South America

September 3rd, 2007  |  By Round Earth Media

Who Owns Peru’s Culture?

At almost 8 thousand feet, Machu Picchu perches above a lush valley in the Peruvian Andes. | Photo: Michael Beebe

At almost 8 thousand feet, Machu Picchu perches above a lush valley in the Peruvian Andes. | Photo: Michael Beebe

Machu Picchu, one of the world’s great archaeological sites, dazzles tourists from all over the world.

But those tourists who travel to Peru can’t see hundreds of treasures that were found at Machu Picchu. Those treasures are in New Haven, Conn., at Yale University’s Peabody Museum of Natural History.

Peruvians are outraged that these antiquities are so far away, and they are demanding that they be returned.

How did the treasures end up at Yale?
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September 3rd, 2007  |  By Round Earth Media

Peru’s Natural Viagra Center of Controversy

Ana Luna Derente and her husband Vicente Fijueroa sell maca liquor in the market in Junin.

Ana Luna Derente and her husband Vicente Fijueroa sell maca liquor in the market in Junin. | All photos by Don Losure

Long before the drug Viagra, Indians in Peru had their own libido enhancer — an unassuming root called maca.

Maca caught the attention of a U.S. company, which got a patent on this so-called natural Viagra. And just a few months ago, Wal-Mart started selling the tonic.

But Peru is crying foul, claiming maca was stolen from the people who knew about it first.

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August 8th, 2007  |  By Round Earth Media

From Bolivia There’s Aid, and Then There’s Free Aid

AidSign

A sign posted at an agricultural project supported by USAID near La Capinota, Bolivia. | All Photos by Mary Stucky

Around the world, the U.S. spends billions on development programs to improve the standard of living for poor people. Sounds good, right? Well not every country is buying. Take Bolivia, for example, which took a dramatic turn to the left one year ago with the election of Evo Morales. In Bolivia, critics of U.S. aid say it comes with strings attached. As Mary Stucky reports, U.S. money may be losing its influence.

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June 1st, 2007  |  By Round Earth Media

Evo’s Revolution

A hunger strike in the square in Santa Cruz to protest the policies of Bolivia's president Evo Morales.

A hunger strike in the square in Santa Cruz to protest the policies of Bolivia's president Evo Morales. | Photo by Kate McDonald

In President Evo Morales, Bolivia’s indigenous majority finally has one of its own in charge. And he’s brought change. But he’s also angered much of the country, which is threatening to secede.

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June 1st, 2007  |  By Round Earth Media

Flower Workers In Ecuador

Flower plantation worker Elvia Ordonez.

Flower plantation worker Elvia Ordonez. | Photo by Mary Stucky

A trade deal with several South American countries expires tomorrow. But President Bush is expected to sign an eight-month extension — which would be a rosy deal for a country like Ecuador. We’ve had this pact with Peru, Columbia, Bolivia and Ecuador for 16 years. They send goods to the U.S. duty-free.In exchange, they’re supposed to crack down on the production of cocaine and other drugs. It’s a rosy deal for a country like Ecuador. Ecuador provides a quarter of the roses sold in this country. Mary Stucky reports.
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April 27th, 2007  |  By Round Earth Media

Bolivian Land Reform: From Rich to Poor

Bolivian farmers taking a break from harvesting carrots.

Bolivian farmers taking a break from harvesting carrots. | Photo by Mary Stucky

Bolivian President Evo Morales wants to give an area the size of Nebraska to his country’s indigenous people.

Bolivia has tried land reform before. This time it may happen. Morales has pledged to return Bolivia’s resources to its people, and to take land from the rich to give to the poor. That slogan won him plenty of votes in this, South America’s poorest nation.

Now, Morales want to give an area the size of Nebraska to Bolivia’s disadvantaged Indian majority.

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March 8th, 2007  |  By Round Earth Media

Bolivia Says Coca Yes, Cocaine No

Mary Stucky recording in Shinahota, Bolivia, now a quiet town but once a center of Bolivia's drug trade. | Photo by Katherine McDonald

Mary Stucky recording in Shinahota, Bolivia, now a quiet town but once a center of Bolivia's drug trade. | Photo by Katherine McDonald

In Bolivia the war on drugs has taken a sharp turn away from U.S. policy and it seems to be getting results. There it’s now legal to have a small plot of coca, the main ingredient in cocaine. Under this program, the small amount of coca grown in Bolivia has increased but much less than in Peru and Columbia, where the United States supports efforts to forcibly eradicate the plant. Mary Stucky reports that the Bolivian approach seems to be reducing the violence that has plagued anti drug efforts throughout Latin America.

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January 1st, 2007  |  By Round Earth Media

Bolivia, Land of Poverty and Hope

A woman washes clothes in an irrigation ditch like the one the village is hoping for. | All photos: Don Losure

A woman washes clothes in an irrigation ditch like the one the village is hoping for. | All photos by Don Losure

Ever since Bolivia’s president, Evo Morales, took office a year ago, he has promised to raise the standard of living for people in the poorest country in South America.

Many Bolivians take that promise seriously; in a country with an indigenous majority, Morales is an Aymara Indian — the first indigenous president Bolivia has ever had. The landslide vote for the left-leaning Morales was widely seen as a call for change and a sign of the need to solve many of the country’s long-entrenched problems.

A look at everyday life in Bolivia shows how difficult that may be. It’s a place where things work differently, nothing is predictable and the future is up for grabs.

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