Bolivia on Edge
Well, undoubtedly news from Bolivia has surfaced in the States, so let me bring you up to speed on the events that have taken place here in Bolivia this week.
Let me start by saying that things are fine here in Trinidad. Everyone is working, schools are open, and things are basically normal. I feel safe, and so far no violence has taken place in the city. I am continuing to work as normal at La Palmera.
To give a recap of the past six months briefly which has led to this. You'll recall earlier this year, four departments have voted for autonomy (Pando, Beni (where Trinidad is), Santa Cruz and Tarija) via the movement fueled by their regional governors (prefectos). Additionally, Chuquisaca (where the city of Sucre lies) has joined the autonomy movement out of desire to restore Sucre as the capital of Bolivia, claiming they have a more representative cross section of Bolivia than La Paz. The recall vote that was held last month reaffirmed the prefectos of the autonomy movement as well as Evo, which as I eluded to some time ago was seen by both sides as a mandate to carry out their agenda. Evo has a communist driven agenda and is supported by Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.
This week, the autonomists have spoken up via actions in Santa Cruz, Tarija and Beni. Tuesday in Santa Cruz, a group of autonomists and handicapped people took several offices for national governement ministries and one resulted in a confrontation between military/police which involved tear gas. At least 50 people were injured in this. In addition, Tuesday the airport here in Trinidad was taken by an affiliated group, as well as in two other cities in the Beni but there was no confrontation involved in any of them. This has suspended flights here and is costing the airlines $60,000/day. Yesterday, more offices were taken in Santa Cruz for other national government ministries and also the bus/train terminal. About 12 such offices have been taken in total. The current state of the country is that there are over 30 roadblocks in the eastern part of the country blocking every major route and also exits to Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. This is preventing travel, supply shipments (most notably cooking gas and fuel for transportation) and some food shipments from arriving. But we have plenty of cows here in the Beni, so we won't run out of meat and there is always bread too. So I won't starve!
Additionally last night, President Evo Morales accused US Ambassador Philip Goldberg of conspiring with the people in the east and has told him to leave Bolivia immediately. His accusations of course have no basis, but the ambassador has been embattled for quite some time now and earlier this year there was speculation that Bush would recall him and appoint a new ambassador, so really it's probably a good thing for US-Bolivian relations that he leaves.
But, one piece of good news . . . the Bolivian soccer team drew with Brazil 0-0 in Brasilia last night in their World Cup qualifier, so that is something to cheer about as nearly everyone expected Brazil to win easily! Bolivia has very little chance of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup at this point, but hopefully they'll move out of last place in the group.
Let me start by saying that things are fine here in Trinidad. Everyone is working, schools are open, and things are basically normal. I feel safe, and so far no violence has taken place in the city. I am continuing to work as normal at La Palmera.
To give a recap of the past six months briefly which has led to this. You'll recall earlier this year, four departments have voted for autonomy (Pando, Beni (where Trinidad is), Santa Cruz and Tarija) via the movement fueled by their regional governors (prefectos). Additionally, Chuquisaca (where the city of Sucre lies) has joined the autonomy movement out of desire to restore Sucre as the capital of Bolivia, claiming they have a more representative cross section of Bolivia than La Paz. The recall vote that was held last month reaffirmed the prefectos of the autonomy movement as well as Evo, which as I eluded to some time ago was seen by both sides as a mandate to carry out their agenda. Evo has a communist driven agenda and is supported by Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.
This week, the autonomists have spoken up via actions in Santa Cruz, Tarija and Beni. Tuesday in Santa Cruz, a group of autonomists and handicapped people took several offices for national governement ministries and one resulted in a confrontation between military/police which involved tear gas. At least 50 people were injured in this. In addition, Tuesday the airport here in Trinidad was taken by an affiliated group, as well as in two other cities in the Beni but there was no confrontation involved in any of them. This has suspended flights here and is costing the airlines $60,000/day. Yesterday, more offices were taken in Santa Cruz for other national government ministries and also the bus/train terminal. About 12 such offices have been taken in total. The current state of the country is that there are over 30 roadblocks in the eastern part of the country blocking every major route and also exits to Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. This is preventing travel, supply shipments (most notably cooking gas and fuel for transportation) and some food shipments from arriving. But we have plenty of cows here in the Beni, so we won't run out of meat and there is always bread too. So I won't starve!
Additionally last night, President Evo Morales accused US Ambassador Philip Goldberg of conspiring with the people in the east and has told him to leave Bolivia immediately. His accusations of course have no basis, but the ambassador has been embattled for quite some time now and earlier this year there was speculation that Bush would recall him and appoint a new ambassador, so really it's probably a good thing for US-Bolivian relations that he leaves.
But, one piece of good news . . . the Bolivian soccer team drew with Brazil 0-0 in Brasilia last night in their World Cup qualifier, so that is something to cheer about as nearly everyone expected Brazil to win easily! Bolivia has very little chance of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup at this point, but hopefully they'll move out of last place in the group.
Labels: Bolivia politics
posted by Jimmy Bollinger at
2:36 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home