Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Pando
The northwestern-most tip of Bolivia is covered by the department of
Pando
, a remote and
sparsely populated rainforest region where logging and the collection of wild rubber and
Brazil nuts are the main economic activities. At one time Pando was accessible only by boat
along the Madre de Dios, Tahuamanu and Orthon rivers, which flow into the region from
Peru, but now a rough road cut through the rainforest runs from just south of Riberalta to
Cobija
, the departmental capital, on the Brazilian border. While the bus journey along this
route is an adventure in itself, involving a short and somewhat surreal cruise along a tributary
of the Madre de Dios, large swathes of land on both sides of the road have already been de-
forested, with blackened stumps of trees protruding like broken teeth from pale green pasture
and scrubby secondary growth.
Though the southwest corner of Pando is covered by the
Reserva Nacional Amazónica
Manuripi
, the forests of much of this wild frontier region remain hotly disputed. The busi-
nessmen who control the collection of rubber and Brazil nuts, some of whom are descended
from the nineteenth-century rubber barons, claim ownership rights over some thirty thousand
square kilometres of forest - nearly half the department. But these claims are contested by
the indigenous and
campesino
communities who collect the nuts and rubber - often working
under a system of permanent debt so severe it amounts to a disguised form of slavery. While
these communities are now using land-rights legislation to demand that the forest be recog-
nized as theirs, with government plans to redistribute five hundred hectares per family, the
political situation in the region remains volatile (see the section
The Pando massacre
)
.
THE PANDO MASSACRE
The events of September 11th 2008 proved just how dangerous standing up for your rights
can be in the remote communities of Pando. In a now infamous incident near the settle-
ment ofPorvenir,described byUNASUR as a crime against humanity,nineteen indigenous
protestors were shot dead - and many more injured - by right-wing paramilitaries organ-
ized by the authorities of Pando prefect, Leopoldo Fernández. While Fernández languishes
in prison awaiting trial, many of his henchmen have yet to be brought to justice, with Am-
nesty International recently reporting claims that some of them are still walking around
Cobija.
Cobija
Though its population of around 26,000 is expanding rapidly,
COBIJA
remains the smallest
departmental capital in Bolivia, an isolated yet thriving border town with a distinctly Brazili-
an flavour. Founded in the early twentieth century as a rubber collection centre, the town's
