Fatal accidents mar start of tourist season in South America

As the summer tourist season begins to gain momentum in South America, a number of fatal accidents involving foreign visitors have dominated international attention.

Last Thursday a group of cyclists on Bolivia’s famous “Highway of Death” were slammed into by a Toyota Land Cruiser. One Briton on a bike was killed and eight of the people in the vehicle perished when it plunged over the cliff. Two other cyclists – also from the UK – were injured.

The incident follows the death of a US cyclist on the road April 19.

The highway between Bolivia’s capital of La Paz and Peru drops 3,600 meters in just 64 kilometers. Although paved in 2007, its hairpin turns and vast views have made it a destination for bicyclists with more than 25,000 riding it each year.

In southern Peru, five French tourists perished on April 9 when the plane they were in crashed near the Nazca lines. The pilot, who survived, claimed one of the passengers became frantic and tugged on the pilot's safety harness.

The famous geometric figures and rude drawings scoured into the desert hundreds of years ago are best viewed from the air and a cottage industry has emerged to handle the demand. According to officials there are about 40 small planes that make the 30-minute flights over the lines and air traffic becomes seriously congested during the tourist season.

Peruvian lawmakers vowed to strengthen restrictions on the planes to ensure better safety but just this weekend another plane had a close call when it experienced mechanical problems and was forced to land on the Panamerican Highway near the town.

In the most widely covered incident this year four British teenage girls and their tour guide were killed on April 12 in a bus crash in Ecuador. Fifteen others were injured when the bus struck another truck. The girls were on of the hundreds of gap-year tourists – young Europeans traveling the world in the year prior to university.

While these incidents garner massive amounts of foreign attention they are usually not considered in proper context. Since tourists almost inevitably travel in groups, accidents subsequently tend to involve larger numbers.

Moreover, the standard of safety for tourists may be wanting in comparison to many places in Europe and the US but it often is much higher than regular standards in the country in question. For example, bus accidents involving dozens of victims are depressingly common in rural Andean communities – but tourists rarely use these bus lines or travel to these areas.

Bolivia's constitutional crisis

A showdown between Bolivia's president, Evo Morales, and leaders of the country's four most prosperous provinces - Santa Cruz, Tarija, Pando and Beni - looms large over the tiny Andean nation threatening to spill over into violence if not averted.

Next month, the provinces are slated to hold referendums over on provincial autonomy, the first on May 4 in Santa Cruz. If successful at the ballot box, the state would have the power to collect taxes, create its own police force and make the local government responsible for redistributing lands.

The Bolivian government has vowed to prosecute the leaders of the referendum effort but, so far, have not take action. Morales supports have vowed to create roadblocks in order to stop the election. The country’s 40 Roman Catholic bishops have been trying to mediate the dispute but have warned it could easily lead to violence.

Officials with the Organization of American States are scheduled to meet with the leaders of the rouge provinces next week in an effort mediate the situation. In addition, foreign ministers of Brazil and Argentina have made similar diplomatic overtures in recent days.

The confrontation highlights the country's stark internal divisions. Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president, made waves two years ago when he nationalized Bolivia's energy industry and other natural resources. The rewrite of the constitution to redistribute land and wealth has been a priority of his administration from the start.

More than 60 percent of Bolivia's population are indigenous peoples, the majority of whom live in the western highland provinces and make up the poorest portion of the population.

The leaders of the provinces have opposed the leftist leader's efforts to reform the country's constitution. Morales claims the change will empower the country's poor Indian majority. The more affluent provinces have objected to the measure saying it comes at their expense.

In November 2007, a draft constitution was approved inside a military base in the vicinity of Sucre, with the support of all pro-government assembly members - opposition representatives were not admitted. Three people died and 20 more were injured during riots protesting the change of venue.

In March, the country’s national electoral court postponed a referendum slated for next month for the new constitution in hopes an agreement could be reached between the two sides. According to a recent poll, Bolivians are evenly split on the measure.

Guinea Pig: The Andean delicacy

Nothing seems to disturb visitors to the Andean highlands as much as a meal of the local delicacy called cuy, more commonly known as guinea pig in the English-speaking world.

Even the most determined gourmand can be “freaked out” when presented with the repast for the first time but it’s really not that strange a foodstuff. Think of it as the Cornish game hen of the mammal kingdom.

Guinea pig was domesticated about 5,000 years ago in the Andean highlands and it is still a relatively common repast in the highlands of Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. In Peru alone more than 65 million are consumed annually. It’s such a key aspect to the diet of the rural poor that significant resources have been allocated to help improve the breed for stock purposes.

It's not by accident that guinea pig became a staple of the Andean diet. It doesn’t cost much to care for – most raise it using wild alfalfa or excess foodstuffs – and it doesn’t require much space, something that's at a premium when living on a mountainside. The relatively short gestation cycle ensures that a constant supply of the animals can be available for consumption if properly taken care of.

It was so important to the pre-Spanish culture that the Inca's even had a saying "Eat guinea pig and live well." And that importance continues today. To the point thatPeru's National Agrarian Institute (INIA) holds regular workshops to educate breeders on how to improve production.

For many years, affluent Peruvians looked down on cuy as something backwards or unrefined but that seems to be changing somewhat. The dish has recently moved out of the rural areas and onto the menus of upscale restaurants in Lima with some success.

It can even be found outside of the Andean region in areas where recent immigrants have settled in relatively larger numbers like New York. But widespread popularity of the dish in the US and Europe is a very doubtful possibility.

There are countless ways of preparing cuy but the most common ways to find the dish prepared is chactado or spatchcocked and fried. In some areas, notably around Paita in the sacred valley, you can find it al horno or baked.

James Bond and the War of the Pacific

Filmmakers working on the upcoming entry to the James Bond canon, A Quantum of Solace, have unwittingly stepped into a contentious and long standing row between Bolivia and Chile.

The plot of the Marc Forster-directed film (set for release in November) involves an effort to overthrow the existing regime in a Latin American country in exchange for a seemingly barren piece of land.

The movie, starring Daniel Craig as the current incarnation of the classic spy hero, is currently being filmed in the Chilean coastal city of Antofagasta. The city is standing in for Bolivia and filming has included scenes featuring Bolivian flags and officials. The sight of which has angered many of the locals.

Several dozen residents held a protest at the site of the filming this week and one local paper read, "Chile is Chile. We aren't Bolivian Indians. Imperialist British out." The mayor of a nearby town even stormed the set in a vehicle and was arrested.

Bolivians, on the other hand, have relished the furor. "Agent 007, James Bond, recovers the sea for Bolivia" read the headline of one La Paz newspaper in reference to the filming.

The debate over the region reaches back to the War of the Pacific (1897-1883) which pitted Chile against an allied Bolivia and Peru. The ensuing Chilean victory led to the annexation of a huge swath of Pacific Coast previously held by the other two and which includes Antofagasta.

The outcome left Bolivia landlocked and the country has since sought to regain access to the sea but Chile (and Peru) has opposed ceding any of the territory. Tensions remain high due to the inability to do so as well as underlying ethnic concerns.

South American presidential approval ratings

The leaders of Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador all saw a response in their popularity rating following an incident in early March that frayed tensions across the region. Colombian president Álvaro Uribe’s saw his already high popularity ratings have reached an all-time peak of 84 percent in the wake of the imbroglio.

Similarly, the dispute did much to solidify the approval rating of Ecuador’s leader, Rafael Correa, who already enjoyed a 55 percent approval rating. A recent poll showed that more than 80 percent of Ecuadorians approved of his efforts during the crisis.

The one leader whose involvement has suffered is Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez whose popularity rating is now at 34 percent. Many in Venezuela are concerned the fiery leftist leader needs to address pressing domestic issues such as food shortages and domestic security.

Here is a rundown of the rest:

• Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is enjoying renewed popularity due to his country’s recent economic prosperity. His 58 percent approval rating is the greatest for Lula in five years and analysts credit the recent increase in wages and drop in unemployment as the key factors behind it.


• Uruguayan president Tabaré Vázquez is enjoying a 56 percent approval rating, a significant uptick from just four months ago. The leader has recently reshuffled his cabinet in an effort to reinvigorate his administration.


• Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who won Argentina's presidency last December, continues to enjoy positive poll numbers. Almost 58 percent of Argentines say they rate her tenure as good or very good.


• Bolivia’s Evo Morales has seen his popularity erode in the past few months particularly due to questions over his effort to re-write the country’s constitution. Just more than 46 percent of Bolivians say they want him to continue as president.


• Chilean president Michele Bachelet, who reached the one-year mark of her administration in March, continues at just more than 42 percent approval. That stability is in the face of various problems in the country faced over the last 12 months and the current looming energy crisis due in part to a massive drought.


• In Peru, Alan Garcia's popularity rating has dropped to 28 percent - less than half of where it stood six months ago. His administration has cut spending, lowered taxes and raised interest rates that has made the country attractive to foreign investment but rising food and fuel costs which has increased domestic dissatisfaction.


• Paraguay’s unpopular Nicanor Duarte continues to bring up the back of the pack with a woeful 17 percent approval rating. The country’s presidential elections will be held in April.

A roundup of presidential popularity polls from August 2007 can be found here.

Widespread flooding in the Andes

In the past several months several Andean countries have been inundated by torrential rainfalls that have left dozens dead, thousands homeless and tens of thousands in danger.

The flooding began in December and are expected to continue at least another month. The La Niña weather phenomenon is to blame, according to experts. The weather formation is caused due to cooler than normal sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean that creates additional precipitation inland.

Winter in the Southern Hemisphere is typically characterized by heavy rainfall in many areas. In the Bolivian Amazon region which lies in the upper middle part of the Madeira River basin rainfall during this period is measured in meters. But the recent rains have caused flooding in regions where such extreme levels of precipitation are not nearly as common.

Bolivia has been hit the hardest. So far 75 people have died and at least 97,000 families have been affected to date, according the United Nations. The government declared a national emergency in January. While millions of dollars of aid have been pledged to relief efforts the continuing rains have hampered aid efforts, officials said.

Ecuador's coast has been inundated as well. The Ecuadorian Ministry of Coastal Areas reports that 37 people have died and more than 3.6 million have been affected by floodwaters. All of the country has been under a state of emergency since February.

Peru has also been affected with 16 people dead and 24 missing as of late February. A state of emergency has been declared in four districts mostly in the North of the country. Nearly half a million people have been affected by the rains, officials said.

According to Bolivia's national weather and hydrology service, SENAMHI, the rainfall typically affects the high plains provinces of La Paz, Potosí and Oruro but, this year, it has drenched the entire country. Moreover, these areas were hard hit by El Niño flooding a year ago. Satellite imagery shows the impact of the floodwaters has inundated whole swaths of the country.

While floodwaters and landslides have been the principal dangers to date, aid groups are concerned of disease and food shortages due to the extensive damage of the inundation. More difficult to gauge is how much the devastation will affect resident's ability to sustain their livelihoods.

Bolivia's Evo Morales joins professional soccer club

Bolivia newest soccer sensation will likely have to play around his day job as the head of state - President Evo Morales.

Morales has signed on as a reserve midfielder for Litoral, an amateur second-division squad organized by the Bolivian National Police, the Associated Press reported. The team has a match this Saturday against Deportivo Zuraca.

Although Morales devotion to the sport is well known, the move comes partly in response to the world soccer body FIFA's restriction on internationals at high altitudes that effectively eliminates the possibility of Bolivia hosting another.

Earlier this month, FIFA ruled that the games can only be played above 2,750 meters if visiting teams are given one week to acclimatise and two weeks for matches above 3,000 meters. La Paz sits more than 3,600 meters above sea level.

That action spurred a protest match in the Andean capital on March 17 that included Morales and Argentinean soccer great Diego Armando Maradona. The proceeds of the game went to assist victims of recent flooding in the country.

The Bolivian government has also threatened to take the governing soccer body to court over the matter.

An affection for the sport is not unknown among South American heads of state. Peru's former president Alejandro Toledo, for example, financed his education in the United States partially with a soccer scholarship. During his time in office and often used his skills with the futbol during his time in office.

Street protests in Bolivia and Chile

Last month, Peru was engulfed in a massive teachers strike that brought thousands of people to the streets. This week it was Chile and Bolivia's turn.

Several thousand people took to the streets of Santiago on Wednesday as part of a protest organized by the country's largest labor federation, Chilean Workers Center. The group, which represents more than 600,000 Chilean workers, opposes the country's current market-friendly "neoliberal model" and insisted President Michelle Bachelet boost social spending in the 2008 budget as high copper prices spur economic growth.

Police used water cannons and tear gas to regain order. So far, at least 740 people have been arrested and dozens injured, including a ruling coalition senator, Alejandro Navarro, who was seen bleeding from the head after he was clubbed by an officer.

Power was knocked out in some areas because protesters threw chains over electric power cables. Looting was also reported.

In Bolivia, protests against President Evo Morales' occurred on Tuesday in the wake of a national strike by the Santa Cruz Civic Committee - part of the country's conservative opposition. The work stoppage was called to protest the government's refusal to relocate the nation's capital and a controversial move to prosecute four high-court justices.

The strike was called in six of nine Bolivian provinces and The Associated Press reported that significant portions of four major cities shut down by the protest. Some violence was reported and police intervened to prevent clashes between the organizers of the work stoppage and groups who support Morales.

The protests were the latest effort by Morales' opponents to stall his effort to overhaul the constitution - a move they claim will lead to him ruling the country indefinitely.

Morales has accused the United States of backing the effort and several of his administration's highest ranking officials reiterated those allegations this week. Specifically, that the U.S. government was using foreign aid programs in Bolivia to develop the opposition's "ideological and political resistance."


Find out more about Peru, South America and my varied interests over on Klephblog.

Technorati Tags: Chile, Bolivia, Protests

Katrina-damaged cars for sale in South America

They are the most far-flung refugees from Hurricane Katrina and possibly the most dangerous. Thousands of used cars totaled by the killer storms that struck the Gulf Coast two years ago have now flooded the resale market in South America.

And as thousands of the flood-damaged cars begin to appear on Latin American used car lots the safety concerns about the vehicles are beginning to be heard as well.

The story was featured on Marketplace this week but it was broken last June by the Bolivian paper, La Razon. In the wake of the La Razon story, the problem was reported elsewhere including Paraguay and Peru.

According to La Razon, more than 50,000 used cars were imported to Bolivia last year and about 70 percent were from the United States - a significant number of which were refugees from the storms the blasted the Gulf Coast in 2005.

In fact, more than 600,000 flood-damaged used cars, inundated the US secondary market after the devastating storms leading to safety concerns.

Flood-damaged cars have a litany of specific woes including compromised electronic components, faulty anti-lock brakes and other mechanical problems. Moreover, the vehicles can pose allergy risks from mold and mildew and carry dangerous pathogens from sitting in floodwaters.

The problem reached the point that the National Insurance Crime Bureau created a database to help protect consumers in the United States where it is illegal to alter identification of cars for resale. But, those restrictions don't apply overseas.

And recently surging economies in South America have sharpened consumer interest in purchasing vehicles. This year South America has overtaken Asia as the world's fastest-growing regional vehicle market. With many of the hurricane-damaged cars costing less than half the regular price - it's a bargain many consider a tempting deal.

Find out more about Peru, South America and my varied interests over on Klephblog.

Technorati Tags: Peru, Bolivia, Katrina, hurricane, used cars

An OPEC for natural gas begins in South America?

Last week, Venezuela, Bolivia and Argentina penned an accord that created the Organization of Gas Producing and Exporting Countries of South America (Opegasur). It could be the first step on the way to creating an OPEC-style cartel for natural gas.

Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez, has been pushing for the creation of such an alliance at the international level for years now. The closest he has come to success is the quasi-formal Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) which was founded in 2001.

Many analysts believe that such an organization faces insurmountable hurdles at the worldwide level. Yet, the strategy of such an alliance may fit well in Chavez's plans for regional unification.

The Venezuelan head-of-state has championed the construction of a $23 billion 9,000 kilometer natural gas pipeline that would connect the entire continent. The demand for the resource, pushed by the growing energy needs of many South American countries, has helped keep the plan alive.

Most analysts agree that a natural gas cartel would not be possible without the cooperation of Russia and Iran but those countries have taken steps to create their own organization as well.

And, as far-fetched as the idea of an international style cartel for natural gas may be, it's worth remembering that it was Venezuela who had the idea for forming such an organization for the control of petroleum production back in 1959.


Find out more about South America and my varied interests over on Klephblog.

Technorati Tags: Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela, natural gas

The double nosed dog of the Andes

Rarely has a dog had a more apt name than the Double-Nosed Andean tiger hound. The rare breed has, exactly as you would expect, a double-barreled nose.

British explorer Colonel John Blashford-Snell saw one of the dogs in Bolivia two years ago carrying out reconnaissance for an expedition to examine an ancient meteorite crater near Ojaki.

He returned this year and found the offspring of the original animal doing quite well.

A veterinarian with the group determined the unusual nose was not a single deformity (as can sometimes occur to create the double-nose in canines) and locals said the surviving dog, name Xingu, He had just produced a litter with a bitch that had a single nose that included two double nosed pups which later died.

The breed was first identified by Colonel Percy Fawcett who reported seeing such strange dogs in the Amazon jungle.

The breed is believed to have descended from a Spanish double nosed dog, which were hunting dogs at the time of the Conquistadors. The animals, reportedly, have an enhanced sense of smell due to the odd nose structure.

Although such dogs are rare, other breeds exist. The Turkish Pointer, Turkey’s only native pointing breed, has the strange feature and is called çatalburun by the Turkish people because of the breed’s nose structure.

Find out more about Peru, South America and my varied interests over on Klephblog.

Technorati Tags: bolivia, double nosed dog, Double-Nosed Andean tiger hound, John Blashford-Snell, Percy Fawcett

South American presidential approval ratings

The heads of state across South America have a pretty broad range of popularity ratings. None, at the current moment, exceed two-thirds of the populace approving their leadership efforts but only two have less than a third of the citizenry supporting them.

Colombia's Alvaro Uribe leads the way with a 66 percent approval rating. This is actually an unprecedented drop in his numbers attributed to the recent scandals in his country.

Controversial Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez continues to enjoy popular support with a 64.7 percent approval rating (from April, the most recent poll available). Two of Chavez' closest allies in the region Bolivia's Evo Morales and Ecuador's Rafael Correa are enjoying approval ratings of 61 percent and 62 percent, respectively.

Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has sustained a 50 percent approval rating despite fending off scandal accusations of his own. Uruguay's Tabaré Vázquez is also fighting a recent dip with his figures holding at 51 percent.

Argentina's Néstor Kirchner is holding at 49 percent approval while his wife and Buenos Aires senator Cristina Fernández de Kirchner continues to hold the lead for October's presidential election.

Chilean president Michelle Bachelet has seen her approval rating dip to 41 percent following waves of popular protest this year. Her neighbor to the north, Alan Garcia, has seen a similar whallop to his ratings following recent unrest. He's struggling to hold onto a 32 percent rating - half of what he enjoyed upon being elected one year ago.

Bringing up the rear is Paraguay's Nicanor Duarte whose 20 percent approval (from February, the most recent poll available) casts a dim light on his re-election hopes next year.


Find out more about South America and my varied interests over on Klephblog.

Technorati Tags: Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Venezuela, presidential approval ratings

Peru and Chile's maritime border dispute

Peru has taken a dispute with its southern neighbor Chile over the maritime boundary between the two nations to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

The details of the dispute are somewhat arcane, but the control of more than 38,000 square kilometers of ocean waters is in question. Chile insists that the existing boundary which is parallel to the equator was legally established via two agreements on fishing signed in the 1950s. Peru argues that an equidistant boundary is correct.

While both sides describe the dispute in amicable terms, the disagreement has caused considerable tension in the past. Two years ago Peru cut off trade talks with Chile and refused to support its candidate to head the Organization of American States. The Peruvian legislature even went so far to pass a law that redraws the sea border.

The dispute is complicated by the calls of neighboring Bolivia to regain access to the sea. In a visit this week to Peru, Bolivian President Evo Morales made it a point to bring the topic up in discussions. Last year, Morales made similar overtures to Chile although with little progress.

The core of the disagreement goes back more than a century to the War in the Pacific when Chile decisively defeated Peru and Bolivia. The conflict was sparked over land rights in this region and one major outcome of the war was a dramatic redrawing of each country's borders.


Find out more about Peru, Chile, South America and my varied interests over on Klephblog.

Technorati Tags: Peru, Chile, Bolivia, maritime, border, Evo Morales, War of the Pacific

Boliva blocks attempt to export antique guns

Bolivian authorities have blocked an effort by a US diplomat to export a $10,0000 collection of antique firearms from the country.

Last week, Graham Alexander, the US embassy's deputy chief for regional affairs, attempted to ship two boxes containing 357 pounds of antique rifles and handguns to the United States, some stamped with the insignia of the Bolivian Army.

The pieces included both Mauser and Winchester rifles that dated between 1814 to 1900, some reportedly used in the 1879 War of the Pacific in which Bolivia and Peru were soundly defeated by Chile. Several were stamped with the insignia of the Bolivian Army.

Bolivian officials said the shipment violated laws against exporting goods important to Bolivia's cultural heritage. While charges have not been filed against Alexander, they said they intend to investigate how he had amassed the collection.

Of course these would likely be the types of weapons used by the militia of the town of San Vicente in southern Bolivia in November 1908 when they surrounded a house of suspected payroll robbers. While there is still some debate of whether this was actually the end of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, there is little doubt the story has made it's mark in the region.

Find out more about Bolivia, South America and my varied interests over on Klephblog.

Technorati Tags: Bolivia, firearms, antique, mauser, winchester, War of the Pacific, Butch Cassidy, Sundance Kid

Oca - The unknown Andean tuber

While the potato remains the Andes' most famed tuber, more and more folks are becoming savvy to the advantages of 0ca.

Scientists believe oca was first cultivated as a food crop in Boliva about 1,000 years ago and then spread quickly to Peru. They boast a host of names - most of which derive from the Incan quechua language - quiba, hibias, timbo, apilla and, of course, the official scientific title of Oxalis tuberosa.

These waxy-skinned and brightly-colored tubers are second only to the potato in the Andean highlands and they pack a similar carbohydrate punch. It is common to find them in soups and stews or boiled and eaten as a side dish. In addition, oca is a key element in the traditional highland Pachamanca - where various meats, vegetables and humitas are cooked in the ground with hot stones.

Today, oca remains a staple for people living in the Andean highlands partly because of the hardiness of the tuber - often growing at elevations exceeding 4,100 meters. However, its cultivation as a salable crop is severely constrained by the oca weevil, a pest that often destroys entire crops.

Oca is one of nine species of edible roots and tubers that play a major role in Andean potato-based farming systems. (It is similar in appearance to the olluco but they are entriely different speicies.) Due to their importance, the International Potato Center (CIP)has embarked on an emergency program to rescue these wild and domestic Andean food crop species threatened by biological extinction or severe genetic weakening.

The oca first came to Europe in the 1830s as a novelty item and was commonly known as "South American wood sorrel." Despite sharing many of the dietary and agricultural advantages of the potato, it never caught on at the same scale and interest in it waned.

The tuber was brought to New Zealand in the 1860s where it became known as the "New Zealand Yam" and relatively common today. Most of the oca cultivated in the United States comes from New Zealand rather than South America because their varieties have proven better adapted to stateside growing conditions.


Find out more about Peru, South America and my varied interests over on Klephblog.

Technorati Tags: Peru, Bolivia, Oca, International Potato Center, tuber

The Andean Cold Crisis

It has been a cold winter in the Andes - deadly cold.

For the past few months, temperatures in the Andean highlands have plummeted to record lows leading to a crisis that aid groups and government agencies are scrambling to handle.

In many of the highland areas of Peru and Bolivia lows are reaching -13 Fahrenheit. More than 200 people, including at least 55 children under the age of five have perished and more than 6,000 cases of Pneumonia have been documented so far, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

And it promises to get worse, there are still two-and-a-half months of winter remaining to go and forecasters are fearful even more severe cold snaps are in the wings.

So far in Peru alone, more than 200,000 people have been affected – often the poorest and least prepared segment of Peru’s society. Aid groups report that the worst hit areas are in the provinces of Puno, Apurimac, Ancash, Cajamarca and Cusco.

In response, the Peruvian government has placed half of the country’s 24 departments under a state of emergency and has stepped up efforts to provide aid and provisions to the areas impacted the worst. But the country is not alone. Bolivia, in particular, has been struggling to deal with the impact of the severe weather as well.

Bolivia has been forced to shut down the La Paz airport several times due to snowfall and the country’s main highway has been closed at least once so far, the AFP reported. Its been a similar story in the Chilean Andes where the Cristo Redentor tunnel between Chile and Argentina was shut down by a blizzard in early July leaving several thousand trucks stranded on the roadside for days.

The impact of this record cold is magnified by the fact these regions have been buffeted by unusually cold winters for several years now. The frigid weather has left these area with few food reserves and tens of thousands of livestock – mostly llamas and alpacas which these communities rely on for survival – have perished.

Then things began going bad early this year. In January an unseasonable cold spell destroyed up to 60 percent of the harvest for the mountain regions. This new cold spell has effectively finished off everything. Latest assessments show agricultural losses of 134,000 acres, and another 225,000 acres affected.


Find out more about Peru, South America and my varied interests over on Klephblog.

Technorati Tags: Peru, Boliva, cold, freeze, crisis, temperature

Evo Morales and the nationalization of the Bolivian railways

In another move to further extend government control over his country, Bolivia’s leader Evo Morales announced this week that he would nationalize the country’s railroad systems.

Currently, Bolivia’s railroad network extends nearly 4,300 kilometers. But rather than a single unified network, it consists of two separate systems. The eastern network links the Santa Cruz region with both Argentina and Brazil while the western system hooks the capital of La Pas to Chile and Peru.

Currently, plans exist for a railroad connecting Santa Cruz and Cochabamba. The feasibility and funding for this improvement are under debate.

The Bolivian government owned the country’s largest railroad company, Empresa Nacional de Ferrocarriles, until 1995, when it was capitalized. At that time, the country sold a majority share in to the Chilean company Cruz Blanca.

That, in turn, led to a discontinuation of most passenger routes — including lines to La Paz — in favor of freight service. The western portion of the railway to the Chilean company Luksic Group, and in 2000 sold the eastern portion to the U.S. company Genessee & Wyoming Inc.

The extreme Andean terrain and elevation makes cross-country transportation a problem. While Bolivia has more than 60,000 kilometers of roads, only about 4,000 kilometers are paved. Although there have been efforts to extend the amount of paved roadway – until they are successful the railway system will remain a key component for development.

Moreover, the country’s landlocked situation keeps transportation costs high in comparison with it’s neighbors – a drag on economic development. And the transportation corridors are a key strategic piece to the country’s political situation. The blockage of the primary highways was an important element of the protests that brought Morales to power.


Find out more about Bolivia, South America and my varied interests over on Klephblog.

Technorati Tags: Bolivia, Evo Morales, nationalization, railroads