Presna Latina reports that the Bolivian government has “ratified its recognition of indigenous autonomies, in accordance with a November 2007 ruling and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”

Making the announcement on Saturday, Vice president Alvaro Garcia explained that “the country’s new political Constitution guarantees Bolivian native people the right to free determination, self-governing and to manage their own financial resources.”

He also “questioned the autonomy referendums being promoted by authorities from the departments of Benu, Pando, Santa cruz and Tarija,” saying they are unnecessary because autonomies are already legal. “They …

With many signs emerging that the right wing in Bolivia is slowly preparing to destabilize the country and overthrow Evo Morales—along with him, the hopes and dreams of millions of indigenous and non-indigenous people throughout South America—On September 10th, more than 10,000 people gathered in Sucre to attend a Social Summit ‘for dialogue and defense of the Constituent Assembly’.

During the Summit, the social organizations resolved to “defend, including with our lives, the constituent assembly and this process of irreversible profound change being driven forward by the historic forces …

On July 3, the Chiquitano People received land titles in perpetuity for the territory of Monte Verde, after 12 years of struggle on part of the Chiquitano. The territory, located in Southeast Bolivia near the Brazilian Border, is approximately one million hectares in size.

From Oxfam- The land titling comes following a long process of internal organisation of the indigenous communities, advocacy work carried out by the organisations representing them, and public activities, including five pacific protest marches by indigenous men, women, and children, who, on different …

On October 31, 2006, more than 1,000 Campesinos and activists from the lowlands of southeastern Bolivia began marching one thousand kilometers (620 miles) from Santa Cruz to La Paz. They hoped to rally support for modifications to the National Institute for Agrarian Reform (INRA), originally passed in 1996, which legitimized the possession of illegally-obtained land in Bolivia, a particular gem for large landowners.

On November 28, 2006, everyone arrived in La Paz. Later that same day, the Senate—minus boycotting opposition party members—passed the reform bill… This video is a short documentary of the march leading up to bill’s reform.
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Convocation for Congress of Government and the Peoples
Cochabamba, Bolivia, 2-4 June, 2007
Evo Morales Ayma and Hugo Chavez

Considering that our continent is passing through a time of change towards a real integration based on sovereignty, dignity, harmony with nature and with the full participation of our peoples;

Committed to the process of social and structural transformation for the recuperation of our natural resources and the strengthening of our states in regards to the management of economic, social and cultural policies for the well being of the population;

Convinced that it is necessary to assume concrete measures between national, local and municipal governments, social …

Venezuela’s Banco del Sur: The End of the IMF in Latin America
by Paul McIvor, www.upsidedownworld.org
March 21, 2007

Speaking to an audience at Columbia Business School in February, Rodrigo de Rato, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, sketched out his vision for Latin America. Optimistically titled “The Way Forward,” Mr. de Rato called on the countries of the region to stay the course laid out by the IMF – structural adjustments, trade liberalization and privatization.

He dismissed the shift to the left in Chile, Argentina and Bolivia as an “apparent inconsistency of economic and political developments,” suggesting that voter dissatisfaction has …

Bolivia: The Complex Process of Designing a New State
By Franz Chávez, www.ipsnews.net
March 21, 2007

A unified but decentralised state that recognises Bolivia’s cultural and ethnic diversity is the vision that is gradually gaining broad support in the constituent assembly currently rewriting the country’s constitution.

Eight months into their job, with just four months to go, the assembly’s 255 members are working in committees, drawing up the proposals to be considered by a plenary session.

It took the assembly a full six months, until Feb. 7, simply to agree on voting rules: only a simple majority will be required to approve constitutional reforms …

Venezuela Bolivariana: People and Struggle of the Fourth World War (2004)
By Marcelo Andrade Arreaza

The following film examines the Bolivarian Revolution of Venezuela as connected to the world-wide movement against capitalist globalization. The film shows the evolution of the popular movement in Venezuela from the ‘Caracazo’ riots of 1989 to the massive actions that brought revolutionary president Hugo Chavez back to power, 48 hours after a U.S.-led military coup in 2002. The film ends with an epilogue that show the next steps that the Venezuelan people are taking, not only to fight against the oligarchy and imperialism, but to exercise …

Ecuadorian Native movements turn up the heat
by: Lisa Garrigues - February 19, 2007
www.indiancountry.com/

LA PAZ, Bolivia - On Jan. 15, Native leaders handed the ceremonial ‘’staff of power” to Ecuador’s new president, Rafael Correa. Now indigenous movements in Ecuador are putting the pressure on the Ecuadorian government to meet their demands, which include the convocation of a Constitutional Assembly and increased territorial rights in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

During the ceremony of Tantarimuy, held in Cotopaxi province, Correa said his government would be ”a government of the indigenous.”

His leftist views align him with Bolivia’s Evo Morales and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, who …

Bolivia’s social movements make their demands
By Mark Burton, Feb 13, 2007
www.workers.org

For the first time in the last 500 years, the election of President Evo Morales has led to Bolivia’s Indigenous majority gaining a significant voice in the running of their country in a process led by social movements. Despite the opposition from the oligarchy and U.S. imperialism, the Bolivian people have made impressive gains in Morales’ first year.

Much of Bolivian society is organized in groups or associations that are generally referred to as social movements. These social movements are based on neighborhoods, regions, Indigenous groups, and industries and have …