The country I will be reporting on will Bolivia. I’ve decided Bolivia because it is currently going to a presidential election, however, due to the pandemic, there are delays. The previous president also recently resigned due to protests against him because of accusations of voter fraud by his party. My parents also migrated from Bolivia and nearly all my ancestors originate from there. It would be an interesting reporting on the views of Bolivian people still residing in Bolivia and many that live in New York at the time.
Although I am yet to find an estimate on how many Bolivians live in the tri-state area, according to the 2020 Census, Bolivians make up the 99,210 of the United States population.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolivian_Americans
In Bolivia, people mostly find jobs in Agriculture/Forestry, Mining, Banking/Financing, Tourism, Oil, Natural Gas, and Electricity. This is because a lot of people in Bolivia live on farms and in the mountains, focusing on agriculture. In Bolivia, its economy has always been dominated by mining, cattle, and sheep herding. In the U.S. jobs, Bolivians take vary as there are as many college graduates as there are students. Often immigrants from Bolivia take jobs in clerical and administrative works.
Sources:
https://www.everyculture.com/multi/A-Br/Bolivian-Americans.html
A lot of immigrants from Bolivia come to the U.S. to work as professionals. This is because Bolivia is one of the poorest nations in the world. Although this has been harming Bolivia and has stripped them and South America of educated workers.
Apart from organizations that have helped organize rallies against Bolivia’s corrupt previous president, the small community that my parents have knowledge of has connected with Bolivian immigrants from across New York City.
In Bolivia, the currency is “bolivianos” which 1/6.91 of a U.S. dollar. The GDP per capita in Bolivia is 3,552.1 USD as of 2019. It currently ranks 30th among 32 countries in the Americas region, begin well below world averages as well as regional. Major industries in Bolivia are mining, smelting, petroleum, food/beverages, tobacco, handcrafts, clothing, jewelry.
Sources:
Bolivia’s government type is the Presidential Republic.
Sources: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bl.html
Three potential story ideas:
- Political views across the Bolivian community in New York during the presidential election.
- How the small Bolivian community in New York still follows traditions during the pandemic and how frequent business-traveling Bolivians are handling a sudden stop in air travel.
- How COVID-19 devasted the Bolivian community and it’s a comparison to how communities in Bolivia are handling the pandemic.