored the
death penalty for terrorism, kidnapping, and crimes against government
and security personnel. In 1997 the death penalty was abolished for
ordinary crimes.
(http://tinyurl.com/6384qk)(www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/countryfacts/bolivia.html)
1971-1978 Colonel Hugo Banzer Suarez served as the
military dictator and ruled the country through repression and torture.
(SFC, 3/15/97, p.A10)
c1973 In Bolivia Pres. Hugo Banzer
met with Chilean military authorities. The Chilean military Operation
Condor sought Chilean exiles in Bolivia and other countries for return
to Chile for execution.
(SFEC, 11/29/98, p.A26)
1974 Hugo Banzer, military
dictator of Bolivia, prohibited all political activity.
(SFC, 5/6/02, p.B5)
1976 May 11, Col. Joaquin Zenteno
Anaya, Bolivia’s ambassador to France, was assassinated in Paris.
Members of the Che Guevara brigade claim credit. Zenteno had led the
army division that captured and executed Che Guevara in 1967.
(http://openweb.tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/1976-5/1976-05-11-ABC-13.html)
1976 Jun 2, Gen’l. Juan Jose
Torres (b.1920), ousted as president of Bolivia in 1971, was kidnapped
by a death squad in Argentina and killed. He was a victim of the Condor
Plan, a South American military pact between Argentina, Brazil,
Bolivia, Chile and Paraguay to exchange intelligence information and
help each other hunt down suspected leftists.
(SFC, 11/23/99,
p.A16)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Jos%C3%A9_Torres)
1978 Jul 3, The Amazon Pact was
established. Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru,
Suriname, and Venezuela signed the Amazon Pact, a Brazilian initiative
designed to coordinate the joint development of the Amazon Basin.
(http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/Amazon+Pact)
1978 Jul 21, In Bolivia Gen’l.
Juan Pereda Asbun overthrew Pres. Banzer in a coup.
(WUD, 1994, p.1691)
1980 Jul 17, In Bolivia a bloody
coup installed a reactionary (and cocaine-tainted) dictatorship led by
general Luis Garcia Meza. Former president (1956-1960) Hernan Siles
Zuazo (1914-1996), who had won the most votes in elections flew to
exile. He returned in 1982, when the military's experiment had ran its
course and the Bolivian economy was on the verge of collapse. He served
a 2nd term from 1982-1985.
(SFC, 8/8/96, p.A22)(http://tinyurl.com/3andtr)
1982 Oct 10, In Bolivia Hernan
Siles Zuazo (1914-1996) became president again and served to 1985. His
presidency restored democracy after 18 years of harsh military rule.
(SFC, 8/8/96, p.A22)(AP,
12/17/05)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hern%C3%A1n_Siles_Zuazo)
1983 Jan 25, Klaus Barbie, SS
chief of Lyon in Nazi-France, was arrested in Bolivia.
(www.exilordinaire.org/rubriques/?keyRubrique=klaus_barbie2)
1983 Feb 5, Former Nazi Gestapo
official Klaus Barbie (d.1991), expelled from Bolivia, was brought to
trial in Lyon, France. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
(MC, 2/5/02)(AP, 2/5/03)
1985 Hyperinflation and a hostile
Congress cut short the term of Pres. Hernan Siles Zuazo and early
elections were called. Colonel Hugo Banzer Suarez won the election but
lost out to a coalition alliance. Pres. Paz Estenssoro led the country
and initiated a neoliberal reform to save the country from
hyperinflation that reached 22,000% per year.
(SFC, 8/8/96, p.A22)(SFC, 3/15/97, p.A10)(SFC,
6/8/01, p.D5)
1985 The price of tin crashed and
23,000 miners lost their jobs.
(NH, 11/96, p.38)
1985 The IMF couched the country
through a maxi-devaluation and fiscal adjustment.
(WSJ, 6/19/98, p.A15)
1985 Roberto Suarez, drug dealer,
was sentenced to a 15-year prison term.
(WSJ, 12/6/96, p.A12)
1985 Drug traffickers gunned down
naturalist Noel Kempff Mercado and a colleague while the pair visited a
remote area to record bird calls.
(WSJ, 12/6/96, p.A12)
1985-1986 Jeffrey Sachs, UN special advisor, helped
stop the hyperinflation in Bolivia.
(Econ, 7/7/07, p.27)
1985-1989 Victor Paz Estensorro founder of the
National Revolutionary Movement, served his 4th of 4 terms as president.
(SFC, 6/8/01, p.D5)
1986-1996 The US provided $1.2 billion in aid.
(WSJ, 12/6/96, p.A12)
1988 Aug 8, Sec. of State Shultz
narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in Bolivia.
(www.tkb.org/MorePatterns.jsp?countryCd=BL&year=1988)
1989 Aug 6, Jaime Paz Zamora was
inaugurated as president of Bolivia.
(AP, 8/6/99)
1992 Edmundo Paz Soldan authored
his novel “Turing’s Delirium.” It won the Bolivian National Book Award
and in 2006 appeared in English translated by Lisa Carter.
(SSFC, 7/9/06, p.M3)
1993 The book "Never Again
for Bolivia" by Jesuit author Federico Aguilo documented the human
rights violations of the military regimes from 1965-1981.
(SFC, 3/15/97, p.A11)
1993 Mr. Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada
(Goni) was elected president of Bolivia. In 1995 he began a plan of
auctioning off companies to foreign investors. The proceeds were
directed to go half for modernizing the companies and half for a
pension fund for the people of Bolivia.
(WSJ, 8/15/95, p. A-1)
1993 The constitution was changed
to allow the next president a five-year term.
(WSJ, 2/14/97, p.A7)
1994 Mar 21, Bolivia’s Congress
approved a new capitalization program.
(WSJ, 2/14/97, p.A8)
1994 Houston based Enron
Development Corp. was called in to help develop the Bolivian side of
the Bolivia-Brazil natural gas pipeline.
(WSJ, 2/14/97, p.A8)
1995 Dec, The Paris Club of
creditor countries will recommend writing off 67% of the country's
foreign debt and consolidating the remainder at market interest rates.
(WSJ, 12/18/95, p.A-9)
1995 In Bolivia Evo Morales
founded the Movement Toward Socialism. He was later elected to
congress, and in 2002 narrowly lost the presidential race to Gonzalo
Sanchez de Lozada.
(AP, 12/13/05)
1996 May, In Bolivia the
Inti-Raymi SA unit of Battle Mountain Gold of Houston accounts for 10%
of the country’s annual export. It churns out more gold in its open pit
mine with 318 workers than the rest of Bolivia’s 20,000 small
stakeholders.
(WSJ, 5/23/96, p.A-9)
1996 Aug, In Bolivia a holding dam
at a COMSUR owned mine burst and released 230,000 metric tons of sludge
containing lead and arsenic into the Rio Pilaya which in turn feeds the
Pilcomayo. Local reports called this the worst environmental disaster
in Latin America of the century.
(NH, 2/97, p.6)
1996 Oct 10, In Bolivia the
government reached an agreement with landowners and Indian leaders on a
land reform bill. Large landowners received a 50% tax reduction in
return for their support. More than 20,000 Indians had staged daily
protests over the last 2 weeks. Under the law land could only revert to
the state if its owners failed to pay the land tax.
(SFC, 10/11/96, p.A17)(Econ, 9/23/06, p.41)
1996 Oct 14, Bilateral agreements
with the US held that 12,000 to 19,000 acres of coca production be
eradicated. Failure to do so would cause a suspension of foreign aid
and approval of funds from agencies such as the World Bank.
(SFC, 10/14/96, p.A13)
1996 Bolivia joined Mercosur, the
Southern Cone Common Market, as an associated member.
(WSJ, 2/14/97, p.A9)
1996 Bolivia passed a hydrocarbons
law that paved the way for privatizations.
(Econ, 9/13/03, p.34)
1996 The state oil company, YPFB,
was divided into 2 upstream exploration and production units and one
transport division.
(WSJ, 2/14/97, p.A8)
1996 Dinosaur footprints were
discovered on the wall of a limestone quarry near the town of Sucre.
(SFEC, 8/2/93, p.A18)
1997 Feb 10, It was reported that
heavy rains have destroyed the homes and crops of tens of thousands of
farmers. The rains were the heaviest in 3 decades.
(SFC, 2/10/97, p.A8)
1997 May 10, It was reported that
more than one-fifth of Bolivia’s population was infected with Chagas
disease. The ailment is transmitted by triatomine insects that carry
the Trypanosoma cruzi parasite. T. Cruzi can enter the bloodstream
through scratched skin and causes nerve damage and swelling of the
heart and colon that can lead to death after years of infection.
(SFC, 5/10/97, p.A10)
1997 Jun 1, The former right-wing
gen’l. and president, Hugo Banzer, won the popular vote in elections
with 25% [22%] but failed to get a majority. Former Pres. Jaime Paz
Zamora was 2nd with 17.5%. Congress chose from among the 2 top
contenders on Aug 4. Victor Paz Estenserro was elected by Congress.
(SFC, 6/2/97, p.A6)(WSJ, 6/19/98, p.A15)(SFC,
5/6/02, p.B5)
1997 Aug 5, In Bolivia the
Congress elected former dictator Hugo Banzer as president. He pledged
economic reforms and steps to cut poverty.
(WSJ, 8/6/97, p.A1)
1997 Oct 24, The first McDonald’s
restaurant opened in La Paz.
(SFC,10/24/97, p.D2)
1997 Bolivia’s per-capita annual
income was $1,024.
(SFC, 12/14/98, p.A12)
1997 Bolivia began registering
ships under the Bolivian flag with virtually no restrictions.
(WSJ, 10/23/02, p.A1)
1998 Mar 3, It was reported that
the US had slashed aid to fight drugs in Bolivia by 75% or some $34
million. Aid in 1997 was $46 million. The allocation was partly shifted
to Columbia.
(SFC, 3/3/98, p.A9)
1998 Apr 1, The Bolivian Workers’
Confederation called an open-ended strike for wage increases and an end
to the coca eradication program. Violent clashes over 4 days had left 3
dead and dozens injured in Chapare. Pres. Hugo Banzer said his
government would continue to wipe out cocaine trafficking during his
5-year term.
(SFC, 4/798, p.A12)
1998 May 22, Earthquakes destroyed
hundreds of homes in central remote mountain towns and at least 60
people were killed.
(SFC, 5/23/98, p.A12)
1998 The Bolivian military
destroyed some 37,000 acres of coca fields.
(SFC, 11/20/99, p.C1)
1998 In Bolivia investment in
hydrocarbons exploration and production reached a peak of $605 million.
(WSJ, 4/4/05, p.A12)
1999 Aug 23, In Bolivia fires were
reported to have destroyed 350,000 acres of farmland, at least 500
homes and much of the town of Ascencion de Guarayos. Thousands of
residents were left homeless.
(SFC, 8/24/99, p.A11)
1999 Nov 19, In Bolivia a 5-day
Conference of American Armies ended. Discussions centered on new roles
for the Latin armies such as defending democracy, fighting poverty and
eradicating drug smuggling.
(SFC, 11/20/99, p.C1)
1999 In Bolivia the Vinto
tin smelter was privatized in a $27 million purchase by the British
firm Allied Deals. The deal included the nearby Huamuni mine. In 2002 a
liquidator sold Vinto for $6 million to a consortium headed by Comsur,
a mining company owned by Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada (Goni), Bolivia’s
former president (1993-1997). In 2005 Goni sold Comsur’s Bolivian
assets to Glencore, a mining company based in Switzerland for some $220
million, of which $90 million was said to be for the smelter.
(Econ, 2/17/07, p.40)
2000 Feb 2, An oil spill was
reported to have leaked some 5,000 barrels into the Desaguadero River,
which empties into Lake Titicaca. The spill was reported to have
reached Lake Poopo and Lake Uru Uru and was spreading to the
communities of the Aymara Indians.
(SFC, 2/5/00, p.A16)
2000 Apr 8, In Bolivia Pres.
Banzer declared a state of emergency following a week of protests. 3
protesters were reported killed in 3 separate clashes which began in
Cochabamba over a 20% increase in water rates.
(SFEC, 4/9/00, p.C13)
2000 Apr 9, In Bolivia thousands
of Aymara Indian farmers clashed with soldiers in Achacachi and
Batallas. The clashes over economic problems left 3 soldiers and 2
farmers dead.
(SFC, 4/10/00, p.A16)
2000 Apr 11, In Bolivia some
anti-government protests continued but in Cochabamba tensions eased
after the government canceled a contract with Aguas del Tunari, a
Bechtel subsidiary, that threatened increased water prices. In
2002 Bechtel demanded $25 million for suspension of the 40-year lease.
The dispute was settled in 2006 with no compensations paid.
(SFC, 4/12/00, p.A17)(SFC, 2/2/02, p.A1)(WSJ,
1/20/06, p.A8)
2000 Apr 17, Coca leaf farmers in
the Yungas region scuffled with truckers in a protest against
government plans to destroy illegal coca plantations.
(SFC, 4/18/00, p.A10)
2000 May 11, It was reported that
long-standing ethnic rivalry between the Laime, Quaquachaca and
Jucumani tribes in the Andean highlands had left numerous people dead.
(SFC, 5/11/00, p.A18)
2000 Sep-2000 Oct, Protests
against the coca eradication program took place and cut off the capital
of La Paz with roadblocks. 10 people were killed.
(SFC, 1/6/01, p.A7)
2000 Oct 6, Indian leaders and
government ministers agreed prop up corn prices, reverse a land titling
process and revert water rights back to Indian peasants. This followed
3 weeks of road blocks that had paralyzed the economy.
(SFC, 10/7/00, p.A9)
2000 Felipe Quispe (El Mallku, the
Great Condor), peasant labor leader, founded the Pachakutik (time will
come full circle) Indigenous Movement.
(SFC, 4/5/01, p.A12)
2000 A new variety of the titi
monkey of the genus callicebus was discovered in Bolivia’s Madidi
National Park, a 7,300 square mile area.
(SFC, 6/8/04, p.A2)
2001 Feb 22, Walter Poirier, US
Peace Corps volunteer, was last seen in La Paz.
(SFC, 3/8/01, p.A16)
2001 Jun 7, Former Bolivian
president Victor Paz Estensorro, founder of the National Revolutionary
Movement, died at age 93.
(SFC, 6/8/01, p.D5)
2001 Jul 7, Bolivia’s Pres. Banzer
(75) was reported to be hospitalized in Washington DC with cancer in
his lung and liver.
(SFC, 7/7/01, p.B1)(SSFC, 7/8/01, p.A16)
2001 Jul 30, It was reported that
Pres. Banzer would step down Aug 6 due to his cancer diagnosis.
(WSJ, 7/30/01, p.A1)
2001 Aug 6, Pres. Banzer stepped
down form office. Vice Pres. Jorge Quiroga (41) assumed the office.
(SFC, 8/7/01, p.A7)
2001 Sep 5, In Bolivia some
125,000 census takers began their count.
(SFC, 9/5/01, p.A9)
2001 Felipe Quispe (El Mallku, the
Great Condor), peasant labor leader, was reported to be a contender for
Bolivia’s 2002 presidential elections
(SFC, 4/5/01, p.A10)
2001 Foreign direct investment in
Bolivia reached $660 million.
(WSJ, 4/4/05, p.A12)
2002 Feb 19, In Bolivia a flash
flood in La Paz killed at least 22 people. The death toll later climbed
to 52.
(SFC, 2/20/02, p.A11)(SFC, 2/21/02, p.A13)
2002 May 5, Hugo Banzer (b.1926),
Bolivia’s former dictator (1971-1978) and president (1997-2001), died.
(SFC, 5/6/02, p.B5)
2002 Jun 30, Bolivians voted for
president and Congress following a campaign in which some candidates
urged radically changing the political system and overturning the
free-market economy. The economy was sliding and crime so rampant it
had provoked lynchings. Many Bolivian voters turned away from
traditional candidates in elections for president and Congress, picking
a fragmented group that some analysts said could leave the country more
unstable. Evo Morales (42), a Aymara Indian of the Movement Toward
Socialism party, won 21% of the vote and a seat in Congress. Voters
elected 36 Indians to the lower house of 130 seats and 10 Indians to
the 27-seat Senate.
(AP, 6/30/02)(AP, 7/1/02)(SFC, 7/6/02, p.A8)(SFC,
7/12/02, p.A10)
2002 Jul 19, In Bolivia a crowded
bus plunged into a ravine in an Andean road near La Paz, killing 19 and
injuring 15.
(AP, 7/19/02)
2002 Aug 4, In Bolivia Gonzalo
Sanchez de Lozada (72), a wealthy businessman who grew up in the United
States and former president (1882-1997), was voted by Congress (84-43)
to the presidency.
(AP, 8/5/02)
2002 Sep 2, In Bolivia a bus slid
off a muddy shoulder on one the most dangerous highways and plunged
into a ravine, killing at least 20 people.
(AP, 9/2/02)
2003 Jan 18, In Bolivia a bus
slammed into a mountainside outside Cochabamba, killing 28 people and
injuring at least 30.
(AP, 1/20/03)
2003 Feb 12, In Bolivia angry
civilians joined striking police officers in a protest that degenerated
into riots, leaving at least 17 people dead and Bolivian government
buildings in flames.
(AP, 2/13/03)(SFC, 2/12/03, p.A9)
2003 Feb 18, The Bolivian
Cabinet resigned after violent street protests left 29 dead and the
government of Pres. de Lozada near collapse.
(AP, 2/18/03)
2003 Feb 19, In Bolivia
Pres. de Lozada announced a new Cabinet, replacing eight ministers and
eliminating six ministries.
(AP, 2/20/03)
2003 Mar 29, The government of
Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, Bolivia's president, was on the verge of
collapse. His ratings were the lowest of any South American leader, and
he admitted coups were brewing beneath him.
(AP, 3/30/03)
2003 Mar 31, In Bolivia rescue
officials struggled to reach victims buried by a landslide that roared
through Chima, a gold-mining town in Bolivia's tropical lowlands,
killing an estimated 300-400 people.
(AP, 4/1/03)(SFC, 4/1/03, p.A8)(AP, 4/2/03)
2003 May 13, It was reported that
coca production in Bolivia was on the rise due in part to a failed
US-supported crop-substitution program.
(WSJ, 5/13/03, p.A1)
2003 Aug 1, In Bolivia
police seized 2 tons of cocaine and arrested 20 people in what
officials called the country's biggest drug bust in nearly a decade.
(AP, 8/1/03)
2003 Aug 2, Bolivian police seized
3 more tons of cocaine meant for shipment to Spain in the country's
biggest drug bust ever.
(AP, 8/3/03)
2003 Sep 21, In Bolivia a rural
roadblock near Warista ended in a clash with police and soldiers that
left at least 4 people dead.
(SSFC, 9/28/03, p.C2)
2003 Oct 9, Miners angry about a
proposal to export oil through Chile clashed with riot troops near the
Bolivian capital. At least two people were killed and nine were hurt.
(AP, 10/9/03)
2003 Oct 11, Bolivia’s Pres.
Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada and two of his ministers, Carlos Sanchez
Berzain and Jorge Berindoague, signed Supreme Decree No. 27209
directing the military to break up demonstrations that blocked fuel
truck access to the city of La Paz.
(www.boliviasolidarity.org/takeaction/latestactions/sanfran)
2003 Oct 12, In Bolivia violence
erupted at El Alto when the military tried to break a blockade against
gas trucks bound for Chile. The death toll grew to 59 after 4 days of
clashes at El Alto. Finance Ministry officials began a 3-day withdrawal
of 13.7 million bolivianos (US$1.8 million). In 2006 Marcela Nogales,
the central bank manager, was jailed for releasing the money, which
facilitated a military crackdown.
(http://tinyurl.com/onpns)(SFC, 10/15/03,
p.A11)(Econ, 10/18/03, p.38)(AP, 9/6/06)
2003 Oct 13, Bolivia's Pres.
Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada dropped plans to export natural gas in the
face of massive protests that left 18 dead.
(SFC, 10/14/03, p.A3)(WSJ, 10/14/03, p.A1)
2003 Oct 14, In Bolivia
demonstrations called for the resignation of Pres. Gonzalo Sanchez de
Lozada as 30,000 marched in La Paz. [see Oct 12]
(SFC, 10/15/03, p.A11)(Econ, 10/18/03, p.38)
2003 Oct 17, Bolivia's Pres.
Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada (“Goni”) resigned in a letter to Congress. VP
Carlos Mesa, a moderate political unknown, took over the presidency. As
one of Bolivia's top journalists, Mesa wrote a best-selling book,
"Entre urnas y fusiles" (Between the Ballot Box and the Rifle), about
the many presidents in this country's often tumultuous history. Lozada
and Jose Sanchez Berzain, the former defense minister, fled to the US.
In 2007 suits were filed in the US against Lozada and Berzain men for
their October crackdown on protestors that left 67 people dead.
(Econ, 10/16/04,
p.34)(www.boliviasolidarity.org/takeaction/latestactions/sanfran)
2003 Oct 19, In Bolivia Pres.
Carlos Mesa swore in a new Cabinet with most ministers independent of
the political establishment.
(SFC, 10/20/03, p.A3)
2003 Nov 13, Cocaine was reported
to generate as much as $500 million of Bolivia's $8.5 billion economic
output. Nearly 30,000 acres of coca production was allowed for domestic
use.
(WSJ, 11/13/03, p.A14)
2003 Nov 21, In Bolivia assailants
shot and killed Jessica Nicole Borda (22), the daughter of an American
consular official, during a carjacking attempt in the eastern city of
Santa Cruz.
(AP, 11/21/03)
2003 Dec 23, Flooding in central
Bolivia killed at least 19 people and left 40 missing, most of them
passengers on a bus that was swept away by a swollen river.
(AP, 12/24/03)
2003 Bolivia's former Pres.
Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada and Jose Sanchez Berzain, the former defense
minister, fled to the US. In 2007 a suit was filed against both men for
their 2003 crackdown on protestors that left some 60 people dead.
(SFC, 9/27/07, p.A21)
2004 Feb 11, In Bolivia 2 inmates
were voluntarily nailed to crosses by their fellow prisoners as part of
a protest for better conditions and shorter sentences that was
broadcast on TV.
(AP, 2/11/04)
2004 Feb 27, In Bolivia a
prosecutor who handled drug cases was killed by a bomb that demolished
her car as she started the engine.
(AP, 2/28/04)
2004 Mar 30, In Bolivia an angry
miner with dynamite strapped to his chest blew himself up inside
Congress, also killing two police officers.
(AP, 3/30/04)
2004 May, Bolivian public sector
unions and many workers began a general strike to force the resignation
of Pres. Carlos Mesa due to spending cuts and new taxes.
(Econ, 5/8/04, p.37)
2004 Jun 1, In eastern Bolivia
army soldiers fought peasants blocking a highway in a clash that killed
one soldier and one civilian.
(AP, 6/2/04)
2004 Jun 21, In central Bolivia a
crowded bus plunged off a 800-foot precipice, killing as many as 38
people.
(AP, 6/23/04)
2004 Jul 18, Bolivians voted in
favor of exporting the nation's vast natural gas reserves in a
referendum designed by the president to defuse social unrest. Voters
mandated higher taxes and greater government control over oil and gas.
(AP, 7/19/04)(Econ, 7/24/04, p.36)(Econ, 4/23/05,
p.38)
2004 Oct 18, In Bolivia thousands
of peasants and workers demonstrated in La Paz, demanding that former
President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada be tried for the deaths of more
than 50 people in the suppression of protests that toppled his
government one year ago.
(AP, 10/18/04)
2004 Dec 5, In Bolivia Indian and
peasant organizations promising better access to health care and
education won every major city in local elections, trouncing
long-dominant parties.
(AP, 12/6/04)
2004 Dec 30, Bolivia’s government
under Carlos Mesa announced a 23% increase in the cost of diesel fuel
and a 10% rise for petrol. Protests soon followed.
(Econ, 1/22/05, p.35)
2004 Foreign direct investment in
Bolivia fell to $416 million.
(WSJ, 4/4/05, p.A12)
2005 Jan 11, A strike by workers
and a demonstration that drew hundreds of thousands of people paralyzed
Santa Cruz as Bolivia's largest city joined an anti-government protest
that has elicited a pledge from the president to resign if things turn
violent. The protests forced the government to cancel water concessions
to a foreign firm.
(AP, 1/12/05)(WSJ, 1/12/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 28, Bolivia’s Pres. Mesa
agreed to allow Santa Cruz residents to elect their own local leaders
and hold a national referendum that could extend greater autonomy to
other provinces.
(AP, 1/28/05)
2005 Feb 3, Bolivia’s Pres. Carlos
Mesa shuffled his cabinet in the wake of street protests calling for
regional autonomy and objecting to a planned increase in the price of
fuel oil.
(AP, 2/3/05)
2005 Mar 6, In Bolivia President
Carlos Mesa said he would submit his resignation to Congress after 17
months in office, warning that growing protests against Bolivia's oil
and gas laws could soon block the country's highways and isolate its
main cities.
(AP, 3/7/05)
2005 Mar 8, Bolivian lawmakers
unanimously rejected a resignation offer by President Carlos Mesa,
granting crucial support to his government.
(AP, 3/9/05)(Econ, 3/12/05, p.39)
2005 Mar 15, Bolivia's embattled
President Carlos Mesa asked the country's legislature to authorize an
early presidential election this summer, saying he can no longer govern
among growing protests and road blockades.
(AP, 3/16/05)
2005 May 17, In Bolivia a measure
increasing taxes on foreign oil companies became law. It slapped a 32%
production tax on top of royalties of 18% paid by producers of natural
gas and oil. The president and thousands of street protesters wanted
the industry nationalized.
(AP, 5/18/05)(Econ, 5/21/05, p.42)
2005 May 24, In Bolivia thousands
of demonstrators blocked major roads in and around La Paz, isolating
the city in a protest demanding the nationalization of the oil industry
and opposing autonomy for an oil-producing region.
(AP, 5/24/05)
2005 May 31, In Bolivia thousands
of demonstrators prevented legislators from reaching the congressional
building Tuesday, forcing the suspension of their first session after a
weeklong recess caused by continued street protests.
(AP, 5/31/05)
2005 Jun 3, Bolivia's Pres. Carlos
Mesa called a constitutional assembly and a referendum over greater
regional autonomies, meeting the key demands behind street protests
that have virtually paralyzed La Paz for more than two weeks.
(AP, 6/3/05)
2005 Jun 6, President Carlos Mesa,
his 19-month-old government unraveling amid swelling street protests
and a crippling blockade of the Bolivian capital, announced his
resignation in a nationally televised address.
(AP, 6/7/05)
2005 Jun 9, In Bolivia Vaca Diez,
president of the Senate, relinquished his claim to the presidency, as
did the president of the lower house. Eduardo Rodriguez, the Supreme
Court chief justice, automatically became president.
(AP, 6/10/05)(Econ, 6/18/05, p.34)
2005 Jun 14, A 7.9 earthquake
rattled cities in Bolivia and Peru and heavily damaged mountain
villages in northern Chile, killing at least 11 people including a
family of 6.
(WSJ, 6/14/05, p.A1)(AP, 6/15/05)
2005 Jun 14, A UN report showed
South America's cocaine output rose by 2 percent last year, bucking a
five year downward trend as increases in Peru and Bolivia outpaced
Colombia's clampdown on coca cultivation.
(AP, 6/14/05)
2005 Sep 9, The presidents of
Bolivia, Brazil and Peru inaugurated a $810 million highway project to
connect Brazil's Atlantic coast to Peru's Pacific ports before the end
of the decade.
(AP, 9/9/05)
2005 Sep 20, In Bolivia a fire
that has devoured more than 247,000 acres of Amazon forest burned out
of control near the Brazilian border.
(AP, 9/20/05)
2005 Sep 30, South American
presidents committed themselves to establishing a continental free
trade zone. The South American summit was attended by the presidents of
Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Paraguay, Ecuador, Venezuela, Brazil and
Argentina.
(AP, 10/1/05)
2005 Dec 18, Socialist Evo Morales
(46) waved coca branches as he headed to vote amid jubilant townsfolk
who hoped to see him become Bolivia's first Indian president and end a
U.S.-backed anti-drug campaign aimed at eradicating their crops.
(AP, 12/18/05)
2005 Dec 19, In Bolivia Evo
Morales, candidate for the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS), won the
presidential elections, a victory that would solidify the continent's
shift toward the political left.
(AP, 12/19/05)(Econ, 5/20/06, p.42)
2005 Dec 20, Evo Morales,
Bolivia's presidential front-runner said he would not allow unlimited
production of coca, the crop used to produce cocaine. He said coca
farmers should have a say in controlling the crop, but left unclear how
that could be accomplished. Morales also said that the current foreign
firm contracts for exploration and production of natural gas were
illegal and a re-negotiation would be necessary.
(AP, 12/21/05)(WSJ, 12/21/05, p.A14)
2005 Dec 27, A close aide said
Bolivia’s President-elect Evo Morales will reject US economic and
military aid if the US requires continued coca-eradication efforts to
get the money.
(AP, 12/27/05)
2005 Bolivia’s population was
about 8.5 million.
(AP, 12/17/05)
2006 Jan 3, Venezuela President
Hugo Chavez offered Bolivia's president-elect Evo Morales diesel fuel,
trade benefits and help in financing his social reforms as the two
leftists cemented ties, reasserting their opposition to US policy in
Latin America.
(AP, 1/3/06)
2006 Jan 9, Bolivian
President-elect Evo Morales met with Chinese President Hu Jintao in
Beijing and called China an "ideological ally," a day after he invited
the communist country to develop Bolivia's vast gas reserves.
(AP, 1/9/06)
2006 Jan 13, Bolivia's
president-elect ended an around-the-world tour with a promise to
respect foreign investments and vowed not to nationalize the Bolivian
operations of Brazil's state oil company Petrobras SA.
(AP, 1/13/06)
2006 Jan 17, Outgoing President
Eduardo Rodriguez fired Bolivia's army chief over his decision to have
28 Chinese shoulder-launched missiles destroyed in the US.
(AP, 1/17/06)
2006 Jan 19, In Bolivia a flatbed
truck drove off the side of the mountainous road near Tarija, killing
at least 38 people.
(AP, 1/20/06)
2006 Jan 22, Evo Morales,
Bolivia's first Indian president, took office with a promise to lift
his nation's struggling indigenous majority out of centuries of poverty
and discrimination.
(AP, 1/22/06)
2006 Jan 23, In Bolivia Evo
Morales appointed a Marxist energy minister and a Cabinet of Indians,
intellectuals and union leaders, backing his promise to establish a
socialist shape.
(AP, 1/24/06)
2006 Jan 27, Bolivia’s Pres. Evo
Morales cut his salary by more than half and declared no Cabinet
minister can collect a higher wage than his own, with the savings to be
used to hire more public school teachers.
(AP, 1/27/06)
2006 Feb 7, Bolivia’s President
Evo Morales asked the US to reconsider a proposed cut in anti-drug aid,
and called on the world to strengthen drug-fighting alliances.
(AP, 2/7/06)
2006 Feb 13, President Evo Morales
appealed to the Bush administration to extradite a former President
Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, who fled to the US amid an uprising that
left about 60 people dead after a military crackdown on demonstrators.
(AP, 2/13/06)
2006 Mar 6, President Evo Morales
accused the US government of trying to intimidate Bolivia by announcing
it would cut some aid because of a disagreement over the appointment of
a military commander.
(AP, 3/6/06)
2006 Mar 9, An Argentine air force
plane providing aid for Bolivian flood victims crashed outside of La
Paz, killing all six people on board.
(AP, 3/9/06)
2006 Mar 22, In Bolivia bombs
exploded inside two low-budget hotels in La Paz overnight, killing two
people and wounding seven. Triston Jay Amero (24), an American from
Placerville, Ca., and Alda Ribeiro (45), of Uruguay, were arrested in
connection with the bombings. Amero had earlier described himself as
“the Superman of Loosers.”
(AP, 3/22/06)(SFC, 3/24/06, p.B12)
2006 Mar 31, Military and police
forces took control of Bolivia's major airports, one day after hundreds
of striking airline workers blocked runways and disrupted flights to
three airports.
(AP, 3/31/06)
2006 Apr 29, Bolivia's new
left-leaning president, Evo Morales, signed a pact with Cuba and
Venezuela on rejecting US-backed free trade and promising a socialist
version of regional commerce and cooperation. Bolivia became the 3rd
member of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA).
(AP, 4/29/06)(Econ, 5/6/06, p.38)
2006 May 1, Bolivia’s President
Evo Morales ordered the oil and gas sector nationalized, threatening to
evict foreign companies unless they cede control over production within
six months. The biggest natural gas field was operated by Brazil’s
state-owned Petrobras.
(AP, 5/2/06)(SFC, 5/2/06, p.A3)(Econ, 5/6/06, p.37)
2006 May 2, Bolivia's leftist
government said it would extend control over mining, forestry and other
sectors of the economy. Foreign governments warned relations could be
damaged. Soldiers guarded natural gas fields and refineries across
Bolivia after President Evo Morales ordered the sector nationalized,
threatening to evict foreign companies unless they cede control over
production within six months.
(AP, 5/2/06)
2006 May 3, Bolivia's decision to
nationalize its natural gas industry drew challenges from Brazil as top
officials pledged to defend current gas contracts and suspend
investment in the Bolivian industry.
(AP, 5/3/06)
2006 May 4, Brazil’s President
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva met with Argentina’s Pres. Nestor Kirchner,
Venezuela’s Pres. Chavez and Bolivia’s Pres. Morales in response to
Bolivia’s decision to nationalize its oil and gas industry. Morales
offered to refrain from cutting off supplies and to negotiate prices.
(Econ, 5/13/06, p.43)
2006 May 9, A plan by Bolivia's
leftist government to redistribute up to 54,000 square miles of land to
the poor generated protests by leaders in the wealthy province of Santa
Cruz, the stronghold of opposition to leftist President Evo Morales.
(AP, 5/10/06)
2006 May 11, The EU and Latin
America opened a three-day summit in Vienna with over 60 national
leaders attending, including Venezuela's fiery, often anti-Washington
President Hugo Chavez. Bolivian President Evo Morales said that foreign
oil companies would not be compensated for oil and gas resources that
have been nationalized, and European Union president Austria called for
explanations.
(AFP, 5/11/06)
2006 May 12, Relations between
Brazil and Bolivia sank to their lowest point in a century, as the two
sparred over Bolivia's nationalization of its energy sector and threats
to seize Bolivian land held by Brazilian farmers.
(AP, 5/12/06)
2006 May 13, The presidents of
Brazil and Bolivia said they patched things up after days of
accusations and threats.
(AP, 5/14/06)
2006 May 16, Bolivia's leftist
government outlined its plan to redistribute idle land to poor
peasants, ruling out mass expropriations and proposing instead the
distribution of state-owned property.
(Reuters, 5/16/06)
2006 May 26, Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez moved to expand his oil-rich country's influence in Bolivia
with a set of accords to secure Venezuela's role in the impoverished
Andean nation's recently nationalized energy industry.
(AP, 5/26/06)
2006 Jun 1, Bolivian doctors
staged a 1-day strike to protest the presence of 600 Cuban physicians
providing free care as Pres. Morales cultivates links to Castro.
(WSJ, 6/2/06, p.A1)
2006 Jun 3, Bolivia’s leftist
President Evo Morales launched a sweeping land reform plan by handing
over roughly 9,600 square miles of state-owned land to poor Indians.
The ceremony came after talks broke down between Morales and
agribusiness leaders on land reforms that involve handing out 77,000
square miles of government land, an area twice the size of Portugal,
over the next five years.
(AP, 6/3/06)
2006 Jun 14, Four Andean nations
(Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia and Peru) agreed to chart new trade plans
with the United States without Venezuela.
(AP, 6/14/06)
2006 Jun 16, Bolivian President
Evo Morales' leftist government says it will fight poverty, hunger and
homelessness in South America's poorest nation by investing $6.8
billion through 2010, much of it with ambitious public works projects.
(AP, 6/17/06)
2006 Jun 23, Bolivia’s energy
minister said that he's seeking criminal charges against ex-President
Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada and others for allegedly cheating the state
in a gas pipeline investment deal.
(AP, 6/23/06)
2006 Jun 28, About 150,000 people
demanded autonomy for Bolivia's wealthiest state in one of the nation's
largest demonstrations ever just four days before a national referendum
on the issue.
(AP, 6/29/06)
2006 Jun 29, Argentina’s President
Nestor Kirchner met Bolivian counterpart Evo Morales and agreed to a
47% price hike for the Bolivian natural gas Argentina needs to fuel
South America's second-largest economy.
(AP, 6/29/06)
2006 Jul 2, Bolivians voted for a
national assembly that will rewrite the constitution. They voted "yes"
or "no" on a ballot question on whether to offer the country's nine
states greater autonomy in political and financial affairs. President
Morales' supporters failed to win control of an assembly that will
rewrite Bolivia's constitution, leaving him no choice but to compromise
over his ambitious plans to empower the indigenous majority and boost
state control over the economy. Morales allies won 132 seats in the
255-person body. Voters in four of Bolivia's nine states overwhelmingly
chose greater political and economic autonomy for their states.
(AP, 6/29/06)(AP, 7/3/06)
2006 Jul 10, Bolivia's education
minister called for an end to religious education in the country's
schools, drawing criticism from the Roman Catholic Church which could
see its schools affected by the proposed change.
(AP, 7/10/06)
2006 Aug 6, Bolivia’s President
Evo Morales officially opened a Constituent Assembly to rewrite the
nation's constitution.
(AP, 8/6/06)
2006 Sep 8, Opponents of President
Evo Morales stayed home from work and blocked key streets in four
cities to protest the governing party's handling of an assembly that is
rewriting the Bolivian constitution.
(AP, 9/9/06)
2006 Sep 29, In Bolivia police
killed two coca farmers and injured a third in the first violent
confrontation over coca eradication since President Evo Morales,
himself a former coca grower, was elected last year. An estimate 200
coca growers in the Chapare region ambushed a team of police sent to
destroy their crop, planted illegally inside the borders of a national
park 220 southeast of the capital of La Paz.
(AP, 9/29/06)
2006 Sep 23, In Bolivia 90% of the
country’s productive land was still owned by just 50,000 families.
Four-fifths of the rural population remained poor.
(Econ, 9/23/06, p.41)
2006 Oct 5, In Bolivia rival
miners' groups agreed to a truce after a day of clashes over access to
one of South America's richest tin mines left at least 9 people dead
and 40 injured.
(AP, 10/6/06)
2006 Oct 6, Bolivia’s President
Evo Morales fired two top mining officials after a clash between rival
bands of miners over access to the country's richest tin deposit left
at least 16 dead and more at least 80 injured. The 2-day clash at the
Huanuni tin mine caused an estimated $2 million in damage and
production losses of $200,000 per day.
(AP, 10/7/06)(Econ, 10/14/06, p.40)
2006 Oct 10, In Bolivia strikes
and demonstrations brought La Paz to a standstill. The independent
mining cooperatives said they were breaking their alliance with Pres.
Morales.
(Econ, 10/14/06, p.40)
2006 Oct 21, In central Bolivia a
bus plunged off a mountain road, killing 29 people and injuring 25.
(AP, 10/22/06)
2006 Oct 28, In Bolivia 10 energy
companies signed up to new terms just before a deadline set by Pres.
Morales on May 1.
(Econ, 11/4/06, p.46)
2006 Oct 29, Bolivia’s President
Evo Morales completed his oil and gas nationalization plan with the
last-minute signing of contracts allowing several international
companies to continue operating under state control.
(AP, 10/29/06)
2006 Oct 31, President Evo Morales
backed off his plan to nationalize Bolivia's mining industry, saying
that his government can't afford it for now but he still wants to
eventually recover control of the nation's mineral wealth.
(AP, 11/1/06)
2006 Nov 17, In Bolivia the tin
mine at Possokoni Hill in Huanumi reopened after 43 days after the
government decreed all miners there must work for Comibol, a
state-owned company. In October 6,000 miners had gone on a rampage
leaving 16 people dead and over 60 injured in a fight against
independent miners.
(SFC, 12/8/06, p.A27)
2006 Nov 19, In Bolivia 6
governors of 9 departments announced a break with central government.
The 2 main opposition parties walked out of the Senate, leaving it
inquorate. The governors opposed moves by Pres. Morales to centralize
power, a bill to scrutinize governors’ accounts, and details of voting
power of a new Constituent Assembly.
(Econ, 11/25/06, p.38)
2006 Nov 28, Bolivia's leftist
president won passage of an ambitious land redistribution bill and
signed it into law to the cheers of impoverished Indian supporters, who
stand to benefit from what eventually could be the confiscation of
private holdings the size of Nebraska. In the same session Bolivia's
Senate approved nationalization contracts with foreign oil companies.
(AP, 11/29/06)
2006 Dec 1, Opposition leaders led
a work stoppage in four Bolivian state capitals to protest President
Evo Morales' control of an assembly called to rewrite Bolivia's
constitution. They opposed the 50% approval for each of the
constitution articles as favored by the Morales government.
(AP, 12/1/06)(Econ, 12/16/06, p.35)
2006 Dec 3, Bolivia’s Pres. Evo
Morales signed contracts giving the government control over foreign
energy companies’ operations.
(SFC, 12/4/06, p.A11)
2006 Dec 9, In Bolivia South
American leaders called for greater continental unity as they opened a
two-day summit that drew the region's new wave of leftist leaders. They
agreed to create a high-level commission to study the idea of forming a
continent-wide community similar to the European Union.
(AP, 12/9/06)
2006 Dec 28, A delegation of six
US senators led by incoming Majority Leader Harry Reid met with
Bolivian President Evo Morales, seeking to smooth relations with the
South American country's left-leaning government.
(AP, 12/29/06)
2006 Bolivia’s population was
about 9 million.
(Econ, 12/16/06, p.35)
2007 Jan 1, The government of
President Evo Morales approved a decree requiring US citizens to obtain
visas to enter Bolivia. Morales said the decree was "a matter of
reciprocity." The US government requires Bolivians to obtain visas to
enter the United States.
(AP, 1/1/07)
2007 Jan 8, Backers of leftist
Bolivian President Evo Morales set fire to the Cochabamba state capitol
in a protest to demand the resignation of state Gov. Manfred Reyes
Villa, who is allied with the conservative opposition.
(AP, 1/9/07)
2007 Jan 10, Bolivian President
Evo Morales renewed his pledge to nationalize his country's mining
industry, saying he would complete the task this year.
(AP, 1/10/07)
2007 Jan 11, Protesters seeking
the ouster of a Bolivian state governor for his opposition to leftist
President Evo Morales battled with the governor's supporters in clashes
that left two dead and more than 60 injured.
(AP, 1/11/07)
2007 Jan 12, Bolivia’s President
Evo Morales proposed a new law to allow recall votes against elected
officials, a move that would give protesters demanding the resignation
of an opposition-aligned state governor a way to remove him from office.
(AP, 1/13/07)
2007 Jan 13, A Bolivian air force
plane crashed in a southern state, killing all eight people on board.
(AP, 1/14/07)
2007 Feb 2, In Bolivia a high
court ruled in favor of a Amauris Sanmartino, a Cuban dissident who was
recently deported from Bolivia for criticizing President Evo Morales,
saying a law prohibiting foreigners from involvement in the Andean
country's politics is unconstitutional. Sanmartino went to Colombia and
planned to relocate to Norway.
(AP, 2/2/07)(AP, 2/28/07)
2007 Feb 6, More than 20,000
miners from across Bolivia marched into the capital, tossing sticks of
dynamite that sent booming explosions echoing through the streets in a
protest of President Evo Morales' plans for a steep hike in mining
taxes.
(AP, 2/6/07)
2007 Feb 7, Officials in Venezuela
confirmed that Venezuela will buy whatever legal products Bolivia can
make from coca leaf as part of an effort to wean farmers from the
cocaine industry.
(SFC, 2/8/07, p.A2)
2007 Feb 9, Bolivia’s Pres. Evo
Morales declared the Vinto tin smelter to be nationalized.
(Econ, 2/17/07, p.40)
2007 Feb 10, It was reported that
researchers in Bolivia had found that the more education a Tsimane
villager had, the longer he was willing to delay gratification in
return for a bigger reward.
(Econ, 2/10/07, p.86)
2007 Feb 14, Brazil’s President
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Bolivian President Evo Morales reached a
deal late on how much Brazil will pay for Bolivian natural gas,
apparently resolving an issue that has deeply divided the neighboring
nations for a year.
(AP, 2/14/07)
2007 Feb 16, The ritual sacrifice
of a snow-white llama symbolically marked President Evo Morales'
nationalization of Bolivia's lone operating tin smelter.
(AP, 2/17/07)
2007 Feb 26, In Bolivia police
said the body of Simon Matthew Boily (23), a Canadian cyclist, has been
found in a mountain ravine more than a month after he set out on the
"Highway of Death" from the La Paz on Jan 21.
(AP, 2/26/07)
2007 Feb 28, Bolivia’s President
Evo Morales officially declared months of deadly flooding a national
disaster, committing some $50 million to the crisis that killed 35
people and affected some 72,000 families.
(AP, 3/1/07)
2007 Mar 10, Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez visited flood-ravaged Bolivia to show off the fact that his
country has pledged 10 times more aid than the Bush administration. But
local leaders gave him a cool reception, accusing him of meddling in
Bolivian politics.
(AP, 3/10/07)
2007 Mar 11, In Bolivia
Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez called for a socialist counterattack
against the American "empire," taking his campaign to upstage President
Bush's Latin American tour to a packed gymnasium in a poor, indigenous
Bolivian city.
(AP, 3/12/07)
2007 Mar 16, The Inter-American
Development Bank announced it would forgive $4.4 billion in debt owed
by five of the poorest countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The bank excused the foreign debts of Bolivia, Honduras, Nicaragua,
Haiti and Guyana in an announcement ahead of its annual meeting.
(AP, 3/16/07)
2007 Mar 21, Sonia Falcone, former
Miss Bolivia (1988), was ordered to leave the United States after
pleading guilty to employing four illegal immigrants as household
servants at her $10.5 million mansion in Paradise Valley, Ariz.
(www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/86326?source=rss&dest=STY-86326)
2007 Mar 27, Roxana Arias Becerra
(32), a former Miss Bolivia (1993), was arrested on charges of carrying
1.8 pounds of cocaine while boarding a flight to the Brazilian border.
(AP, 3/29/07)
2007 Apr 10, Bolivia opened a new
front in its fight to reduce illegal coca production, sending US-backed
eradication teams into a traditional coca-growing region in the Andean
foothills long avoided by previous governments.
(AP, 4/10/07)
2007 Apr 20, Bolivia’s military
retook control of a natural gas pipeline to Argentina after days of
violent protests at gas installations in southern Bolivia. More than
1,000 protesters had seized the Yacuiba pipeline station run by
Transredes, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell. The disturbances killed
at least one person and wounded dozens more.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 28, President Hugo Chavez
said that Venezuela is ready to become the sole energy supplier to
Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Haiti, presenting the countries with his
most generous offer yet of oil-funded diplomacy in the region.
(AP, 4/29/07)
2007 Apr, Bolivia became the 32nd
nation to ban or restrict used clothing imports in an attempt to
protect native clothing industries.
(AP, 7/17/07)
2007 May 12, In Bolivia President
Evo Morales vowed to move forward with his campaign to nationalize
Bolivia's oil and gas industry while presiding over ceremonies marking
the transfer of two Brazilian-owned oil refineries to state hands.
(AP, 5/12/07)
2007 May 28, Police found a
cocaine laboratory in the southern Bolivian jungle capable of producing
245 pounds of the drug daily, one of the largest drug labs ever
discovered there. Satellite photos taken by the US Drug Enforcement
Agency revealed the location of the lab.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 Jun 5, In Bolivia the
judiciary stage a one-day strike to counter a presidential assault on
its independence.
(Econ, 6/9/07, p.41)
2007 Jun 6, President Hugo Chavez
called for the creation of a common defense pact between Venezuela,
Cuba, Nicaragua and Bolivia. The leftist Latin American bloc announced
the creation of a development bank to finance joint projects.
(AP, 6/7/07)
2007 Jun 28, The Bolivian
government began legal proceedings to seize the vast landholdings of a
prominent opposition leader, saying the property was fraudulently
obtained and should be given to a local Indian tribe. Soybean oil
magnate Branko Marinkovic, an outspoken critic of President Evo
Morales, said the 64,250 acres targeted by the government were obtained
legally and are being used productively.
(AP, 6/29/07)
2007 Jun 28, In central Bolivia 3
Bolivian soldiers and a Venezuelan sergeant died when an air force
helicopter crashed.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jul 20, Hundreds of thousands
of people packed the streets of La Paz to protest efforts to relocate
Bolivia's capital in one of the largest demonstrations in the history
of the Andean country. La Paz backers said switching the capital from
Bolivia's largest city, with a metropolitan population of 1.7 million,
to Sucre, population 250,000, would be expensive and divisive.
(AP, 7/20/07)
2007 Aug 3, It was reported that
Bolivia’s Lake Titicaca is being strangled by city-fed pollution that
is driving away local people who draw sustenance from its mythical
waters.
(AFP, 8/3/07)
2007 Sep 27, Iran’s President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad traveled stopped in Bolivia, where he pledged $1
billion in investment. He pledged investment over the next five years
to help the poor Andean nation tap its vast natural gas reserves,
extract minerals, generate more electricity and fund agricultural and
construction projects. He then visited Venezuela to meet President Hugo
Chavez. Chavez embraced the Iranian leader, calling him "one of the
greatest anti-imperialist fighters" and "one of the great fighters for
true peace."
(AP, 9/28/07)
2007 Oct 19,
Armed with clubs and waving provincial flags, thousands of
residents of Bolivia's wealthiest province seized control of Santa
Cruz’ Viru Viru airport from troops sent in by President Evo Morales.
The previous day Morales had ordered 220 troops to take control of the
airport after workers threatened to block flights that did not pay
landing fees to local officials rather than the national airport
authority.
(AP, 10/19/07)
2007 Nov 24, In Bolivia soldiers
clashed with students protesting a constitutional assembly in a second
day of unrest against the pending legal overhaul. 2 people died in the
violence.
(AP, 11/25/07)(WSJ, 11/26/07, p.A1)
2007 Nov 28, Across Bolivia banks,
shops, schools and public transportation were shuttered in cities, as
demonstrators protested a new law tapping regional budgets for a fund
for the elderly.
(AP, 11/29/07)
2007 Dec 5, Bolivian President Evo
Morales announced he would ask for a referendum on whether he should
remain president, and challenged opposition governors to do the same.
(AP, 12/5/07)
2007 Dec 9, Bolivia’s
constitutional assembly approved a new charter that would empower Pres.
Evo Morales to run for re-election indefinitely. The new constitution
required approval by Bolivians in a national referendum expected in
2008.
(SFC, 12/10/07, p.A16)
2008 Jan 26, Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez and allies Nicaragua, Bolivia and Cuba, members of the
Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), launched a regional
development bank intended to strengthen their alliance and promote
independence from US-backed lenders like the World Bank as Chavez
hosted a summit with ALBA leaders.
(AP, 1/26/08)
2008 Feb 7, Bolivia's foreign
minister said that the world has an obligation to send aid to
flood-ravaged areas, linking a disaster that has killed 49 people to
global climate change.
(AP, 2/8/08)
2008 Feb 11, President Evo Morales
declared a US Embassy security officer to be an "undesirable person"
after reports that the officer asked an American scholar and 30 Peace
Corps volunteers to pass along information about Cubans and Venezuelans
working in Bolivia.
(AP, 2/11/08)
2008 Feb 23, The presidents of
Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia gathered in Buenos Aires to try to agree
on how to divide scarce supplies of Bolivian natural gas.
(WSJ, 2/23/08, p.A6)
2008 Feb 28, A bitterly divided
Bolivian Congress approved a national vote on President Evo Morales'
proposed constitution, which would grant greater political power to
Bolivia's long-oppressed indigenous groups.
(AP, 2/29/08)
2008 Apr 1, Bolivian officials
said Tristan Jay Amero (26), a California man convicted of hotel
bombings that killed two people in Bolivia's capital, had died in
prison. He was serving a 30-year sentence.
(AP, 4/1/08)
2008 Apr 18, In Bolivia American
rancher Ronald Larsen, who has extensive land holdings there, and his
son Duston were named in a criminal complaint for "sedition, robbery,
and other crimes." Ronald Larsen, of Montana, was accused of firing on
the vehicle Alejandro Almaraz, the Deputy Minister of Land. and holding
the minister hostage as he tried to carry out a government inspection
of Larsen's ranch in southern Bolivia on February 29. Larson said
Almaraz was drunk and had showed up at the ranch at three in the
morning.
(AP, 4/19/08)
2008 Apr 24, In Bolivia a packed
SUV collided with a group of cyclists on Bolivia's "Highway of Death,"
killing 9 people, including a British man who was the second foreign
tourist to die this week along the notorious road.
(AP, 4/24/08)
2008 May 1, Bolivia’s President
Evo Morales celebrated May Day by announcing the nationalization of
Entel, the country’s leading telecommunications company, and returning
four foreign-owned natural gas companies to state control. Bolivia
privatized the struggling Entel in 1995, handing 50 percent of the
company to Stet International in exchange for the Italian company's
promise to invest $608 million to modernize its services. Stet later
merged with Telecom Italia. The Bolivian government said Telecom Italia
fell short on promised investment and owes some $25 million in taxes.
(AP, 5/1/08)
2008 May 4, Residents of Bolivia
voted on an autonomy referendum whose likely passage is seen as a
rebuke to the country's leftist president. Exit polls showed the Santa
Cruz referendum would pass in a landslide. Pres. Morales denounced the
vote but quickly invited state governors for further negotiations.
(AP, 5/4/08)(AP, 5/5/08)
2008 May 8, President Evo Morales
agreed to stand for election in a nationwide recall vote, gambling that
Bolivians will re-elect him after just two years in office and shore up
support for his pending reforms.
(AP, 5/9/08)
2008 Jun 1, Bolivians in two
opposition-controlled states voted overwhelmingly for autonomy measures
that aim to shield the country's remote Amazon basin from President Evo
Morales' leftist reforms.
(AP, 6/1/08)
2008 Jun 2, In Bolivia Pres.
Morales ordered the nationalization of a natural gas pipeline operator
half-owned by Royal Dutch Shell PLC and a US investment fund.
(WSJ, 6/3/08, p.A15)
2008 Jun 9, Thousands of
demonstrators marched on the US Embassy to demand that Washington
extradite Carlos Sanchez Berzain, a former Bolivian defense minister,
who directed a military crackdown on riots that killed at least 60
people in 2003.
(AP, 6/10/08)
2008 Jun 22, Natural gas-rich
Tarija became the fourth Bolivian state to declare autonomy from the
government of leftist President Evo Morales as voters backed greater
independence in a referendum.
(AP, 6/23/08)
2008 Jun, Inflation in Bolivia
reached an annual rate of 17%.
(Econ, 8/2/08, p.39)
2008 Jul 3, Top Bolivian and US
officials sought to heal their nations' strained relations in their
first meeting since a raucous protest outside the American embassy sent
the US ambassador back to Washington for security consultations.
(AP, 7/3/08)
2008 Jul 20, In central Bolivia a
Venezuelan military helicopter often used to transport Bolivian
President Evo Morales crashed. Four Venezuelan military personnel and a
Bolivian officer were reported killed.
(AP, 7/21/08)
2008 Aug 8, Bolivia said it has
reached an agreement in principle to purchase the local operations of
energy company Royal Dutch Shell PLC as part of President Evo Morales'
nationalization push.
(AP, 8/8/08)
2008 Aug 10, Voters in Bolivia
vigorously endorsed President Evo Morales in a recall referendum he
devised to try to break a political stalemate and revive his leftist
crusade, partial unofficial results showed. More than 62 percent of
voters ratified the mandate.
(AP, 8/10/08)
2008 Aug 13, Bolivia and Libya
agreed to establish diplomatic relations and join efforts to develop
the nations' energy resources.
(AP, 8/13/08)
2008 Aug 19, In Bolivia leaders in
5 opposition controlled states proclaimed a general strike. They sought
greater autonomy and a larger share of royalties from local oil and gas.
(SFC, 8/20/08, p.A14)
2008 Aug 24, In Bolivia a truck
plunged off a cliff high in the Andes killing 21 people with 53 left
injured.
(AP, 8/26/08)
2008 Sep 2, Bolivia and Iran
pledged cooperation and signed energy pacts, rebuffing US concerns over
improved ties.
(WSJ, 9/3/08, p.A1)
2008 Sep 5, In Bolivia protesters
stormed a small airport and blocked major highways across eastern
Bolivia in a standoff over central government reforms designed to
empower the nation’s indigenous majority.
(AP, 9/5/08)
2008 Sep 10, Bolivia’s President
Evo Morales said that he is expelling the US ambassador for allegedly
inciting violent opposition protests.
(AP, 9/10/08)
2008 Sep 11, In Bolivia’s Pando
state anti-government protesters fought backers of President Evo
Morales in the pro-autonomy east with clubs, machetes and guns, killing
at least eight people and injuring 20. Seven more bodies were recovered
the next day farther from the highway. The bodies of three more
marchers were later discovered, raising the death toll to 18. Lowland
opposition leaders, guarding their region's frontier capitalism and
more Euro-centric heritage, said they lost two of their own in the
pitched battle. Protesters near Yacuiba closed gas valves, resulting in
a gas leak and explosion that interrupted gas exports at a cost of
$8-10 million a day.
(AP, 9/12/08)(AP, 9/28/08)(Econ, 9/20/08, p.51)
2008 Sep 11, The US expelled
Bolivia’s ambassador following Bolivia’s expulsion of the American
ambassador for allegedly aiding the opposition. The Peace Corps pulled
all 113 of its volunteers out of Bolivia for alleged security reasons.
(WSJ, 9/12/08, p.A1)(AP, 10/11/08)
2008 Sep 12, Bolivian President
Evo Morales decreed a state of siege and sent troops to the eastern
province of Pando where at least 16 people were killed in street
battles between pro- and anti-government activists. Another 2 people
were killed at Pando's main airfield as government troops took control,
opening fire to disperse protesters.
(AP, 9/12/08)(AP, 9/14/08)
2008 Sep 15, South American
presidents agreed to work urgently to prevent a political collapse in
Bolivia, where the government said it would charge a rebellious
governor with genocide for allegedly ordering the machine-gunning of
peasants.
(AP, 9/16/08)
2008 Sep 16, In Bolivia government
soldiers arrested Pando state Gov. Leopoldo Fernandez on suspicion of
directing the recent massacre of government supporters.
(SFC, 9/17/08, p.A8)
2008 Sep 16, The US declared
Bolivia to be “non-compliant” in the war on drugs, a step that
implicated an end of American aid.
(Econ, 9/20/08, p.52)
2008 Oct 2, Bolivian state media
reported that President Evo Morales has rejected a request from the US
Drug Enforcement Administration to fly anti-narcotics missions over the
South American nation's territory.
(AP, 10/3/08)
2008 Oct 20, President Evo Morales
agreed to seek only one more five-year term, a key concession that all
but ended a standoff in Congress over a new constitution to empower
Bolivia's long-oppressed indigenous majority.
(AP, 10/21/08)
2008 Oct 21, Bolivia’s Congress
ratified Pres. Morales’ draft constitution, designed to empower the
indigenous population.
(WSJ, 10/22/08, p.A1)
2008 Oct 23, Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice said the US is suspending a trade deal with Bolivia.
She called it unfortunate but necessary because Bolivian President Evo
Morales has failed to improve anti-drug efforts.
(AP, 10/23/08)
2008 Nov 1, Bolivian President Evo
Morales suspended US anti-drug operations as Washington's relations
with his leftist government spiraled downward.
(AP, 11/2/08)
2008 Nov 11, Bolivian officials
said they have formally asked the US to extradite former President
Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, who ordered a military crackdown on 2003
riots in which at least 60 people died.
(AP, 11/11/08)
2008 Nov 17, Bolivian President
Evo Morales expressed hope for improved relations with the United
States under Barack Obama's presidency, but said he will never allow
the US anti-drug agency to resume operating in his country.
(AP, 11/17/08)
2009 Jan 14, Venezuela and Bolivia
broke off diplomatic relations with Israel to protest its military
offensive in Gaza.
(AP, 1/14/09)
2009 Jan 22, In Bolivia the
government of President Evo Morales began publishing its own newspaper
"Cambio" (Change). Morales grew so irked at the local press last month
that he said he would no longer hold press conferences for local
reporters and said that only 10 percent of journalists are "honorable.”
(AP, 1/22/09)
2009 Jan 23, Bolivia’s Pres. Evo
Morales seized control of Pan-American Energy’s local natural gas
producer and warned other privately owned companies they would face
similar fates if they do not comply with Bolivian laws.
(WSJ, 1/24/09, p.A6)
2009 Jan 25, Bolivians easily
approved a new constitution aimed at increasing their strength while
allowing leftist President Evo Morales a shot at staying in power
through 2014. The proposed document grants new rights to more than 5
million indigenous inhabitants of 35 distinct “nations.” It would
create a new Congress with seats reserved for Bolivia's smaller
indigenous groups and eliminates any mention of the Roman Catholic
Church, instead recognizing and honoring the Pachamama, an Andean earth
deity.
(AP, 1/25/09)(SSFC, 1/25/09, p.A6)(AP, 1/26/09)
2009 Jan 29, In Bolivia the last
US drug enforcement agents left the country, ordered out by Pres.
Morales, even as police reported that coca cultivation and cocaine
processing were on the rise.
(SFC, 1/30/09, p.A4)
2009 Feb 7, In Bolivia President
Evo Morales and thousands of supporters celebrated the new constitution
as it took effect, saying the new document will enshrine indigenous
rights and end centuries of oppression.
(AP, 2/7/09)
2009 Feb 7, A Bolivian woman died
from an injection of urine allegedly administered by her friend as a
form of health therapy. Investigating prosecutor Oscar Flores later
said that Gabriela Ascarrunz (35) died of an "infection caused by urine
that was injected by fashion designer Monica Schultz."
(AP, 2/11/09)
2009 Feb 11, Santos Ramirez,
president of YPFB, Bolivia’s state-owned oil and gas company, was
arrested and accused of orchestrating kickbacks of over $3 million from
a company contract.
(www.boliviaweb.com/blog/index.php/2009/02/16/timeline-of-the-santos-ramirez-scandal/)
2009 Feb 16, Russia Pres. Medvedev
said Bolivia will receive helicopters from Russia to help fight drugs
as well as assistance to develop energy resources.
(AP, 2/16/09)
2009 Mar 9, Bolivia’s President
Evo Morales ordered a US diplomat to leave his country for allegedly
conspiring with opposition groups, further straining tense relations
six months after he expelled the American ambassador.
(AP, 3/9/09)
2009 Mar 14, Bolivia’s President
Evo Morales asked large landowners to voluntarily relinquish some of
their holdings to poor Indians during a ceremony on property
confiscated from Ronald Larsen, a US rancher for, redistribution.
(AP, 3/14/09)
2009 Mar 27, Bolivia's Interior
Minister Alfredo Rada said police have uncovered one of the country's
biggest known cocaine processing factories. Two Colombians and a
Bolivian were arrested at the nearly 1,000-acre (400 hectare) site in
the dense, southeastern jungles.
(AP, 3/27/09)
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End of file.