Rodrigo Paz
President of Bolivia since November 2025. Previously a national senator, mayor of Tarija, municipal council president, and member of Bolivia’s Chamber of Deputies.
Brazil’s Deforestation Crackdown Is Shifting Pressure to Bolivia
Bloomberg Investigates reports that Brazil’s tougher anti-deforestation enforcement has coincided with accelerating forest loss across the border in Bolivia, particularly around Santa Cruz and San Ignacio de Velasco. The investigation examines how Brazilian agricultural capital, cheaper land and proposed transport links are reshaping that frontier, including a reported deal involving a 30,019-hectare managed-forest property. Bolivian officials argue that investment can raise productivity without extensive clearing; environmentalists and Indigenous leaders warn that the same expansion model could shift Amazon destruction rather than contain it.
Brazil’s Deforestation Crackdown May Be Shifting Pressure Into Bolivia
Brazil’s tougher enforcement helped cut Amazon deforestation, but Bloomberg’s Fabiano Maisonnave reports that clearing is accelerating across the border in Bolivia’s Santa Cruz department, where industrial agriculture is advancing toward San Ignacio de Velasco. Environmental researcher Sandra Cuellar says 78% of Bolivia’s deforestation occurs in Santa Cruz, while Maisonnave raises the question of whether Brazilian commodity producers are shifting pressure into a frontier where land ownership is difficult to trace. A confidential meeting between Brazilian producers and Bolivian and Brazilian ministers has added to concerns over who will control the expansion and what it will mean for the remaining forest.