hey all,

This is just me being curious about whether anyone has heard about this.

Basically: the sum up is this:

Bolivia has the 2nd largest deposit of Natural gas in South America. It is also the poorest country, and very corrupt (84 out of 91 on the corruption index. 1 = best, 91 = worst)
There are plans to export the Gas through Chile to the US and Mexico. The people say that the money will only line the rich people's pockets, and not go to the poor. (probably true.)
The other problem is that Chile took Bolivia's coast in the late 1800's.

There are many social problems in Bolivia, and the gas is tying them all together.

Well, I had a day off school today as the transportistas were on strike.
Also, the gas situation was continuing to be protested about.
There were blockades in the city of Cochabamba
At 9:56, Goni (Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, or Mr. Prez) said that the plans to export the gas had been put on hold untill a referendum could be organized in december.
This did not stop the protesters, however, as Evo (leader of the cocaleros, leader of the opposition party, the socialist movement) said that they still wanted Goni out.
Goni says he's staying in, and the enemies of democracy can go elsewhere, thankyou very much.
BUT: this morning/last night (?) Goni said that one of the reasons that he's not stepping down
is because his wife likes being the first lady too much.
This afternoon Carlos Mesa, (mr. vice prez) says that he was no longer asscociated with Goni.
Goni will probably be ousted soon.
the problem with Evo is that he's anti gringo.
It's raining, (hem) pelting down in the city, and that should cool things down abit.

titanium_geek

please tell me if you simply don't care.

oops: translation:
transportistas: transport guys. Bus, taxi drivers etc.
cocaleros: coca growers
gringo: westener

Well, I'm not aware of Bolivian situation. I've lived myself for many years in South America, and things simply does not seems to get any better. When the government changes, the hole country breaths deep for a while in a hope of change. But it never last long. Take a look at Brazil, Argentina and all South American countries. It's just amazing the amount of natural resources they have about everything. Even so, they are pretty poor. Take a look at countries as Japan or my country, Sweden. They have no natural resources, but they are extremely rich (I'm not, unfortunately...ghehe) selling changed resources (e.g Japan) or technology (e.g Sweden). I can never truly understand why there's so much corruption about everything on South America. The south Americans are really nice peoples, but the government is just awful. Brazil specially (that I know the most) has a bunch of kids dying on streets without anything to eat, while other peoples living right beside them, live in huge mansions, sometimes even compared to castles... The contrast, the differences between rich and poor is tremendous. Wherever there's money (gas, wood...) there's corruption, everybody knows, nothing changes. I cannot understand why . I really would like to see some changes in there for the best though... .

I care. :-( I don't like seeing your country in political turmoil one bit. I also don't want the jerks that run my country to exploit Bolivias natural gas reserves without proper compensation to the Bolivian people, not just the jerks in charge of the government . I hope for the best, and expect the worst.

i'm from Croatia (we had a war 1990-1995; you could ALMOST call it a civil)...it's not really important why there was a war, who was right or who was wrong and all that stuff (it only leads to unneccesary flames) because now the only real problem is we HAD a war...becaues noe it seems everthing is going nice, but we have an awfull juridical (i'm not sure about spelling - it's not important so don't reply for THAT) system, and some people say we're about to have the argetina-style economical fall...and our republican (they call themselves 'democratic', but would like to "expand" territory to Bosnia&Herzegovina and Serbia&Montenegro...;we call them the 'righthand', as opposed to comunistic 'lefthand' leaders) opposition has even songs about "how better is to go right on the crossroad of your life, because left is the raging beast"...it would be comic if it wasn't so tragic ...i'm in italy now because i couldn't stand all that crap anymore...
but on the other hand it's better to sing a song than to sing a (civil) war
that's my message...hope the situation will resolve peacefully, though i'm not optimistic about it...(from what i see from the tv, no offense meant), in south america "the deadliest" job is being a president...and the shortest one...we are on the other side - since 1945 we only had 3 presidents (including present one - the other to we're untill they died...)
keep it cool

Far from it. The media in my country don't report well enough on things like this. Please keep us up to date on what happens.

Steve

oops: translation:
transportistas: transport guys. Bus, taxi drivers etc.
cocaleros: coca growers
gringo: westener

I learned a different meaning for the term "gringo". There was a war between Mexico and the United States where the United States invaded Mexico. During their off hours the U.S. soldiers would get drunk in Mexican bars and sing the number one song on the 1846 hit parade. The first line goes:

"Green grow the lilacs, by my mother's front door."

Ever since then the Mexicans have called Americans "gringoes".


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Steve Stites

Very true, the headlines in the states are always pointless. I did find this though
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/americ....ap/index.html
Of course all most people ever hear is
"man traps himself in glass box suspended over london without food for over a month "

Just like it has been said before, we do care. I wasn't aware of the situation. The media here is to preoccupied reporting about a dutch prince having an relationship with some girl who 12 years ago had an affair with some criminal. Talking about priorities!
So keep us posted.

I think thats just bull.Has to be organised by somebody with an agenda against the US and Mexico.Why don't they also protest against the gas being delivered to Brasil?
You have to remember that Bolivia is a extremely poor country (with some of the nicest people though) and many people just don't have the information necessary to make up their mind freely and just do what their union leaders tell them instead.I remember there where some protests against the plan of the gouvernment to give land to the poor that where run by the guys that represent those.Makes a lot of sense?

Ok: Evo Morales is the leader of the cocaleros, hates gringos, and is leader of the opposititon. This last election, no one actually won enough of the votes. Congress (through some complicated way of deals etc,) put Goni in. Some think that Evo is trying to win on the streets what he lost in government. I agree with the people that the profit from the gas would probably go to some (rich) guy's wallet. The problem is that Evo is for kicking all the gringos out. As a gringo who is here in this country for the very purpose for helping Bolivians, I think that is just nuts. Evo has had several opportunities to get rid of the govt. First, there was the coca. No go. (there is a heavy DEA prescence here) (coca is used to make cocaine) Then there was this hairbrained scheme about the water. Turned the main square into a war zone. Still, the government stayed. Now the gas plan has been put on hold, and therefore Evo has to lay his cards on the table.

The messed up thing about all the protests is that most of the people marching have to march. It's a "protesting is strictly voluntary, but anyone not participating will have their wages cut."
(animal farm, anyone?)

Today there were marches past the school, (where I live in a house on compound with my family), and tires burned. We're keeping a low profile.
Obviously there is no school (halelujah!) so that's fun.

About the gringos: I guess it came from mexico, but here it just means white person.

Yeah. Evo is anti US.

Thanks guys, for caring.

will keep you posted.

titanium_geek

I woudn't worry too much - it's just some political bull as you already figured out yourself.
I can't imagine people coming to burn down your house and crap like that in Bolivia.
Get a good beer supply and call in sick for a week.

There was a story in the Washington Times newspaper about the political demonstrations in Bolivia. The Washington Times is published in Washington, D.C., U.S.A. The article reported the same things that titanium_geek says with the added comment that the U.S. government is opposed to changes in the Bolivian government other than by the normal elections.


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Steve Stites

Well, Goni resigned, Carlos Mesa is in. Carlos will either be good or bad for the country. Either they'll like him, he won't slip up, and the next elections will go smoothly. Or they'll want him out if he makes any slips. There's a traditional 90 day "hold off" meaning that we should be good till december or so.

anyway: schools back again, so I have to go.

titanium_geek

Doesn't matter who is president in Latin America.Somebody always gets their pockets filled.Was funny - got a new major a while back and he said his most important topics are housing,transportation and education.He fixed all those,allright.
Bought himself a villa in town and at the beach,a Mercedes and sent his kids to private school.Did work for him.