tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091Mon, 12 May 2008 02:29:54 +0000http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/index.htmnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)Blogger528125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-5062759613851069523Fri, 09 May 2008 23:29:00 +00002008-05-09T20:27:53.354-04:00The price of bread is rising faster than yeast – sixty cents for a morning maraqueta now in Cochabamba. The national government is talking about a multi-million stock buyout of the national telecommunications company (Entel). And the nation is divided after a lopsided vote Sunday in Santa Cruz on the issue of autonomy. But now Bolivia's political leaders have a new plan – elections once more. Ifhttp://www.democracyctr.org/blog/2008/05/and-next-for-bolivia-elections-once.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-2537051829290022702Tue, 06 May 2008 20:34:00 +00002008-05-06T16:42:24.858-04:00For those interested, I did an interview on Democracy Now yesterday regarding the vote in Santa Cruz on Sunday and what it means more broadly for Bolivia. You can find that interview (both transcribed and broadcast) here. I find the Pacifica news program hosted by Amy Goodman to be a solid source of news and analysis, one that goes much deeper than other media. For readers who aren't acquainted http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/2008/05/democracy-now-interview-and-comment-on.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-6315869287885221194Mon, 05 May 2008 02:00:00 +00002008-05-05T08:50:10.444-04:00Readers: Preliminary returns report that 86% of those who participated in the controversial vote yesterday supported autonomy for the Santa Cruz region. Approximately 40% of Santa Cruz voters chose not to participate at all. In adition, a 69-year-old man has been reported dead by the Bolivian press, asphyxiated from tear gas used by police on a crowd in Santa Cruz today. Several others are http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/2008/05/autonomy-vote.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-6095410565394442989Thu, 01 May 2008 23:10:00 +00002008-05-01T19:29:03.180-04:00Readers: The attention of most people in Bolivia this weekend, and thousands of others who watch Bolivia from afar, will be on the vote Sunday in the department of Santa Cruz on a proposed ‘autonomy’ plan. We’ve taken our turn at analyzing this situation more than once (including this post earlier in the week). So, on the eve of the vote we bring you a diversity of points of view on the topic, http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/2008/05/santa-cruz-autonomy-vote-what-people.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-6128990589493628867Tue, 29 Apr 2008 22:22:00 +00002008-04-29T18:22:21.690-04:00For our readers in La Paz, we hope that you will join us this Friday evening for a great event – the presentation of our new book, Dignity and Defiance: Stories from Bolivia's Challenge to Globalization (the Spanish edition). The event will be a joint one with Naomi Klein, who will be presenting her new book, Shock Doctrine. Here are the details: Book Presentation: Dignity and Defiance and http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/2008/04/book-event-this-friday-in-la-paz-and_29.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-5990345671973295787Mon, 28 Apr 2008 03:45:00 +00002008-04-28T00:03:38.726-04:00Last night I went to the movies. It was a Hollywood flick based mainly on a clever cinematic device. The same 23 minutes during a terrorist attack on the U.S. President is replayed four or five times (I lost count) from different perspectives. Next weekend will bring the Bolivian version of this dramatic device, but live instead of in cinemascope. Please be patient, I'll get to the mataphor http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/2008/04/here-comes-may-4th.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-8524652519227212979Sat, 19 Apr 2008 01:15:00 +00002008-04-18T23:08:18.365-04:00As any Bolivian newspaper reader knows, paid political propaganda is a staple of the Sunday editions. Running full-page ads, or whole inserts, aimed at self-promotion is a practice that crosses ideological lines. In the same edition readers might be treated to twenty column inches of Evo Morales wrapping himself in the wonders of Bolivia's new aid plan for the elderly, side-by-side with four http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/2008/04/world-bank-tries-to-re-write-bolivian.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-554145324002777868Tue, 08 Apr 2008 02:17:00 +00002008-04-07T22:31:41.299-04:00As our regular readers know, the focus of our attention for the past year and a half has been the research, writing, editing and production of a full length book – Dignity and Defiance: Stories from Bolivia's Challenge to Globalization. Sometimes we refer to it as The Book that Ate the Democracy Center. This Thursday in Cochabamba we will host the public presentation of the Spanish language http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/2008/04/book-launch-this-thursday-in-cochabamba.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-3402510880685979522Fri, 04 Apr 2008 18:34:00 +00002008-04-04T14:39:05.358-04:00 Today, as many will note, is the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Most of those who will mark this date in some way were not yet born when it occurred (I was 10, old enough to remember it) and yet it affects them in various ways as well. Writers more gifted and I will stop today to reflect on the significance of this day in a nation's troubled history. But http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/2008/04/40th-anniversary-of-killing-of-rev.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-1057316293519622637Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:20:00 +00002008-04-01T09:36:21.513-04:00In a stunning move, Bolivian President Evo Morales announced Monday that Halliburton Corp. the Texas-based firm managing U.S. civilian operations in Iraq, will take over administration of the department of Santa Cruz. The move was widely seen as an effort to diffuse the explosive political crisis over demands by Santa Cruz that it be granted political autonomy. “This is an opportunity for http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/2008/04/morales-and-cheney-announce-halliburton.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-2707094931870985837Fri, 28 Mar 2008 22:08:00 +00002008-03-28T18:34:09.301-04:00Look, I am a foreigner here, even after ten years. So my perspective on things will always be limited. Even if I live here 100 years (FYI, unlikely). That said, here are some reflections from a few steps back about a country deeply divided. Where to begin? How about with cooking oil? A Different Kind of "War for Oil" Just in case you haven't been paying attention to events here, the biggest http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/2008/03/bolivia-notes-on-divided-country.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-1864124714526182891Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:15:00 +00002008-03-20T11:52:47.965-04:00My trip from home to work this morning began as it usually does, leaving the front door of my house hand-in-hand with my 5-year-old daughter for the walk through the countryside to her school. If I walked it alone I could do it in just over 5 minutes. With my daughter it takes almost 20. There is a lot to see. "The cows aren't there today," she says to me as soon as we reach the dirt road in http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/2008/03/my-bolivian-commute.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-9138347734231884031Tue, 18 Mar 2008 22:14:00 +00002008-03-18T18:29:51.313-04:00Readers: Buried in the heated debate over Bolivia's proposed new Constitution are the details of what that new political foundation would include. One of the most visible demands that has been woven into MAS' proposed Constitution is to move Bolivia toward being a "plurinational" nation, in which many diverse culture's and ethnicities reside side by side, but with a certain new measure of http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/2008/03/community-justice-in-bolivia-beyond.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-7652591781679677625Sat, 15 Mar 2008 02:11:00 +00002008-03-14T22:24:39.889-04:00Readers: This week marks the five-year anniversary of the U.S. War in Iraq. A half-decade after the commencement of a military operation that was supposed to be wrapped up in weeks, the U.S. and Iraqi dead, along with the billions of US dollars spent each week, continue to pile up. Under current policy there is no end is in sight for either. Regardless of whether you are an opponent of the http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/2008/03/peacemaker-american-womans-journey-with.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-6674646916506152255Mon, 10 Mar 2008 19:07:00 +00002008-03-10T15:23:08.066-04:00As long-time Blog readers know, we have offered the comments section of the Blog, from the beginning, as a completely uncensored forum where people are free to post whatever they want, and to do so with anonymity. This forum has often offered genuine insight into Bolivia and other topics we write about, much of it coming from people who disagree vehemently with The Democracy Center's posts. At http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/2008/03/explaining-bolivia-in-just-six-words.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-7800006813303263864Thu, 06 Mar 2008 02:25:00 +00002008-03-05T22:37:23.542-04:00Yesterday a United Nations panel dealing with drug issues, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), issued a surprise recommendation, one that drew front-page headlines here in Bolivia today. The UN called on the governments of Bolivia and Peru to make all uses of the coca leaf a criminal offense. That would include chewing leaves, drinking coca tea, or turning coca leaves into baking http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/2008/03/un-committee-gives-coca-surprise-gift.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-6729354080423734904Tue, 04 Mar 2008 23:28:00 +00002008-03-04T19:37:43.401-04:00Say what you want about recent politics in South America – a region of new governments for the people, or the land of populist despots, take your pick – but at least until now conflicts between countries seemed to be a relic of the ancient past. Well, until last weekend. On Saturday, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe committed what is generally considered to be a diplomatic 'no-no' in most parts http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/2008/03/saber-rattling-south-america-style.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-1181704854704122577Sat, 01 Mar 2008 12:06:00 +00002008-03-01T01:17:41.806-04:00There is of course, the old saying – Laws are like sausages; you never want to see either of them being made. With that in mind the ongoing Bolivian political drama of drafting a new national constitution is starting to make sausage-making look attractive. Last year it was the opposition’s turn to set democracy aside. Adversaries of President Morales used street violence and physical and http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/2008/03/strikingly-bad-way-to-make-and-not-make.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-6894392487967053032Thu, 28 Feb 2008 17:53:00 +00002008-02-28T14:02:19.494-04:00Dear Readers: Last week Bolivian President Evo Morales, responding to both Bolivian and international pleas to do so, announced that his country would no longer be sending its military officers to the controversial U.S. Army School of the Americas in Fort Benning Georgia. Bolivia's withdrawal is the fifth in the region and marks an important trend in U.S. Latin America relations. The newest http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/2008/02/bolivia-withdraws-from-school-of.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-2921570219309169180Tue, 26 Feb 2008 19:41:00 +00002008-02-26T20:22:35.304-04:00As the rains and the floods continue to bring haunting damage to some parts of Bolivia (and tall green corn fields to others), so the waters of political conflict appear to be rising again as well, on several fronts. On the domestic side, political attention turns once again to the nation’s capital, La Paz, where President Morales’ government has announced its plans to use street heat to http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/2008/02/bolivia-conflict-in-paradise-again.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-7781691937353579179Fri, 22 Feb 2008 21:48:00 +00002008-02-22T18:04:01.335-04:00Readers: The focus of our Latin America work at The Democracy Center has always been to help shed light on the role that international actors, particularly those from our native U.S., play in the region. That role was born with our reporting in 2000 on the Cochabamba Water Revolt against the Bechtel Corporation. It continued in our reporting about the effect of World Bank and International http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/2008/02/bechtels-ugly-ecuador-water-adventure.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-5918055902253074631Fri, 22 Feb 2008 01:33:00 +00002008-02-21T21:37:44.495-04:00"I am a political junkie.” Those were the odd words with which I opened my essay 24 years ago applying for graduate school. They were also true. I became converted to politics at age 14, living in Richard Nixon’s hometown (Whittier, California) and walking precincts for his opponent, Senator George McGovern. Over the course of a decade I worked as a campaign volunteer, then as legislative http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/2008/02/observations-from-political-junkie.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-4211921658226289797Mon, 18 Feb 2008 20:01:00 +00002008-02-18T16:27:25.337-04:00Readers: When I left Bolivia three weeks ago, popular attention was dedicated to two things: a sputtering attempt at political dialog by the nation's President, Vice-President, and nine regional governors, and a national catastrophe caused by flooding. When I returned to Bolivia last Friday popular attention was dedicated to two things…a sputtering attempt at political dialog by the nation's http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/2008/02/in-bolivia-when-dialogue-fails.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-3832775004218782758Wed, 13 Feb 2008 14:19:00 +00002008-02-13T10:29:08.461-04:00It was exactly five years ago today that Ana Colque, a 24-year-old nurse and single mother, was murdered by Bolivian soldiers as she climbed to the rooftop of a building in La Paz. Arriving in an ambulance, she went to the roof to come to the aid of a handyman who lay dying, also from an army sniper attack. It was five years ago this month that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) demanded thathttp://www.democracyctr.org/blog/2008/02/remembering-bolivias-febrero-negro.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-1110186142702572169Fri, 08 Feb 2008 19:33:00 +00002008-02-09T01:44:15.277-04:00ABC News went public today with a story that has been circulating privately in Bolivia for several months – at least one U.S. Embassy official in La Paz has been asking U.S. Fulbright scholars and Peace Corps volunteers to provide the Embassy with intelligence on Cubans and Venezuelans in Bolivia. The story, written by reporter Jean Friedman, centers on the testimony of John Alexander van http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/2008/02/abc-news-breaks-us-embassy-spy-request.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)