ATLANTA, United States (March 27, 2006) - International inattention to the unprecedented floods, frost and hail that ravaged Bolivia in January and February continues to threaten the lives and livelihoods of over a quarter of a million of Bolivia's rural poor. This is the first national crisis that the new administration of Bolivian President Evo Morales, who took office on January 22, must face. Nearly 30 percent of Bolivia's subsistence agriculture and an entire first harvest along with much of a second harvest have been seriously damaged. This catastrophe is beyond the Bolivian government's capacity to handle without international aid. Even before the floods hit, Bolivia ranked as the one of the poorest countries in the Americas, with poverty levels surpassed only by Haiti.
The flooding has affected eight of Bolivia's nine departments. The rains continue, rendering farmland unusable and cutting off transportation to many rural areas. Estimates say it could take six to nine months for Bolivia to begin to recover from the impact of the disaster. CARE and other humanitarian organizations have received financial support from donors such as the United Kingdom's Department for International Development, the United States Agency for International Development, the United Nations and the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid department. However, CARE warns that more support is urgently needed to keep this disaster from driving already vulnerable indigenous groups further into poverty and contributing to political instability.
"What is crucial now is for the international community to realize how much is being put at risk by a failure to act when it counts," says Barbara Jackson, CARE's country director in Bolivia. "For thousands of Bolivians, that lack of interest and the failure to provide needed support means personal catastrophe. In a larger context, a failure in Bolivia's democracy could lead to a greater regional instability.
"Many programs providing essential emergency aid may be severely cut back or completely halted unless donors take immediate action and quickly contribute more emergency, reconstruction and rehabilitation funds," says Jackson. A targeted investment would help to keep Bolivia's poverty from deepening and would enhance stability in one of South America's growing democracies.
CARE and other nongovernmental organizations have provided food, shelter, access to safe drinking water, sanitation and help with education of children forced to flee their homes. In addition to directly assisting more than 122,000 Bolivians, CARE has been instrumental in protecting women and children who are especially vulnerable to exploitation and violence. In many of the emergency camps, an estimated 90 percent of the men have been hired away to work on large agricultural farms, leaving women behind to take care of their families, often with large numbers of small children. Protection programs critically need continued financing.
In addition to limited international emergency aid, international media attention to the growing crisis has been minimal. The lack of international media interest has left world opinion largely uninformed about the extent of the crisis and of potential political implications.
"This disaster is paralyzing the country and its long-range impact on Bolivian society is significantly destructive," says Jackson. "However, this emergency has been largely overlooked because it lacks the immediacy of a tsunami or the visual drama of an earthquake or famine."
The fate of internally displaced communities — many of whom were already poor — is at stake, and Bolivia's democracy is particularly vulnerable. Evo Morales is Bolivia's first indigenous president and the first to win an absolute majority in the popular vote in recent history. Many Bolivians are convinced that the country's wealth from extensive natural gas resources is being stripped off and sold to foreigners at bargain prices. During his election campaign, Morales promised to substantially increase the government royalties on Bolivia's booming natural gas exports and to engage in genuine land reform. Uncertainty about the nature of potential constitutional changes has brought foreign investment to a standstill. Some analysts point out that Morales's friendly relationship with Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez, has troubled Washington, and there is concern about any increased instability in the Andes.
