Women from the Campo del Cielo community upload photographs of the Pilcomayo River and share them with each other and experts to monitor flooding. Photo by Nanum Centers.
The Pilcomayo River frequently floods, creating a reoccurring disaster of lost lives and property for the rural communities of South America’s Gran Chaco region. Unlike most rivers, during the rainy season up to a third of the Pilcomayo’s volume is sediment carried in the water, and its path is unpredictable. When the muddy river floods its banks, it deposits that sediment in huge mounds of mud, at times burying entire houses and cars.
by Emily Enders Odom, Mission Engagement & Support | Special to Presbyterian News Service
CERDET, the Center for Regional Studies in Tarija, Bolivia, supports Indigenous communities by, among other things, developing irrigation systems. (Contributed photo)
LOUISVILLE â When Manuel Nazario casts his net into the water these days, his catch is far less plentiful.
In the remote area of Bolivia near the Paraguayan-Argentina border, where Nazario and the members of his community mostly fish for a living, their traditional livelihood is now in severe jeopardy.
Home to an indigenous people known in Bolivia as the Weenhayek, also called the Wichà in Argentina, the Capirendita community is currently grappling with the devastating impact of climate change, irregular rainfall patterns, prolonged droughts, disease and mining pollution that creeps in from the Andean zone. As a result, Nazario and the families of Capirendita are finding their age-old ways of life and their means of eco
Guns of the Chaco War
Guns of the Chaco War
The Chaco War of 1932–1935 between Bolivia and Paraguay was fought on the interior of the continent. Writer Vincent D. DeNiro examines the history of the conflict, and the firearms the two armies used.
A Bolivian monument to its heroes of the Chaco War. Note the Browning 1917 machine gun, which was used on both sides of the war. (Oliver Foerstner / Shutterstock.com) January 14, 2021 By Vincent D. DeNiro
Into the 20th century, much of South America had not yet been well explored and surveyed, especially the interior of the continent, and particularly the Amazon River Basin. Borders were also often contested between multiple nations with claims heavily overlapping. This issue had led to many extremely bloody conflicts between some of the world’s poorest nations. One of these conflicts was the Chaco War of 1932–1935, a war fought between Bolivia and