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Bridging the Divide in Latin America (Bolivia)

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Subido el 23 de julio de 2007 por EducaMadrid

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With December 2005 elections, Bolivia's political landscape changed utterly. In his victory speech, Evo Morales, the country's first indigenous president, promised Bolivia's poor majority an end to the 'injustice, the discrimination, the marginalisation we have suffered historically'. 65% of Bolivia's 9.3 million population live below the poverty line and that can reach as high as 80% in rural areas. Many are becoming impatient with democracy because of the lack of economic results - recent polls indicate support for democracy across the continent is down from 61% to just 53%. This report opens with a road blockade outside Cochabamba in central Bolivia. Protests, road blockades and unrest are common in Bolivia - unrest linked in many ways to the glaring economic and social inequalities felt in the country. The previous two presidents were deposed in three years. The European Union (EU) is Bolivia's largest donor of grant aid and for the EU it's been important to fund not only development projects but also local initiatives that develop a sense of identity and an awareness that communities have rights. The EU is clear that to maintain democracy into the future, poverty must be reduced.

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Stability is not something Bolivia has experienced much of recently. 00:00:00
Two presidents have been deposed in three years. 00:00:06
Road blockades are a common form of protest for any group or community 00:00:09
wanting change. The recent unrest has been linked to the glaring economic and 00:00:13
social inequalities that persist within Bolivia, 00:00:18
an inequality mirrored across Latin America. 65 percent of Bolivia's 9.3 00:00:21
million population 00:00:27
live below the poverty line and that can reach as much as 80 percent in rural 00:00:28
areas. One of the most complicating factors hindering Bolivia's economic 00:00:33
development can be found in the chapare. It was here almost all of Bolivia's 00:00:39
coca was produced in the 1980s. Since Inca times Bolivians have used the coca 00:00:44
leaf as a tea and in religious ceremonies and most chew the leaf to 00:00:49
guard against cold or to fight altitude sickness. But coca is also the raw 00:00:53
ingredient of cocaine. I have been chewing coca since I was eight years old 00:00:57
but since the drug came coca is now evil. This is wrong. Before that the coca was 00:01:07
just it was brought from here to there and used so people could chew it while 00:01:18
they were working. Most of the people in the chapare are not drug traffickers. 00:01:25
They are cocaleros, coca farmers, who like Ramon Rabollo's family moved to the 00:01:31
chapare in the mid 80s. As Bolivia struggled to compete globally the drug 00:01:37
trade dominated its export economy. An internationally supported eradication 00:01:42
program did reduce hectares under coca but without alternatives this impacted 00:01:47
most on the peasant population. Coca hurts us and it hurts you and that's why 00:01:52
we need you to buy what we produce. While we have nothing we need you to help us. 00:02:00
The European Union is one international donor answering that call. The EU is 00:02:10
Bolivia's largest donor of grant aid with funding of 126 million euros in 00:02:15
development projects in the last four years. In addition to Europe being the 00:02:20
principal source of development assistance to Bolivia, European firms are 00:02:25
the largest source of foreign investment in many Latin American countries. We are 00:02:28
one of the main trading partners and a buyer of many of the exports and under 00:02:32
very preferential arrangements. As far as our programs here in Bolivia are concerned 00:02:37
we've emphasized a number of different areas including significant investments 00:02:42
in social sectors, in education, in water and sanitation, in health but also in 00:02:46
the field of alternative development in those areas which at the moment are 00:02:51
producing coca leaves. The idea is not to take anybody's livelihood away but to 00:02:55
try and demonstrate that there are other alternative livelihoods available which 00:03:00
are legal. The principal reason coca production took hold across Latin 00:03:03
America is because there is an international demand for the product. 00:03:09
Simply it makes money and in Bolivia that's a scarce commodity. But inequality 00:03:13
in Latin America exists not just in terms of income but also land, education 00:03:19
and access to credit, further excluding already discriminated people. The 00:03:24
inequality is having an alarming effect on democracy. Recent polls indicate 00:03:29
support for democracy across the continent is down from 61 percent to 00:03:34
just 53 percent. It's been a particular challenge in the Chapare where decades 00:03:38
of conflict with government over coca damaged any sense of citizenship. For the 00:03:44
EU it's been important to fund not only development projects but also local 00:03:49
initiatives that develop a sense of identity and an awareness that 00:03:53
communities have rights, a bottom-up approach that has worked well in the EU. 00:03:57
Access to land is another emotive subject particularly for the indigenous 00:04:02
majority. An EU-sponsored project has been working with local government to 00:04:08
map out ownership of land for local farmers and provide individuals with 00:04:13
their land title. That title protects against intimidation or land grab. 00:04:17
For us this is very important because without the title we feel that we are 00:04:24
not the owners. That's why it is important for all of us. With December's 00:04:28
elections Bolivia's political landscape changed utterly. Evo Morales, an Aymara 00:04:35
Indian, was the first indigenous president to be elected in Bolivia. In 00:04:41
his victory speech Mr. Morales promised the country's poor majority an end to 00:04:45
the injustice, the discrimination, the marginalization we have suffered 00:04:50
historically. To achieve an end to poverty Mr. Morales is looking east. 00:04:55
Santa Cruz de la Sierra is the focus of Bolivia's natural gas industry with the 00:05:00
second largest gas reserves in Latin America. With largely European foreign 00:05:06
investment in the sector Santa Cruz is doing well. In many ways this could be 00:05:10
another country. Calls to nationalize the energy sector have alarmed the business 00:05:15
community here. There are two visions of a country. One vision will be having a 00:05:20
closed country, having nationalization, having also that land should be 00:05:27
redistributed to many, many, many people. And the other kind of vision which is 00:05:38
Santa Cruz, one of them, is have many agreements with many countries in order 00:05:43
to have commerce growing. The other one will be also trying to have more 00:05:49
investments in order to create more jobs. That kind of vision is what we are 00:05:57
really having a problem with right now. Santa Cruz has also been calling for 00:06:03
more autonomy for all regions in health, education, taxation and an end to a 00:06:08
centralized government in La Paz. Santa Cruz pays 45 percent in taxes into the 00:06:13
national budget and receives 18 percent back. It's the only region that's been 00:06:18
able to reduce poverty and people here feel that with autonomy they could be an 00:06:23
example for the other eight districts. Our autonomy should be solidarity with 00:06:28
more poverty regions. And you know that Europe, Spain was very, very, a country 00:06:34
that was behind in comparing to other countries in the European. But nowadays 00:06:42
Spain, in which the European countries have invested in Spain money, now Spain 00:06:49
is very important. How equitable any such autonomy would be in Bolivia remains to 00:06:55
be seen, but it is clear that the EU experience can continue to provide an 00:07:01
example across Latin America. The response should not be to create 00:07:05
barriers or to think about a separate model of development. The history of 00:07:11
Latin America has been based on a process of integration and that has 00:07:15
continued on a different level, for example at the level of the Andean 00:07:21
community or the Mercosur. Integration, whether it be between countries or 00:07:25
within countries, between regions, is a win-win situation and that's been 00:07:29
experienced in Europe. But people in Latin America have demonstrated certain 00:07:34
impatience with regard to democracy because of the lack of deliverable 00:07:39
results in economic terms. If you compare Latin America now compared to Latin 00:07:45
America 25 years ago, the fact is that now you have democratic 00:07:51
governments in every single country and that's something that has to be 00:07:55
maintained. At a political level the EU and Latin America share many of the same 00:07:59
values and often act together on the world stage on issues such as human 00:08:05
rights and the environment. With elections taking place across Latin 00:08:09
America in 2006 there will be a new political scene, but the challenge of 00:08:13
bridging the divide between rich and poor remains constant and that must 00:08:19
change in the decades ahead. 00:08:23
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Idioma/s:
en
Niveles educativos:
▼ Mostrar / ocultar niveles
      • Nivel Intermedio
Autor/es:
The European Union
Subido por:
EducaMadrid
Licencia:
Reconocimiento - No comercial - Sin obra derivada
Visualizaciones:
720
Fecha:
23 de julio de 2007 - 12:45
Visibilidad:
Público
Enlace Relacionado:
European Commission
Duración:
08′ 27″
Relación de aspecto:
4:3 Hasta 2009 fue el estándar utilizado en la televisión PAL; muchas pantallas de ordenador y televisores usan este estándar, erróneamente llamado cuadrado, cuando en la realidad es rectangular o wide.
Resolución:
448x336 píxeles
Tamaño:
43.89 MBytes

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