As Amazon Burns, Fires in Next-Door Bolivia Also Wreak Havoc
Amid growing international alarm over fires in Brazil’s Amazon region, neighboring Bolivia is facing devastating fires of its own, with flames devouring farmland and environmentally sensitive forests alike.
In midst of the calamity, the country’s president, Evo Morales, suspended his re-election campaign on Sunday and, in a shift, welcomed foreign aid.
“Whatever cooperation is welcome, whether it comes from international organizations, celebrities or from the presidents who offered to help,” Mr. Morales said in the city of Cochabamba, where he had been campaigning for a fourth term. Bolivian officials, he vowed, would “dedicate ourselves” to the problem.
Fires, some of them set by farmers trying to clear brush, are a regular feature of the dry season in northern South America. But this year has been different.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/25/world/americas/bolivia-fires-amazon.html