Anti-government protests erupt in La Paz as Amazon highway is back on track

Record ID: 904945

  • Title: Anti-government protests erupt in La Paz as Amazon highway is back on track
  • Date: 2nd August 2017
  • Summary: LA PAZ, BOLIVIA (AUGUST 02, 2017) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF BOLIVIA'S PLURINATIONAL LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY VIEW FROM STREET OF BOLIVIA'S PLURINATIONAL LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY
  • Embargoed: 16th August 2017 22:55
  • Keywords: road law indigenous Morales build anti-government protests Amazon forest project TIPNIS
  • Location: LA PAZ, BOLIVIA
  • City: LA PAZ, BOLIVIA
  • Country: Bolivia
  • Topics: Environment,Nature/Wildlife
  • Reuters ID: LVA0036SGSK03
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A controversial project to build a highway through a Bolivian National Park took a step forward in Bolivia's legislature on Tuesday (August 01) leading to protests from a coalition of indigenous and environmental groups. The Legislative Commission of the Amazon of Bolivia's Legislative Assembly on Tuesday (August 01) approved a law that will annul the protection of the Indigenous Territory and National Park of Isiboro Secure (known in Spanish by its acronym, TIPNIS). The law could now be taken up and passed by the full Assembly at any time.
    On Wednesday (August 02), representatives of indigenous communities along with human rights organizations protested in the streets of La Paz against the change to the park's status.
    The road has been at the heart of the Bolivian President Evo Morales' drive to boost infrastructure investment in the impoverished nation. The government has said communities in the TIPNIS had been consulted over the 185-mile road project, but opposition legislator Jimena Costas stated that, "there was no town hall or assembly (in the TIPNIS) to announce it."
    The actions this week follow attempts going back years to develop land within the park. In October 2011 Morales, signed an "intangibility" law of the natural park and reversed the construction of the road in the region pressure culminating in an indigenous march from the Amazon to La Paz.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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