Posts tagged #Bolivia

Don’t write off Maduro: why Venezuela is not another Ukraine

By Rodrigo Acuña and Luis F. Angosto-Ferrandez

March 24, 2014

The Conversation

A wave of street protests, some violent, has been sweeping Venezuela. These attracted international media coverage, which often presented protests as the expression of a national crisis that anticipated the fall of president Nicolas Maduro and the collapse of his leftist Bolivarian project.

Several analysts rushed to draw parallels between Venezuela and Ukraine. They suggested the turbulent ousting of Víktor Yanukóvich in the latter foretold that Maduro’s days as head of state were numbered. This comparison was misguided.

So far, 34 people have died and more than 460 people have been wounded. These figures include bystanders and anti- and pro-government supporters.

Bolivian crisis unites South America against US

By Rodrigo Acuña

The Drum Opinion (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

30 September 2008

Despite the lack of in-depth coverage by the international media, the recent political crisis in Bolivia has made two things clear.

For a start, it seems the government of Evo Morales still has the backing of the majority of the population and, until now, most of the rank and file of the armed forces.

Secondly, the crisis has allowed South American countries to rally behind Morales through the new Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) in contrast to the U.S. led Organisation of American States (OAS) - traditionally the forum to discuss such matters.