Bolivia’s Would-Be President from Pepsi

I was asked not to say anything publicly about the meeting in my office here last July. But now, since the people involved have revealed the whole tale in a long article in the Bolivian magazine Datos, I think I can share my own little story about Bolivia’s would-be President from Pepsi. It is a story that says something about the odd state of Bolivian politics.

The Man With Pointy Shoes

In early July I received an email note from a fellow in NY, a former UN official who had worked here years back. He said he wanted to come by for a chat about Bolivian politics with a friend of his, Edwin Lozano, a New Yorker of Bolivian decent (but who never lived here) who was a senior vice president of Pepsico, the corporate empire that brings us everything from Fritos to Quaker Oats (and of course that dark syrupy stuff that isn’t Coca Cola). I am generally open to chat with anyone so I responded that they ought to come on by.

To be honest, the first thing that I noticed about Lozano was his shoes. They were these big, long and pointy leather dress shoes that looked like they would actually puncture a soccer ball if they ever kicked one. The pointy style also really extends their length. I have since learned that they are the style now in the US. However, as the owner of size-thirteen feet that CONSTANTLY draw unwelcome attention here in the country with the world’s smallest feet, I just couldn’t imagine why anyone would choose to make their feet look BIGGER.

In any event, after a quick exchange of pleasantries, Lozano said, “Let me cut to the chase. I am looking at running [for office].” His declaration left me a little confused. After a moment of thought I asked him, “Uhh, where, in the US?” “No,” he told me, “Here.” The visitor from Pepsi had come to Bolivia to launch a campaign for President.

Well, I had heard of people visiting Bolivia from the US as “eco-tourists”. I have seen them come as missionaries. I have seen them come to volunteer with kids, to help us in our office, and to climb Andean peaks. But, before that moment, I had never seen anyone pop on down to explore a run for the presidency. It was, to be sure, a novel approach to vacationing.

According to the long article in Datos [only an excerpt is available on-line, here], Lozano and his fellow New Yorker companion spent three weeks talking to everyone in Bolivian politics they could get hold of – from Evo Morales to the remnants of Bolivia’s dieing political parties (MNR and MIR) – as well as ample chats with the US Embassy. The latter, according to Datos, had some hope that a Lozano candidacy might draw away votes from Evo Morales. That only goes to prove that the Embassy has learned remarkably little about Bolivian politics since it almost launched Morales into first place last time around by denouncing him.

Lozano evidently tested the waters on everything from being an independent candidate, to leading Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada’s fading MNR, to being the Vice Presidential nominee of the equally defunct MIR. In the end it didn’t work out and the would-be President has returned to New York to resume real life.

It is All So Simple

After his wildly pointy dress shoes, the other thing that I noticed about Lozano was that he much preferred to speak in English instead of Spanish, the latter a language he was still hoping to learn better. Hmmm, I thought, doesn’t that make campaigning just a little tough? But I didn’t mention it. In addition, Lozano’s “cut to the chase” line proved to be just the tip of the iceberg of a “can-do” forthright attitude with which he hoped to bring US corporate sensibility to the minefield of Bolivian politics.

“What we need to do is just get everyone in a room together and force them to come to an agreement,” he explained to me, as he described how he would solve Bolivia’s political conflicts. Hmmm, I thought, get everyone into a room and get them to agree. Boy, I bet that no one even thought of trying that before. How simple. How we could we have missed that?

After confidently elaborating his plans for a good deal of time to my co-worker Marcela and I, the New Yorkers finally asked us what we thought. “And please be frank.”

After some pause I explained that I had been working in politics and political campaigns since (as it turns out) about the time he was in the first grade. And from that perspective I told him that I thought what he was planning looked like a really good way to waste a lot of money and that if he really wanted to help Bolivia he ought to do something in business here not in politics. That seemed a message that he did not want to hear so I tried an approach that might have more resonance. I talked market share.

Let’s see, a guy from the US with a background in business with a non-Bolivian wife and a faith in market fundamentalism as the solution to the country’s problems. I think Tuto Quiroga pretty much has that niche covered and he was already president for a year and people know who he is. Looks to me like you are going to end up Tuto-Lite.

Actually, that sounds like a product Pepsi might market.

Then, after pondering the situation some more I noted, “Add in the stiff US accent in Spanish and you are going to look like the second coming of Goni.”

So that is the tale of my conversation with the would-be President of Bolivia from Pepsi. I am not surprised that it didn’t work out and I wish him well in whatever he decides to do. He seemed like a nice enough fellow (but those shoes, Edwin, lose the shoes).

Even Tuto moved himself and his family off to the US as soon as his brief Presidency ended in 2002 and I wouldn’t be surprised if he does so again if he loses in December. With the enticement of good Thai food and six digit corporate salaries, for some folks it really only makes sense to live in Bolivia if you can be President. For some, if you can’t have that green, yellow and red sash across your chest, the deal is off.

Alternatively, however, maybe Bolivia needs a President who, at least, is willing to stick around win or lose.