Lawless Bolivia

Evito is really on a roll now. When last we saw him here in Bolivia he was limping off to Vienna in Hugo Chavez’s Venezuelan-flagged airplane to attend a summit of leaders from the European Union, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Then all of a sudden he shows up on the evening news doing what he does best – shooting off his mouth and sinking the whole country of Bolivia even deeper. He started off his road show with the statement that Bolivia was NOT going to pay for any of the petroleum infrastructure recently confiscated under the banner of “nationalization.” He explained that the petroleum companies were in Bolivia illegally and were thieves and smugglers – that they were stealing the gas out of the ground and smuggling it into Brazil and Argentina. He totally disregarded the existing contracts under which the Brazilian, Spanish, Argentine, English, and Italian firms are presently operating. You can bet that Brazil and Spain, the two largest investors in the petroleum sector in Bolivia, have taken exception to that! Brazil has said that they’re considering pulling their Ambassador out of Bolivia. In the same summit meeting in Austria, Tony Blair weakly asked Morales and Chavez to “act sensibly” – as if there were any hope of that.

During his rant Evo complained that Spain had been looting Bolivia for 500 years already and that it was time to stop. And then (here comes the good part – I swear I’m not making this up) Evo comes out and chastises Spain for not coming forward with more charity for Bolivia. He complained that when he’d made his Rainbow tour of Europe back in December & January, Spain had promised to forgive Bolivia’s debts and send more financial assistance. Then he demanded that Spain honor their word and cough up the money. And he did all of this with a straight face. I guess he didn’t know that it’s customary to wear a mask and brandish a firearm when stealing from someone and then demanding more money.

My Bolivian friends are mortified that such an ignorant man is representing them to world at large. One of my friends said that he was going to stop watching the evening news because it kept him up at night (he’s not the first to say that to me.) I insisted that he NEEDED to stay informed because it’s obvious that the majority of his countrymen are ignorant of what’s happening and how it’s going to affect every Bolivian when all international aid, investment, and commerce is cut off. Furthermore, with the deterioration of law and order situation in Bolivia, and with the outright if not condoned looting going on in Caranavi, my Bolivian friends have expressed concern that Evito and his roving mobs are going to start sacking the homes and businesses here in the Zona Sur (where I live and have my office.) I told them that it was certainly what would come next – that they only needed to study Russian history to see what turn comes next.

Note: I'm tired of seeing Evito's face on my own blog so the photo above is of a Blue-footed Boobie - I took it on our recent trip to the Galapagos.