Aymara and Quechua Indians make up the majority of Bolivia’s population.
But it was not until two and a half years ago that an Aymara Indian, Evo Morales, was sworn in as the country’s president.
Despite that historic event, the nation’s indigenous peoples continue to face serious obstacles to equality, as Al Jazeera’s Lucia Newman reports.
Soaring food prices around the world are putting greater hardship on the world’s poor. But head to different parts of the world and you will find places where rising food prices are having a positive effect.
In Bolivia for example, the greater profitability of crops like rice and coffee has farmers at last making a switch the international community has long wanted - away from growing coca.
Leaders there say the change is causing a revolution in Bolivian agriculture.
Tom Ackerman has more.
This week Inside USA looks at the Bush administration’s policies in South America’s poorest nation, and asks what the future holds for Bolivia.
The people of Bolivia’s wealthiest province will go to the polls on Sunday to vote on plans for autonomy.
Surveys suggest most residents of Santa Cruz will vote in favour of keeping the province’s riches from being distributed to poorer areas of the country.
But there’s one group, the Poncho Rojas, or Red Ponchos, that vow to fight to the death if Santa Cruz tries to break away.
They are fiercely loyal to Evo Morales, the president.
Teresa Bo reports.
Sailors who join Bolivia’s navy don’t see much of the world. They’ve been land locked by the Andes mountains of South America for the past 125 years. That’s when Bolivia went to war with neighbouring Chile and lost access to the Pacific Ocean. But as Lucia Newman reports, Bolivia’s sailors could be seeing the sea again soon.