Bolivians voted over the weekend to ratify the new constitution. Articles from the last few days seem to have shifted to a more positive view of Evo and his government. I wonder why? Santa Cruz and nearby areas haven’t embraced Evo’s policies.
This New York Times article gives a good overview, even if they upgraded Evo to a former llama rancher instead of coca farmer. Time has one online as well.
Filed under: Culture, Exchange Students, Outbounds Outbounds | Tags: Blog, Bolivia
I found a new blog that I’m excited to share it with you. FES is in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. “Existence in the Heart of South America” is beautifully written, with a lot of detail. I appreciate a strong point of view. His experience in Bolivia is deeply personal, and I don’t have the same perspective. FES wrote that women drivers are rare, and that wasn’t my experience. He writes about things I forget or don’t think to mention. He wrote about the filth in Santa Cruz. I forgot about how much litter there is in South America. It’s something I just don’t notice. (I also don’t notice dust or dirty dishes. I can walk past clutter for months without seeing it.) He wrote about difficulty getting time alone. I forgot about that, too. I need time to myself daily. I go crazy when I have to talk to people nonstop. Go read the blog before I just ruin it and tell you everything the kid wrote.
ETA: I removed the link. He’s hurting people’s feelings.
Filed under: Culture, Home | Tags: Bolivia, chavez, CHILE, Husband, morales, racist
I have a Monday wrap-up of news from home to Bolivia today.
- Bolivia-seems to be quieting down. This follows the pattern since Morales was elected. The next flare-up will probably be in December when Bolivians vote on the referendum of Morales’ new constitution.
- Venezuela-Chavez played ‘me, too’ and expelled the US Ambassador to show solidarity with Bolivia. In a speech to his supporters, he said “Shithead Yankees, go to Hell!” Nice touch, huh? He immediately followed that line with “We are a dignified people.” He also offered to send troops to Bolivia in event of a coup attempt. He was rebuffed by an Army General who said Bolivia won’t tolerate interference in it’s sovereign affairs.
- Chile-Thank you Michelle Bachelet for bringing Evo Morales to Chile to discuss issues with Unasol-Union of Nations of South America.
- Home-we had our first hurricane here at home. Ike’s remnants hit 81mph, enough for category 1 status. We received absolutely no rain, but the wind. Oh, my the wind. People are without power in a wide area, roads are closed because so many trees and power lines are down, and schools were closed. Our new roof held up perfectly, hurray! We lucked out with just a few small branches down, and a portion of our stockade keepthedogsintheyard fence blew over. The wind ripped a 4×4 post out of the ground in pieces.
Bolivia hasn’t been in the news much lately. That’s changed this week. Morales has declared the US Ambassador “persona non grata” and ordered him expelled from the country. The charge is ‘supporting the opposition.’ Ambassador Phillip Goldberg was accused of ‘conspiring against democracy.’ (This from a president who wants to steal distribute land to poor people.)
Santa Cruz is all fired up again. The Federal government wants a lot of the gas tax money from the state. The state thinks they should have more of a voice in how the money is spent. Cruceños broke into a regional tax office, government run ENTEL phone company, and a government run television station. As always, the opposition wants greater autonomy and more control over spending the natural gas income. Morales wants to give more money and land to the poor indigenous people. What one side calls ‘land reform’ the other side calls ‘theft.’ Racial conflicts are a big part of the problem, too. The poor indigenous population is uneducated, supports Morales, and outnumbers the educated citizens of Santa Cruz who are of mixed race.
I have three students in Santa Cruz this year. I’ve spoken to two parents in the last day reassuring them their children are fine. The kids are with savvy, well-connected families who understand the problems and will protect them if needed. My kids don’t understand Bolivian Spanish that well yet; they don’t get the nuances of conversation or news reports. (Bolivian television news isn’t sanitized like it is in the states. If there is a traffic accident, they’ll show the victims and pieces parts, not bodies covered by a blanket.) My kids called their parents to tell them not to worry, so of course the parents are worrying.
If all hell would break loose, my students would be evacuated to Chile. They’d be driven over the border. I don’t think it will come to that. I think this is just another flare-up and posturing.
Santa Cruz province overwhelmingly voted for autonomia yesterday. Over 80% of the votes were for autonomy, and over half of the eligible population voted. President Evo Morales refuses to recognize the vote, calling it illegal. Let’s see if it means anything.
From Reuters: A complete success for democracy,” said the Santa Cruz electoral court, which said that with more than a third of votes counted, 84 percent voted for autonomy, and 16 percent against.
The electoral court and the central government agreed that some 36 to 40 percent of eligible voters boycotted polls, and the central government said that was high enough abstention to make the vote invalid.
“What is notable here is the phenomenal level of abstention,” said Juan Ramon Quintana, Morales’ cabinet chief. “This vote was illegal. Shouldn’t we note how many people abstained here?”
The vote theoretically would allow Santa Cruz to elect its own leaders and create its own tax and justice system and also to control its own natural resources, including about 10 percent of Bolivia’s oil and natural gas reserves.
From The Washington Times:
Bolivia raises hackles with ID
April 10, 2008
By Martin Arostegui – SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia — The appearance of a Star of David on new national identity cards has alarmed opponents of President Evo Morales, who recall how the symbol was used to brand Jews in Nazi Germany.
Tiny six-pointed stars within a tight circle are printed on the back side of some, but not all, recently issued picture IDs in the Santa Cruz region. The mark was present on three cards seen by The Washington Times.
“It raises suspicions that the government is identifying individuals or segments of the population along racial, religious or ideological lines” said Carlos Klinsky, a member of Bolivia’s parliament from Santa Cruz, where the new ID cards have recently appeared.
What puzzles Mr. Klinsky and others is that the marked ID cards do not appear to target people who are Jewish or have Jewish ancestry.
Mr. Klinsky, a member of the political opposition to Mr. Morales’ leftist government, suspects — but is unable to prove — that the motive is political.
Mr. Klinsky has sent letters to national authorities, requesting explanations for the symbol, which began appearing last year on identity cards issued in the Santa Cruz area as part of a newly computerized national identification system. He has yet to receive a reply. (more…)
Wow. Like the Chileans and Bolivians don’t already loathe each other enough.
The name’s Chile … but to 007 and his film crew it’s Bolivia
by Gerard Couzens
Sunday March 23 2008
It was possibly the most exciting thing ever to have happened in a desolate corner of northern Chile. Life in Antofagasta looked set to change forever when the producers of the James Bond films came to town, followed by 007 himself, Daniel Craig.
Mindful of Bond’s association with glamorous locations, Chilean officials welcomed the invading army and scented a once-in-a-lifetime chance to put the port on the tourism map.
So they were crestfallen to discover that producers of the forthcoming 007 blockbuster Quantum of Solace had a different vision. It involved recruiting extras and dressing them up – as Bolivians. Tourism officials and politicians now fear Antofagasta will lose its claim to fame and, worse still, be presented as belonging to poverty-stricken Bolivia, which for years has been Chile’s bitter rivals across the Andes.
Roddiam Aguirre, of Chilean tourist board Sernatur, said: ‘When we agreed to the film being shot in Chile, we did it because we thought it would bring us many benefits. We had hopes of showing the world our image through a production this size. If the film is going to take place in locations that simulate an Andean or fictitious country, we’re not going to benefit at all.’
The two South American nations, which have a history of bad blood, severed full diplomatic relations 30 years ago. Chile, an invaluable ally of Britain during the 1982 Falklands conflict, is one of the continent’s richest countries. Bolivia, which is still smarting over the loss of its Pacific coast to Chile after a five-year war nearly 125 years ago, is one of its poorest.
Marc Forster, director of Quantum of Solace, is thought to have picked Antofagasta and the nearby Atacama desert as locations after visiting the region two years ago. Craig flies in to start filming tomorrow.
Hundreds of locals auditioned as extras after producers offered the chance to take part in the film, which follows the worldwide success of Craig’s debut in Casino Royale
But the casting directors singled out dark-skinned individuals and seemingly dressed them to look like the indigenous people of Bolivia, who traditionally favour native languages over Spanish and helped to elect Evo Morales as the country’s first indigenous Indian president two years ago.
Maria Ayara Encina, whose two children, Solange and Elias, took part in the final casting session, said: ‘My little ones are dark-skinned and that’s why they got as far as they did. They dressed my daughter up in a long black skirt, white blouse and black shawl and put a hat on her before making her act out a scene as a Bolivian girl drawing water from a well.’
The move has been criticised by leading Chileans. Novelist Hernán Rivera Letelier, who grew up in Antofagasta and whose award-winning books are printed in several languages, told La Cuarta newspaper: ‘I don’t think it’s bad that they have come to make this film in Chile. But if they want to dress us up as Bolivians, they’re better off going to Bolivia itself. The locations they’ve chosen are beautiful, but all that’s lacking on the extras seems to be a feather and a loincloth.’
London-based Eon Productions is thought to be planning to film a plane crash in the Atacama desert as one of the action sequences in the movie, which is due to have its premiere in London in October.
There has already been trouble at the film’s previous location, Panama, where the set was affected by rioting construction workers after police shot dead a union leader.
From The Guardian
I read back through my Bolivia posts today. I’m giving a speech tomorrow about my trip. The entire time with Sparky was ↑↓↑↓. Several others had their feelings hurt by him. The biggest problem everyone had is that he doesn’t talk. He hates to tell people what, when, who, why, where, etc. He assumes everyone knows somehow, or it’s not anyone’s business. He guards information like it’s classified. Sparky’s first day of college is tomorrow. I had to play 20 Questions just to get the name of the college and his major out of him. I don’t care to play games with him anymore.
Husband and I went to a dinner dance last night. I was a good girl, and told him my therapist says I should socialize. I didn’t want to tell him because I know he’d drag my ass out of the house, but I did because I know it’s good for me. I like staying home alone way a little too much. We had a good time, and I mingled a bit on my own. I stayed with Husband a lot, and with dear friends most of the rest of the time. I love our friends, and I have a good time with them, it’s just really hard for me to make plans or anticipate meeting up with them. I get myself all worked up. I ALWAYS want to cancel before we leave the house. He’s on to me now.
The dinner was a fundraiser, and had a silent auction. I bid on several gift baskets. I was a smartass and bid on a ‘Curves’ gift basket at the silent auction. Husband has tried to get me to join Curves for years. I won the damn thing. I bid first because I thought it was a cute metal box, nope, it was a shiny cardboard shoe box. The only illumination on the gift baskets came from white fairy lights. I have Curves socks, visor, candy, book, magazine, and a ONE MONTH MEMBERSHIP. Crud. I have no excuse not to go anymore. I’ll have to socialize with people there, too. Bitch, bitch, bitch. That’s me.
ABC News Exclusive: Peace Corps, Fulbright Scholar Asked to ‘Spy’ on Cubans, Venezuelans
U.S. Embassy Official’s ‘Spy’ Request Violated Long-Standing U.S. Policy
By JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY and BRIAN ROSS Feb. 8, 2008
In an apparent violation of U.S. policy, Peace Corps volunteers and a Fulbright scholar were asked by a U.S. Embassy official in Bolivia “to basically spy” on Cubans and Venezuelans in the country, according to Peace Corps personnel and the Fulbright scholar involved.
“I was told to provide the names, addresses and activities of any Venezuelan or Cuban doctors or field workers I come across during my time here,” Fulbright scholar John Alexander van Schaick told ABCNews.com in an interview in La Paz.
Van Schaick’s account matches that of Peace Corps members and staff who claim that last July their entire group of new volunteers was instructed by the same U.S. Embassy official in Bolivia to report on Cuban and Venezuelan nationals.
The State Department says any such request was “in error” and a violation of long-standing U.S. policy which prohibits the use of Peace Corps personnel or Fulbright scholars for intelligence purposes.
“We take this very seriously and want to stress this is not in any way our policy,” a senior State Department official told ABCNews.com.
The Fulbright scholar van Schaick, a 2006 Rutgers University graduate, says the request came at a mandatory orientation and security briefing meeting with Assistant Regional Security Officer Vincent Cooper at the embassy on the morning of Nov. 5, 2007.
According to van Schaick, the request for information gathering “surfaced casually” halfway through Cooper’s 30-minute, one-on-one briefing, which initially dealt with helpful tips about life and security concerns in Bolivia.
“He said, ‘We know the Venezuelans and Cubans are here, and we want to keep tabs on them,’” said van Schaick who recalls feeling “appalled” at the comment.
“I was in shock,” van Schaick said. “My immediate thought was ‘oh my God! Somebody from the U.S. Embassy just asked me to basically spy for the U.S. Embassy.’”
A similar pattern emerges in the account of the three Peace Corps volunteers and their supervisor. On July 29, 2007, just before the new volunteers were sworn in, they say embassy security officer Vincent Cooper visited the 30-person group to give a talk on safety and made his request about the Cubans and Venezuelans.
He said it had to do with the fight against terrorism,” said one, of the briefing from the embassy official. Others remember being told, “It’s for your own safety.”
Peace Corps Deputy Director Doreen Salazar remembers the incident vividly because she says it was the first time she had heard an embassy official make such a request to a Peace Corps group.
Salazar says she and her fellow staff found the comment so out of line that they interrupted the briefing to clarify that volunteers did not have to follow the embassy’s instructions, and she later complained directly to the embassy about the incident.
“Peace Corps is an a-political institution,” Salazar says. “We made it clear to the embassy that this was an inappropriate request, and they agreed.”
Indeed, the State Department admits having acknowledged the infraction and assuring Salazar that it would not happen again. Yet, it was just four months later that Fulbright scholar van Schaick says he was asked by the same embassy official, Cooper, to “spy” on the Cubans and Venezuelans.
A U.S. Embassy official in La Paz, Bolivia said Cooper was referring all calls for comment to the State Department in Washington.
Van Schaick says he never considered complying with the request, fearful he would violate Bolivian espionage laws and that he would jeopardize the integrity of the Fulbright program, which yearly sends hundreds of American college graduates to countries around the world.
“I am supposed to be a cultural ambassador increasing mutual understanding between us and the Bolivian people,” van Schaick explains. “This flies in face of everything Fulbright stands for.”
The Fulbright program receives its funding from the U.S. State Department and the Peace Corps is a federal agency, but the State Department insists that neither group has the obligation to act in an intelligence capacity. In fact, both have strict regulations against members getting involved in politics in their host country.
The press director at the Peace Corps told ABC News in no uncertain terms that the corps is not involved in any intelligence gathering.
“Since Peace Corps’ inception in 1961, it has been the practice of the Peace Corps to keep volunteers separate from any official duties pertaining to U.S. foreign policy, including the reality or the appearance of involvement in intelligence-related activities,” said Amanda Beck, press director of the Peace Corps. “Any connection between the Peace Corps and the intelligence community would seriously compromise the ability of the Peace Corps to develop and maintain the trust and confidence of the people in the host countries we serve.”
Like many of the Peace Corps workers, van Schaick is carrying out his research in the Santa Cruz countryside, where a number of Cuban doctors are deployed providing free medical services as part of Cuba’s solidarity with its socialist ally, Bolivia’s President Evo Morales.
The accusations are likely to reverberate in Bolivia, especially given the already shaky relationship between the Bush administration and President Morales’ two-year-old government.
“These are serious incidents that we will investigate thoroughly,” says Bolivia’s Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca in an interview.
“Any U.S. government use of their students or volunteers to provide intelligence represents a grave threat to Bolivia’s sovereignty.”
Bolivian law provides severe penalties in espionage cases. According to Article 111 of the country’s penal code, “he who procures secretive documents, objects or information&concerning [Bolivia's] foreign relations in an espionage effort for other countries during times of peace, endangering the security of the State, will incur a penalty of 30 years in prison.” In lay man’s terms: if any U.S. citizen provides information of use in a spying effort, they would be subject to Bolivia’s maximum prison sentence.
But the U.S. citizens who reported being approached in this way by the State Department official said no mention was made of any legal risks arising from complying with the request to keep tabs on foreign nationals in Bolivia.
There is no indication that any of the volunteers made reports to the U.S. Embassy.
Van Schaick says he is keenly aware of the Pandora’s box now knocked open. The Hoboken, N.J. native, however, was adamant that the incident be brought to light — in the hopes for change. “I came forward because the Bolivian people have a right to know,” former union activist van Schaick says. “Asking Fulbrighters to spy is just not OK.”
Three of the other four Fulbright scholars currently in Bolivia say they were never asked about Cubans or Venezuelans in their briefings. A fourth Fulbright scholar declined repeated requests for an interview on the subject.
Editor’s Note: Jean Friedman-Rudovksy is a freelance journalist based in La Paz, Bolivia where she is the correspondent for TIME Magazine and Women’s Enews. She has worked as an associate producer for ABC News in Bolivia and is a founding editor of Ukhampacha Bolivia, an online bilingual Web journal on Latin American social and political issues.
I was introduced to a few Peace Corps workers while I was in Bolivia in December. They were drilling water wells for the poor people near Santa Cruz. It’s difficult to build trust, and to have to deal with this is horrid.
Filed under: Exchange Program, Exchange Students, Outbounds Outbounds | Tags: Bolivia, CHILE, FES, meeting, Outbounds
Well, surprise, surprise. At our exchange student meeting last Saturday, we (people who set up the exchanges with other countries.) expected to meet the students who are going to our countries. The kids didn’t know where they were going! It’s January!
The students are usually told to write down their top three country choices, and write a paragraph defending and explaining their choices. That paper is included with their application. After interviews, the kids are usually advised to go home, think about it, and let us know your final choices within 2 weeks. The countries are assigned after the updates are received. Almost all of the students change at least the country order, and many of them change countries and continents completely. Two of our committee members speak with each student and family individually on interview day explaining choices and making suggestions. I’ve said before that a lot of the kids initially want to go to France, Germany, Spain, or Italy because they’ve heard of those countries, or their language teacher suggested it.
This year, the students didn’t email in their final choices. When we all arrived for the meeting, a paper was passed around with the students’ names, and one, two, or three countries listed. I walked around looking for the students who wrote any South American country, and each kid changed their answer. The students near them who heard me ask changed their countries, too. The students were asked for their final choices three times Saturday night. What a mess. (I was just twitching to jump in and fix everything. Repeat itsnotmyjobitsnotmyjob.)
I left the meeting with applications for seven students. Four of them have been assigned a country. I have three students, and they will be assigned between Argentina and Chile. I couldn’t make a decision based on who handed their application in fully completed the earliest as suggested. I have to read the applications, and see who would have the best year in the best country for the student.
