Bolivia Flight

AVIATION SAFETY OVERSIGHT: The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has assessed the Government of Bolivia as being in compliance with ICAO international aviation safety standards for oversight of Bolivia’s air carrier operations. For more information, travelers may visit the FAA’s Internet web site at www.faa.gov/avr/iasa/index.cfm. There are limited flights within Bolivia and to neighboring countries. Flight delays and cancellations are common.  ... [Read More]

US Department Of State Post Report

Commercial travel from the U.S. to La Paz is by air. American Airlines offers a daily flight between La Paz and Miami. Travel time is about 6 hours.  There are, on occasion, other U.S. carrier flights available. Travelers should ensure that travel to post complies with the Fly America Act. For current information, contact the General Services Office before making any travel plans. ...

With a population of 408,000, Cochabamba is the third-largest city in Bolivia. The flight from La Paz to Cochabamba in itself makes a trip to this charming city worthwhile. The plane flies alongside Mount Illimani and other snow-covered peaks. After 15 minutes of flight, you can see the tropical lowlands in the distance. ... [Read More]

Bolivia

The Government continued to address the problem of delay of justice by implementing the 1994 constitutional reforms to streamline the judicial system and by taking measures to correct other deficiencies as they come to light. In May provisions of the new Code of Criminal Procedures replaced the release provisions of the Personal Recognizance Law, promulgated in 1996, which were never utilized effectively. Most prisoners still await either trial or sentencing, but under the new Code of Criminal Procedures the courts are beginning to provide release on bail for some prisoners. Judges still have the authority to order preventive detention for suspects under arrest deemed to be a flight risk or for obstruction of justice. If a suspect is not detained, a judge still can order significant restrictions on a suspect's travel. ... [Read More]

Bolivia

Between January 12 and 28, at least five civilians were killed when major violence erupted in the Chapare region as illegal coca growers ("cocaleros") blocked the major Cochabamba/Santa Cruz highway (see Section 2.b.). On January 14, near Sinahota, Chapare, coca grower Willy Hinojosa, 22, was shot to death. The Ninth Division claimed that troops, in response to an attack by protesters on their lead vehicle, first fired live ammunition into the air and then at the ground, as required by the division's crowd control protocol. Officers speculated that a richochet might have struck Hinojosa. Coca growers offered a different version of events surrounding the death of Willy Hinojosa. They said he had been arrested in Sinahota and was shot while trying to escape. The Public Ministry was investigating the incident at year's end. On January 15, coca growers complained to human rights groups that Felix Colque died as a resul ... [Read More]

E - Interregional Aviation Support

Effectiveness MeasurementsAerial eradication of 200,000 or more hectares of coca and 5,000 or more hectares of opium poppy in Colombia in 2003, subject only to any restrictions imposed by the host government; Elimination of all residual coca and prevention of new plantings in the Chapare and elimination of illegal coca in the Yungas regions of Bolivia; Increased interdiction operations in the Yungas and along Bolivia’s borders made possible through aviation support to head off increasing influx of drug trafficking activity resulting from the implementation of Plan Colombia; Successful reduction of coca cultivation in Peru as evidenced by abandonment of remaining coca fields; 20 percent or more increase in the number of eradication/interdiction missions flown in Peru in 2003 compared to 2002; Increase in the ... [Read More]

Bolivia

Section 1.   Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom From:a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life There were no reports of politically motivated killings committed by government agents; however, security forces allegedly killed five protesters during violent demonstrations. Most deaths and injuries occurred in or near the Chapare where cocaleros often violently opposed the security forces' attempts to enforce the law and reduce the illegal coca crop that is used mainly to manufacture cocaine. Some human rights groups blamed the forced eradication for the violence, and cocaleros demanded its suspension, often by blocking a strategic highway used to transport legal crops to market. On January 15, violent protests erupted in the town of Sacaba, Cochabamba, as police responded to cocalero protests against a decree banning the transport a ... [Read More]

E) South America

The DIRAN, with USG support, continued to implement the Airmobile Interdiction Project, which provides elite units (“Junglas”) for drug interdiction missions. Within this project, the Bogotá Airmobile Company is at full strength, and the Santa Marta and Tulua Airmobile Companies are at 66 percent strength and should reach full operational capability by June 2003. The Airmobile Interdiction Companies conducted over 40 operations against narcotics targets, resulting in the destruction of 61 HCL laboratories and associated narcotics trafficking infrastructure. Two INL-funded intelligence/surveillance aircraft supported the majority of DIRAN operations. Nearly forty percent of its flight hours were flown in support of the Colombian Military’s counternarcotics (CN) operations. ... [Read More]

E) South America

Law Enforcement Efforts. Chilean authorities have had success in interdicting narcotics transiting Chile. As increased attention is focused on the Andean source countries, narcotics traffickers are transporting their product through Chile in an effort to take advantage of Chile’s clean reputation. This strategy is based upon the presumption that flights and vessels originating in Chile are much less likely to be subject to close scrutiny by authorities in the United States or Europe than are flights and vessels Colombia, Peru or Bolivia. ... [Read More]

International Security - US Department of State

07 July 2005 - United States To Host Russia, Belarus Open Skies Flight ... [Read More]

Andean Regional Initiative

Generally, reconnaissance flights are conducted over areas identified by the CNP in their quarterly coca crop estimates. With the use of SATLOC, an aircraft-mounted global positioning system, these flights identify the precise geographical coordinates where coca is being grown. Areas with large concentrations of coca are then plotted, and a computer program sets up precise flight lines, calibrated for the width of the spray swath of the spray plane to be used. Once the Government of Colombia has approved spraying in a given area, spray pilots then fly down those prescribed flight lines and spray the coca located there. ... [Read More]