Deteriorating security in Bolivia

The security situation here in Bolivia continues to deteriorate on a daily basis. Down in Caranavi, the center of the Yungas and where my rural electrification project was centered until the recent evacuation, there are now two warring factions – those who want the Alternative Development projects to come back and those who are glad to see the ‘yanquis’ go home. So far the war hasn’t involved shooting, but there has been some fisticuffs between the two factions. And with regard to my project evacuation – I managed to get out all of my wire and hardware that I had in my warehouse and over 3000 poles, but I still have over 2000 poles remaining in Caranavi. But on Monday, the 1st of May, a gang from the local neighborhood association hijacked our outbound truckload of poles. They said that all of the remaining poles had to stay in Caranavi. So then the mobs, directed by the Mayor’s employees, started openly stealing poles from my warehouse and distributing them around town. They my warehouseman who was taking photos of the theft and then stole his camera too. They even went to the homes of my employees living in Caranavi and threatened them with bodily harm if they tried to interfere with the looting of my poles. We appealed to the police and then to the army, but the only opposition to this theft of the power poles came from the rural colonizers’ organizations who wanted a share of the poles for themselves too. And just to add insult to injury, my construction contractor was foolish enough to warehouse the material that I’d advanced him in one of the community centers, and now they’re refusing to let him get it out to be returned to me (I guess I’ll be cashing his materials bond.) So, whether they meant to or not, the leaders of the mob in Caranavi are proving the point that there is in fact no law and order and no security in Caranavi and that’s why the projects are all shutting down and leaving town.

Also in Bolivia these days, since Evito confiscated the private petroleum infrastructure from the wells to the gas pumps, largely owned by Brazil, the president of Brazil is starting to complain that Evo is controlled by Hugo Chavez. ?! Ya think?! In fact, last night on the evening news, he said that Evo was acting like Chavez’s “pet.” I almost fell out of my chair. Now rumors are rampant that perhaps Brazil will send in troops to Bolivia to recuperate and safeguard the billions of dollars of investment that they have in the petroleum section. Maybe that’s Bolivia’s strategy all along – maybe they’re hoping that Brazil will conquer them and then fix their problems as part of a war reparation scheme. Maybe the future language of Bolivia isn’t Aymara – maybe it will be Portuguese.

Having checked nationalization of the petroleum resources off his list of things to do, Evito is now dabbling in land redistribution. He’s decreed the confiscation of a land mass larger than the country of Greece down in Santa Cruz, to be redistributed to poor people from the Altiplano. I guess that’s how he intends to pay back Santa Cruz for their opposition to his party.

As for Evito, he’s flown off to Europe to try to drum up support for his policies. Good luck with that, I say – he’s confiscated property from investors in Spain, England, Italy, France, and Germany – I’ll be curious to see how well he’s received in the European Union now. And, as if to thumb his nose at his own country, Evo flew off in a Venezuelan flagged airplane (which immediately broke down and had to come back, get repaired, and take off again.) His countrymen are furious and insulted that he didn’t fly his own Bolivian flagged presidential jet which, according to the Bolivian air force, is perfectly functional. In defense of their power grabbing policies, the new vice-president/terrorist/acting president of Bolivia said that it would be impossible to impose a Cuban or Venezuelan-style dictatorship on Bolivia – he said that here in Bolivia the masses rule. Right…!