The Brazilian government decided to grant political asylum to Bolivian Senator Roger Pinto Molina, leader of the opposition in Congress. The congressman was already a refugee at the Brazilian embassy in La Paz since May 28^th.

In a statement, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry affirmed it has granted asylum to Molina “in light of the rules and practices of Latin American international law and based on Article 4, Section 10 of the Federal Constitution.”

Molina made ​​the request for political asylum last week. He claims to be persecuted by the government of Evo Morales, on the account of his role in defending human rights. However, Morales denies the charge. The senator said his wife, one of the couple’s three daughters and two granddaughters are in the Brazilian state of Acre and the other daughters and grandchildren, are still in Bolivia.

Former governor of Pando, in the Bolivian amazon border with Brazil, the senator is accused by authorities of irregularities. An article in the newspaper La Razon, from La Paz, reports that the senator faces at least 20 lawsuits in courts of La Paz, Santa Cruz, Sucre and Cobija, which refer mainly to charges of contempt, ilegal sale of public assets and corruption.

Last week, Bolivia’s government officials reacted to the Senator’s request for refuge.  Brazil is awaiting for a response from the Bolivian government on the provision of a safe-conduct to Roger Pinto Molina so that he may be transported to Brazil.

Bolivia asked Chile for the first time, for the renegotiation of a 1904 bilateral treaty as a way to resolve its long-standing demand to recover a sovereign exit to the Pacific Ocean. The request was renewed during the annual meeting of the foreign ministers of the OAS.

The proposal, presented on the last day of the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) in the department of Cochabamba, Bolivia, was rejected by the Chile’s delegation, which signalized that the current borders will “never” be modified.

The treaty established, early last century, after a war, the current borders between the two countries, leaving Bolivia without access to the sea it had before the so-called Pacific War of 1879. During the same conflict, Peru also lost to Chile part of its territory.

Bolivia bases its claim on an OAS resolution approved 33 years ago, which considered Bolivia’s claim of “continental interest,” and which was approached by innumerous bilateral and multilateral declarations.

Bolivian President, Evo Morales, said he considered the possibility of an international litigation on the matter. Chile, governed by Sebastián Piñera, and Bolivia have no diplomatic relations since 1978, after the failure of negotiations on the maritime issue.

A opinion poll by conducted by Ipsos company and published in the newspaper, Página Sete, pointed out that 47% of Bolivians believe that the country is headed in the wrong direction. On the other hand, only 22% of respondents think the opposite, i.e, believes that Bolivia is in the right direction.

The survey heard 800 people between the 18^th and 26^th of April in the regions of Santa Cruz, La Paz, El Alto and Cochabamba, the four largest cities in the country, which account for 40% of the population. The margin of sampling error is 3.39%.

The institute said the pessimistic perception about the direction of Bolivia has remained between 43% and 47% in the first four months of 2012. The percentage of citizens who understand that the country is headed in the right way, ranged between 19% and 22% in the period between January and April of this year.

The pessimism about the situation in the country reached its highest point in February of 2011, when 70% of Bolivians responded that the country was not going in the right direction.

This result was recorded two months after the increase of fuel prices by up to 82% ordered by President Evo Morales. However, after the occurrence of strong protests organized by popular movements, Morales suspended the adjustment.

Pessimism can be attributed to the current political climate in recent weeks. It is important to remember, that the government of Evo Morales has faced strikes and demonstrations in various sectors in the last few months.

More than a week after the announcement of the nationalization of the energy company, Transportadora de Eletricidade (TDE), the Bolivian government said it reached an agreement about a fair compensation to the Spanish company, Rede Elétrica (REE), responsible for TDE. The matter will still be submitted, however, to a series of assessments.

Last week, Bolivian President, Evo Morales, met with the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from Spain, Jesus Manuel Gracia, to negotiate the agreement. Talks between the Bolivian authorities, Spanish entrepreneurs and representatives lasted three days.

Morales decision to nationalize the electricity company surprised the Spaniards, who threatened to retaliate against the measure. In the last days however, the Bolivian foreign minister tried to minimize the tension.

On Feb. 1, Morales announced the nationalization of TDE. He said the decision was made due to low investment in the expansion of the National Interconnected System (SIN) of the energy supply in the country, and because it is government policy to recover the strategic enterprises that were privatized in the 1990s.

Bolivian President, Evo Morales, has intensified his campaign against new indigenous protests that are heading for La Paz. The purpose of the mobilizations is, once again, demonstrate dissatisfaction with the decision of the Bolivian government to build a road on the Indian Territory Isiboro Secure National Park (Tipnis), which is an indigenous nature reserve. Trying to win support from public opinion, Morales flew along with the local and foreign journalists over Tipnis, showing the benefits of the work on this ecological reserve. The road that the government intends to build on Tipnis is designed to unite the central region of Cochabamba with the Amazon region of Beni, through half of the Tipnis population, rejects the proposal.
To resolve this impasse, Morales is in holding a referendum to be held on May 10. The vote will decide whether the indigenous will approve or not the construction of the road on Tipnis. Despite the initiatives of the Bolivian president to keep dialogue channels open and consult his primary voter base – the indigenous movement – there is strong resistances to approve the project driven by the executive branch.

The Bolivian President Evo Morales said that his followers must be convinced that “they came to power forever.” The demonstration took place during the inauguration of the eighth congress of his party, founded 17 years ago.

Speaking to the militants of the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS), his political party, Morales said that “anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist, anti-neoliberal reached the Palace not as tenants, but forever. According to the Bolivian president, this issue should be discussed by MAS.

As a way of trying to strengthen the internal unity in the party, Evo Morales said that the capitalist model is in crisis and is not a solution to the problems of humanity.

Morales won the first term in 2006 and was reelected president in 2010. The second government of indigenous leader runs until 2015, when he plans to run for a third term, which would last until the year 2020.

The Bolivian president has assured that he is entitled to another term as president with the argument that his first term does not count because it was not yet in force when the new Constitution was promulgated in 2009.

Bolivia lives a scenario of tension with the U.S.. The President Evo Morales last month expelled the American ambassador in La Paz, Philip Goldberg, and the end of last week suspended the operations of the U.S. Department of Drugs (DEA). In both cases, alleged political interference in favor of their opponents. 

Barack Obama will have a big challenge in Bolivia. Even promissing to seek dialogue with the region, Morales will use nationalist sentiment as a way to promote social movements that support him politically. It is still uncertain as is the relationship between the two nations.

His influence on social movements and the power of his government give Evo Morales a competitive edge over the opposition in the run-up to the referendum. Unlike a few months ago, the Bolivian Chief of State has never been so close to “re-founding” his nation.

Domestically, the opposition is expected to become more isolated. The Podemos, the main opposition party, may have led the agreement, but some regional leaders are angry. Thus, it is still unknown how opposition departments will react. There could be a truce until the vote, but after that there’s no way of projecting what can occur.

When trying to prevent an opposition split-up, the Mayor of Santa Cruz, Rubén Costas, said that this is the moment for a broad front to unite and challenge the government. But the Mayor of Beni, Ernesto Suárez, believes that the subject of autonomy was treated in the agreement in a way that betrayed the regions.

After many deadlocks, government and opposition have reached an agreement on the new Constitution. A referendum has been scheduled for 25 January 2009. If the new Magna Carta is approved, general elections will be advanced to December next year. Key to this difficult negotiation was President Evo Morales’s commitment not to run for yet another term if he is re-elected in 2009. With the agreement, Morales will leave office after finishing a new five-year term.

From now on, Evo Morales will be closer to the so-called “Bolivian re-foundation”, his main campaign promise. If the new constitution is approved, the economy will see greater State intervention, and also more rights to Indigenous peoples. Also foreseen are concessions for regions governed by the opposition (Santa Cruz, Tarija, Beni and Chuquiasca).

These are the main changes in the new Constitution:

Re-election: The new Magna Carta provides for the possibility of immediate re-election just once.

Autonomy: Three government tiers will be instituted – departmental, municipal and indigenous. Army, police, central bank and foreign policy continue in the hands of the central government. Other responsibilities will be devolved gradually.

Rangelands: Big land owners will have to prove the “economic and social” utility of their land. Before that, all rangelands areas would have been nationalized. The January vote will set out a 5,000 or 10,000 hectare limit for unproductive land. 

The executive branch of Bolivia thinks oil companies are not necessary in the country if they do not want to abide by their investment commitments. The statement was made by the Minister of Hydrocarbons and Energy, Saúl Ávalos, in an interview given to broadcasting company Erbol. He recalled that now in Bolivia all commitments are to be fulfilled.

Ávalos said that if the companies refuse to implement their investments – US$ 900 millions for this year alone – the State will intervene to verify whether investments in the oil industry are in keeping with its projects.

The threat issued by the Ministry lands in an environment of fuel shortage affecting some regions in the country, a situation that has been caused by declining investments in the oil industry.

 On the other hand, oil companies justify lesser financial investments due to the country’s political instability in recent years, tax reforms and the nationalization carried out in mid 2006.