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A member of the military police walks amid tear gas as Bolivia's President Luis Arce "denounced the irregular mobilization" of some units of the country's army, in La Paz, Bolivia June 26, 2024.
Bolivia's coup lasts just hours
It was over almost as quickly as it began. On Wednesday, Bolivian state television broadcast images of armored military vehicles ramming the door of the government complex in La Paz on Wednesday, as soldiers occupied the capital city’s central square in an apparent coup attempt.
President Luis Arce called on irregular popular militias to fight back, but just hours later the soldiers had withdrawn from the square and top General Juan José Zuñiga, apparent leader of the coup attempt, was arrested.
Bolivia has experienced several years of upheaval since 2019, when leftwing populist Evo Morales -- the country's first Indigenous president -- was ousted amid mass protests over election irregularities after seeking an unconstitutional third term in power.
Morales was succeeded by interim president Jeanine Añez, an ultra-conservative opposition Senator, who led a deadly crackdown on protests by Morales’ largely rural and indigenous support base. In 2020, Arce, a one-time ally of Morales’, won the presidential election, and two years later, Añez was sentenced to a ten-year jail term over accusations that she had illegally taken power from Morales.
Part of the backdrop to the unrest is a failing economic model. Morales' once-booming strategy of tapping Bolivia's vast natural gas resources to lift millions out of poverty has long since hit the skids because of lower prices and shrinking production.
Morales himself, still a powerful figure, had denounced the coup on Wednesday, calling on his supporters to take to the streets.
And that's where the plot thickens: Morales and his former comrade Arce are now bitter rivals, jockeying for position ahead of the 2025 presidential elections.
Bolivian Vice President David Choquehuanca and President Luis Arce chew coca leaves during the celebration of the "acullico" tradition, where coca leaves are shared and alternative products made with coca are shown, in La Paz, Bolivia January 11, 2023.
Forget “Cocaine Bear,” here comes cocaine beer
Bolivia is diversifying its coca leaf products – from soaps and shampoos to a buzzy new beer. La Paz’s El Viejo Roble Distillery has launched a coca-infused brew set to hit the market at only $2 a bottle. It will be added to the list of its other coca-flavored drinks, including rum and vodka.
When can you try it? Getting this beer to global markets may prove challenging. Although coca-leaf products are legal and crucial to the Bolivian economy, these products are not in many other countries owing to their UN narcotic classification. Still, Bolivia is trying: It has initiated the coca review process to repeal its drug status with the support of fellow cocaine-leading countries Colombia and Mexico.
The WHO began its critical review of the leaf last fall – the first of many stages in the decriminalization process. These findings are key to Bolivia, as coca leaves hold great importance among Bolivians, both spiritually among Indigenous communities, and economically by supporting over 70,000 cocaleros (coca growers) and bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars of the country’s annual GDP.
Their research must be submitted by October, and the UN Convention on Narcotic Drugs will vote next year. We’ll be watching to see whether we can toast their decision with this new coca brew.
An Afghan man works in a poppy field in Nangarhar province in 2016.
Hard Numbers: Afghans' fewer poppies, Trump's lead in key states, Lake Titicaca’s lower water level, New Delhi's smog, Japan's new frigates, Swifties' tents
95: Once the world’s top opium supplier, Afghanistan has slashed its cultivation of opium poppies by a whopping 95%, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. The drop follows a Taliban edict banning opium cultivation.
5: Former President Donald Trump is leading in five of six battleground states in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election, according to new polls by The New York Times and Siena College. The numbers indicate that Biden is trailing among registered voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. The president remains ahead in Wisconsin by the smallest of margins: two percentage points.
29: Over the past seven months, Lake Titicaca’s water level at the Peru-Bolivia border has fallen 29 inches to near-record lows. According to scientists, climate change is exacerbating this year’s El Nino phenomenon, layering heat on top of heat in South America’s largest freshwater lake.
471: In more bad environmental news, primary schools in New Delhi have been closed through Nov. 10 due to high pollution levels. On Sunday, the capital recorded an Air Quality Index reading of 471, a level considered hazardous.
12: The Japanese Ministry of Defense will acquire a total of 12 new Mogami class frigates over the next five years. The vessels will be used to defend the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea, which are controlled by Japan but also claimed by China and Taiwan.
5: Die-hard Taylor Swift fans have been camped out in tents for 5 months for a chance at front-row seats to the singer’s Eras Tour concerts in Buenos Aires on Nov. 9, 10, and 11. Some Bad Blood has been reported between the tent dwellers and locals who say the Swifties should get jobs rather than spend days waiting for their idol – but despite the potentially Delicate situation, fans appear able to Shake it Off.
A group of demonstrators burns an image of the Prime Minister of Israel, BENJAMÍN NETANYAHU, during a protest in front of the Israel Embassy in Santiago, Chile, for his military actions in Gaza.
South American countries recall Israel envoys over Gaza
Colombia and Chile recalled their ambassadors to Israel, and Bolivia severed relations with the country entirely in reaction to the scorched-earth tactics used by Israeli forces in Gaza. All three governments fall under a left-wing tradition in Latin America that is heavily pro-Palestinian.
Bolivia has historically terrible relations with Israel, and the move is no surprise. Left-wing icon and former President Evo Morales first severed ties in 2009 after Israel invaded Gaza in late December 2008, and he praised sitting President (and protegé-turned-rival) Luis Arce’s decision.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro was formerly a member of the M-19 guerillas, a radical left-wing group that terrorized urban areas before demobilizing in 1991. He’s pushed the boundaries of decency in his condemnations of Israel, going so far as to liken the country’s actions to those of Hitler and the Third Reich.
Chilean President Gabriel Boric, less radical than Petro or Arce, has nevertheless been unequivocal in his criticism of Israel’s operations in Gaza while still condemning Hamas’ terrorist atrocities and pledging to work toward a two-state solution.
Colombia and Chile also have large ethnic Arab minorities, which tends to lend weight to discourse over Middle Eastern issues, but isn’t the proximate cause of the current spat. Up to 3.2 million Colombians are of Arab descent (ever heard of Shakira?). They’re mostly Lebanese but include around 100,000 people of Palestinian heritage.
Meanwhile, Chile is believed to have the largest Palestinian diaspora outside the Middle East, with up to 500,000 members. The community has tended to prosper, and remains visible in public life: The Club Deportivo Palestino plays in the colors of the Palestinian flag and has twice won Chile’s top-tier soccer league. Legislators of Palestinian descent have a caucus in Congress, and Chile has been an observer in the Arab League since 2005.
T-50 supersonic training planes take off for training at an airforce base in Gwangju, south of Seoul
Hard Numbers: US bombers soar in Asia, Bolivia’s car theft culture, deafening penalties for 3M, Europe’s Russian gas habit persists
20: Up to 20% of Bolivia’s cars are stolen from Chile, and there is a whole TikTok subculture, replete with its own music, of thieves doing stunts as they drive them across the desert that spans the border between the two countries. Ordinary Chileans are now using AI to try to crack down on the thefts.
6 billion: What’s that you said? 3M, the US consumer goods giant that makes everything from chemicals to plastics to Post-its, has agreed to pay $6 billion to US veterans and servicemembers who say the company’s earplugs failed to protect them from hearing damage. It’s the largest settlement of its kind in US history.
40: The EU’s imports of Russian Liquefied Natural Gas have jumped 40% this year, hitting record volumes. The bloc largely cut imports of piped Russian gas after the invasion of Ukraine and has promised to swear off Russian fossil fuels entirely by 2027, but the transition isn't easy. Still, the EU used to rely on the Kremlin for half its gas, now it’s less than a quarter.
People transport a man injured by a blast in Bajaur, Pakistan, on Sunday.
Hard Numbers: Pakistan suffers blast, Phoenix melts, Bolivia embraces yuan, US aids Taiwan, Barbie rakes it in
45: At least 45 people were killed and over 150 injured in a bomb blast Sunday in Pakistan at a convention of the country’s conservative Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Party in Bajaur ahead of this year’s elections. No group has claimed responsibility, but a local branch of the Islamic State group in Pakistan is believed to have launched recent attacks in Bajaur.
31: As of Sunday, the city of Phoenix, AZ, had sweltered in 110-degree heat for a record 31 days, according to the National Weather Service. The previous record was 18 days, set in 1974. But luckily, it looks like things are set to cool off with the arrival of late monsoon rains.
10: Bolivia announced that 10% of its trade between May and July was done in yuan, rather than the American dollar. Following in the footsteps of Argentina and Brazil, Bolivia is the third South American nation to begin to pivot from the greenback to the yuan.
345 million: On Friday, the US announced a $345 million military aid package for Taiwan to help counter China. In addition to education, training, intelligence and surveillance capabilities, Washington will send man-portable air defense systems, firearms, and missiles.
750 million: "Barbie" is predicted to top $750 million in box office earnings worldwide after its second weekend in theaters, making it 2023’s fourth-biggest domestic release ("The Super Mario Bros. Movie," "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse," and "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3" in the 1-2-3 positions). But in case you’ve forgotten that we’re living in a Barbenheimer world, "Oppenheimer" was expected to pull in a cool $400 million by the end of the weekend.What We're Watching: Myanmar's election, Bolivia's new president, Biden's COVID crew
Myanmar's "democratic" elections: Voters in Myanmar voted overwhelmingly on Sunday in support of the National League for Democracy party led by Aung San Suu Kyi, ensuring that it will remain the dominant force in parliament. It was only the second time that voters headed to the polls in a country that's been experimenting with democracy after more than 50 years of military rule. While voter turnout was high, critics say that some 1.5 million people were prevented from voting as part of a deliberate tactic by the joint civilian-military government to disenfranchise voters from ethnic minority states (the election was even cancelled in some of them). The country's ever-powerful military has long been accused of persecuting minority groups (this was reflected in its ethnic cleansing campaign in Rakhine State against Muslim Rohingyas, which were also not allowed to vote). Suu Kyi, for her part, has been accused of turning a blind eye to the genocide despite her credentials as a human rights "warrior." Indeed, the National League for Democracy has its work cut out for it as COVID-19 continues to rip through a country with one of the world's weakest healthcare systems.
Bolivia inaugurates new president: A little more than a year after a contested election led to protests and the ouster of Bolivia long-serving leftwing populist President Evo Morales, the country has inaugurated his protégé, Luis Arce, who handily won a do-over election last month. Arce — who served as Morales' top economic official during the years when the government used a natural resource boom to lift millions out of poverty — faces daunting challenges. Bolivia's economy is mired in its worst slump in decades, as the coronavirus pandemic has cratered prices for Bolivia's natural gas and minerals exports. At the same time, Bolivia has one of the world's highest COVID-19 death rates per capita — in part because political upheavals over the past year made it hard for the government to craft an effective policy. Atop all of that, Arce will take control of a country bitterly polarized after a year of turmoil and animosity between Morales' supporters and the conservative opposition that held power in the interim.
Biden names COVID task force: With new coronavirus cases surging in the US, president-elect Joe Biden has already named a transition advisory team charged with fleshing out the incoming administration's plans to get the outbreak under control. It'll be led by former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy (whom GZERO media interviewed here), former FDA commissioner David Kessler, and Dr Marcella-Nunez Smith, a Yale public health expert, and it features an all-star roster of experts and scientists. Although Biden won't have real power to do anything about the pandemic until he takes office in January, the task force will reportedly be working with local and state governments both to assess their needs and, presumably, to advance the Biden team's proposals for broader mask-wearing mandates. We will see how far the task force gets and how politicized this issue becomes during what it is likely to be a very tense transition period. The Trump administration, for its part, isn't allowing the normal transition to proceed.
The other 2020 elections
Of course, the United States presidential election isn't the only major race on the world stage this year. Ian Bremmer takes a look at a number of highly important elections around the globe this year, including those in New Zealand, Israel and South Korea. One thing is clear - for most democratic political contests in 2020, no matter whose name is on the ballot, coronavirus is on voters' minds. Elections right now are as much a referendum on pandemic response as they are on the politicians running.
Watch the episode: What could go wrong in the US election? Rick Hasen on nightmare scenarios & challenges