Published by The Andean Information Network
January 24, 2012

A block of indigenous representatives to the Bolivian Legislative Assembly announced that they are forming a new first nations’ caucus. The news unsettled Bolivian politics, as it means that MAS will lose its guaranteed 2/3 majority rule in the Legislative Assembly. | Congressman Bienvenido Zacu, a member of the newly formed caucus, explained that the new political block intends to oppose the road construction through the TIPNIS Indigenous Territory and National park, [i] a proposed project that was outlawed by President Morales’ Ley Corta in October 2011 after sustained protest. When the Consejo Indigena del Sur (Conisur) started a march demanding a reversal the law, some lawmakers reopened legislative debate on TIPNIS. Representatives of the lowland regions who had supported the Ley Corta banded together to protect it. Pedro Nuni, caucus president, says that the move was “essential to the decolonization process” and asked that MAS “respect their right to their own vision.” Read more here