tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091Sat, 04 Jul 2009 04:12:12 +0000http://democracyctr.org/blog/index.htmnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)Blogger637125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-4460220963647685634Fri, 03 Jul 2009 02:32:00 +00002009-07-02T22:51:08.446-04:00Since he took office five months ago, President Barack Obama has had to show his political cards on one issue after another. How interventionist would he be dealing with the collapsing financial system? How far toward state-run care would he go on health reform? Where would he stand on gay marriage? What kind of candidate would he put on the Supreme Court? How soon would he pull troops out of http://democracyctr.org/blog/2009/07/president-obama-ends-us-trade.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-694429648440993750Sat, 27 Jun 2009 18:39:00 +00002009-06-27T14:49:48.765-04:00Last September, in the midst of violence by opposition groups in the Bolivian departments of Santa Cruz and Pando, President Evo Morales accused U.S. Ambassador Phillip Goldberg of having a clandestine hand in that violence and ordered him out of the country.That set off a chain reaction of diplomatic tit-for-tats. The Bush administration kicked out Bolivia's ambassador to Washington, Gustavo http://democracyctr.org/blog/2009/06/ambassadorial-moves.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-2047282012105547314Sat, 27 Jun 2009 17:36:00 +00002009-06-27T13:49:51.788-04:00Dear Readers:Due to my absence for work in Eastern Europe earlier this month we are still catching up on recent news here on the Blog. Included in that is the recent blow-up between the governments of Bolivia and Peru, stemming from the violent clash on June 5th between government officers and indigenous people in Bagua.Below is a post on these events from Aldo Orellana and Kris http://democracyctr.org/blog/2009/06/bolivia-and-peru-in-war-of-words-over.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-4997558758116019301Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:07:00 +00002009-06-23T13:14:17.246-04:00Readers:This week fourteen heads of state and a host of other national leaders will join together at the United Nations in New York for a summit meeting on the global financial crisis. In association with those meetings a series of 'side meetings' and public forums will be taking place, in which citizens and civil society organizations from around the world will also be talking about the http://democracyctr.org/blog/2009/06/world-leaders-and-civil-society-groups.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-5714171847487363717Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:07:00 +00002009-06-17T20:31:19.893-04:00This week when massive public protests broke out in Tehran I found myself not far away, in another Muslim nation but a very different one, Turkey.While people all over the world this week have watched and debated the unexpected implications of 100,000 people taking to the streets -- in Turkey, a place where women wear headscarves and Mosques blare the call to workshop from tall and ancient http://democracyctr.org/blog/2009/06/iran-bolivia-and-fork-in-road.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-3590121555384765952Sun, 14 Jun 2009 06:30:00 +00002009-06-14T02:53:26.766-04:00Readers:From time to time we also try to use this Blog space as a way to bring attention to other Bolivia-related projects that we think are especially noteworthy and valuable. In this post I want to let our readers know about a terrific project that comes from our friends at the semester abroad program from the School for International Training. The SIT students who come to Bolivia are great andhttp://democracyctr.org/blog/2009/06/kids-books-bolivia.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-3862601043748025075Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:08:00 +00002009-06-10T10:55:59.940-04:00Tbilisi, Georgia: 2amJet lag is a form of gentle torture. It isn't painful, so to speak. Nor in occasional doses is it all that threatening to long-term health. But when you are headed into your third day of no sleep there isn't any great pleasure either.I am once again on the road. And the thing about Cochabamba is, unless you are headed to Sucre, Santa Cruz or Lake Titicaca, everywhere else in http://democracyctr.org/blog/2009/06/blog-from-road-part-i-sleepless-in.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-2508032652809033667Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:24:00 +00002009-06-04T11:37:49.563-04:00Readers:If you have been in touch recently with certain communities of young people, artists, or the politically active in Bolivia, you know that an enormous loss has been suffered among them.A young man widely admired for both his art and his essence died two weeks ago, Abraham Bojorquez, the El Alto youth who helped invent Aymaran Hip Hop.A number if important tributes have been written to http://democracyctr.org/blog/2009/06/great-bolivian-hip-hop-has-left-us.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-3815206596547405235Thu, 28 May 2009 00:24:00 +00002009-05-28T19:44:43.634-04:00Happy Mothers Day to all our Mom's in Bolivia. Today, May 27, is Mothers Day in Bolivia.Grade schools across Cochabamba held special events today in honor of Moms and children have been at work all week on all manner of cards and trinkets – Hallmark, stand aside.This morning at the Tiquipaya market the women were wandering from one vegetable and fruit stall to another sprinkling mixtura (confettihttp://democracyctr.org/blog/2009/05/happy-mothers-day.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)44tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-8829617784729343690Sun, 24 May 2009 01:41:00 +00002009-05-24T18:22:53.359-04:00The trajectory of recent U.S. Bolivian relations is a bit like the Space Mountain ride at Disneyland. It isn't that the roller coaster within the darkened mountain is any more curvy or extreme than the average roller coaster. It's just that, because you don't have a clue where you're headed, it seems more dramatic.The underlying conflicts between Bolivian and the U.S. governments aren't that http://democracyctr.org/blog/2009/05/us-and-bolivia-seek-peace-agreement.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-2576002528759289910Tue, 19 May 2009 15:55:00 +00002009-05-19T12:27:21.712-04:00Readers:Several times over the past few years I and others have written in this space about both the criminal and civil legal cases against former President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada in connection with the government killings that took place under his command in September and October 2003. In the nearly six years since, the families of those killed and wounded in that repression have sought http://democracyctr.org/blog/2009/05/trial-of-gonzalo-sanchez-de-lozada.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)63tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-3883386211695279382Fri, 15 May 2009 19:00:00 +00002009-05-16T20:01:43.178-04:00Readers:Those of you living in the U.S. might occasionally wonder – What happens to all those used clothes I left at the Goodwill or to a local collection drive? Well, at lest some of those clothes have ended up in the middle of a political firestorm here in Bolivia, where sellers of used clothing and local manufacturers are locked in heated battle over proposals to limit or ban used clothing http://democracyctr.org/blog/2009/05/bolivian-battle-over-used-clothes.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)40tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-2978013380961608261Fri, 08 May 2009 22:15:00 +00002009-05-09T01:10:15.411-04:00Readers:This week we have been putting the spotlight on the ongoing debate, a fierce one, regarding the role of U.S. funding in Bolivia, through agencies such as USAID, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and others. To begin that debate we published a post from Dan Beeton of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) in Washington, an article which openly charges that the U.S. is http://democracyctr.org/blog/2009/05/charges-of-us-funding-to-violent.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)47tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-8190825440776996521Thu, 07 May 2009 01:47:00 +00002009-05-12T15:24:58.801-04:00Dear Readers:Earlier this week I received an article in my e-mail from a U.S. organization whose research work I generally respect a good deal, the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR). CEPR is a prolific producer of research and commentary on a wide range of economic issues, and from time to time it writes about events in Bolivia.The article in my in-box was titled, The Fun House http://democracyctr.org/blog/2009/05/is-united-states-funding-violent.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-6044928982082749105Mon, 04 May 2009 16:59:00 +00002009-05-04T13:20:48.656-04:00Dear Readers:All life is not politics.I find myself, too often, trapped by inertia and expectations into writing about whatever new political development crosses the screen here. And I am trying to get away from that. So today, if you want to wade once more into Bolivian politics, look elsewhere. If you want to read the story of how a MAS founder is accusing Evo Morales of heading a government ofhttp://democracyctr.org/blog/2009/05/notes-on-craft-of-writing.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-4798351634668473090Thu, 30 Apr 2009 14:13:00 +00002009-04-30T17:06:32.582-04:00Dear Readers:The Democracy Center is in the middle of moving our entire Web site, and the Blog, over to a new Web server. As a result many of you may have noticed problems over the past few days in accessing our site or posting comments. To the side is a photo of our technical team hard at work on this.I appreciate the e-mails from those of you who have suggested that we check out if sinister http://democracyctr.org/blog/2009/04/wonders-of-technology-upgrades.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-7605722016239173585Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:56:00 +00002009-04-30T04:04:17.815-04:00When Barack Obama was elected President of the U.S. in November, he inherited a set of U.S. relationships with Latin America that were strained. The Bush administration had staunch allies among the handful of remaining conservative governments in the region, most notably in Colombia and Mexico. It had mixed relations with the left-leaning governments in the bigger countries of the region, such ashttp://democracyctr.org/blog/2009/04/bolivia-and-us-where-do-things-stand.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-2809833856472356962Sun, 19 Apr 2009 02:26:00 +00002009-04-19T20:45:18.260-04:00On Thursday afternoon in Santa Cruz three men were killed in a shootout with Bolivian police. According to the Bolivian government the men were part of a broad conspiracy to kill President Evo Morales and Vice-President Alvaro Garcia Linera. The shootout took place in a hotel in Santa Cruz, the city that is at the center of anti-Morales political sentiment.What really happened, who was behind it,http://democracyctr.org/blog/2009/04/was-there-assassination-conspiracy.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)192tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-4205020930105219370Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:57:00 +00002009-04-14T19:22:18.691-04:00environmentDear Readers:By the time you read this I will be off to somewhere in Bolivia where cyberspace does not reach, cut cold turkey from e-mail and from all things Blog. So I leave you with this thoughtful post from the Democracy Center's intrepid Yi-Ching Hwang, about the environmental dangers facing Bolivia from plans by neighboring Brazil to build two giant dams on the important river the two http://democracyctr.org/blog/2009/04/bolivia-under-waters.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)46tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-7431278072454494130Fri, 10 Apr 2009 13:42:00 +00002009-04-12T21:31:31.880-04:00Bolivia-cultureToday is Good Friday, when Christians mark the death of Jesus by crucifixion. Given the quite bloody nature of the act, I have never been quite clear how the term “good” got put in there by his believers. I would have guessed that “Bad Friday” might have been a more appropriate name.This counts as just one among the list of minor confusions that inflict a non-Christian surrounded by Catholics (http://democracyctr.org/blog/2009/04/easter-here-and-there.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-1732250943577139648Fri, 10 Apr 2009 12:01:00 +00002009-04-12T21:34:12.691-04:00Bolivia-politicsThe new Bolivian constitution approved by more than 60% of voters in January mandates new Presidential and Congressional elections this coming December. But the precise rules that will govern that election are still in dispute, with all sides jockeying for rules that will play to their political advantage.Yesterday, following a heated debate in the Congress, President Morales announced that he http://democracyctr.org/blog/2009/04/evo-on-hunger-strike-over-election.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-1672763934542485213Mon, 06 Apr 2009 20:09:00 +00002009-04-09T13:26:25.258-04:00water-revolt-CbbaThis week marks nine years since Cochabamba's now-famous Water Revolt. It was during this week, in April 2000, that thousands of people – rural, urban, poor, middle class, young and not so young – took to the streets to reclaim their public water system from a foreign corporation, Bechtel.The story of the Cochabamba Water Revolt has been retold many times in many ways these past nine years, in http://democracyctr.org/blog/2009/04/cochabamba-water-war-and-its-aftermath.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-4776243502447843135Thu, 02 Apr 2009 20:29:00 +00002009-04-03T11:39:26.395-04:00Well, ironies abound.Let's begin with a pop quiz. Here are two news stories that came out of Bolivia yesterday. Which one is the April Fools Day joke?A) In a World Cup qualifying match Bolivia's national soccer team beat Argentina (the most recent winner of the Olympic gold medal in soccer) 6 to 1.B) President Evo Morales accused the U.S. embassy of a conspiracy to force his country to adopt http://democracyctr.org/blog/2009/04/thank-you-huffington-post.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-78065245921638086Wed, 01 Apr 2009 11:00:00 +00002009-04-09T13:27:20.056-04:00humorPresident Evo Morales, equipped with a wall clock as a prop, charged Tuesday that the U.S. Embassy in La Paz is engaged in clandestine effort to coerce Bolivia to adopt Daylight Savings Time, moving the nation's clocks forward and backward an hour in coordination with the U.S.To back his claim Morales released a set of intercepted e-mail messages between the Embassy and State Department officialshttp://democracyctr.org/blog/2009/04/morales-charges-us-conspiracy-to-force.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)46tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9332091.post-4468886240323980732Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:46:00 +00002009-04-12T21:43:40.973-04:00Bolivia-cultureReaders:A researcher in La Paz recently approached me wanting to write an article about the infamous San Pedro prison in La Paz. The jail is home to some of Bolivia's most famous inmates (including former Pando governor Leopold Fernandez) and also to a new niche in the Bolivian economy, prison tourism.For reasons that will be apparent in the article below, the researcher asked to publish this http://democracyctr.org/blog/2009/03/prison-tourism-in-la-paz.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (The Democracy Center)6