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A devastating and detailed accounting of how surging export of meat (largely beef) from 42 properties is driving deforestation in Bolivia. Profits are highly concentrated in elite- and/or foreign-owned ranches and meat processors. raibolivia.org/ganaderia-en-bolivia-se-amplia-la-exportacion-se-reducen-los-bosques/
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As reported here, tripling Bolivia's total cattle herds is a goal of the Morales and Arce administrations and their Patriotic Agenda for 2025.
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Thus far Bolivia's cattle ranches have been concentrated in Santa Cruz, but the rising star is Beni, in the north-center of the country.
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A MAS-rancher alliance has been built slowly and deliberately since 2009. @CarwilBJ/1211644162648485888?s=19
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The MAS Senator from Beni is the daughter of an elite cattle ranching family: @CarwilBJ/1318047240842346497?s=19
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Similar ties for the current Environment Minister: @CarwilBJ/1330665409759109131?s=19
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An early twist in this alliance building was former VP Álvaro García Linera's theory that Santa Cruz elites sympathized w the TIPNIS highway protests so they could maintain control over Beni cattle exports. vicepresidencia.gob.bo/IMG/pdf/geopolitica_de_la_amazonia.pdf
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It's possible to imagine a "neo-extractivist" model of beef export where poor migrant cooperatives own the cattle or state-run refrigeration companies package the beef, but this isn't it. The policy is paleo-extractivist: cheap state forest land for private profit.