que viva bolivia
in journal
happy friday, everyone.
lots of scary stuff happening around bolivia recently and since i love! that country so much i’m just going to write about recent events concerning bolivia, even though walt crawford’s recent cites and insights is a great great read and fatal harvest is a book i always wanted to buy but can’t justify budget-wise, and all kinds of other stuff i wanted to write about, happy , sad, really sad, and shameful. but bolivia is just not talked about in the news practically ever, and rarely in any kind of depth whatsoever. it’s ridiculous.
first off, i got this link in a an email from vacya, there’s this scary san francisco chronicle article. General James Hill, head of U.S. Southern Command, recently told a congressional panel that “the threats to the U.S. are twofold: ‘traditional’ terrorists [guerrillas, drug traffickers];
and ‘emerging’ terrorists: “radical populists” who tap into “deep-seated frustrations of the failure of democratic reforms to deliver expected goods and services.” Hill’s apparent reference is to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Bolivian indigenous leader Evo Morales.” of course, “in the post-9/11 world, when the U.S. military defines itself in relation to the war on terror, Southcom is the odd man out.” ‘emerging terrorists’?! red-baiting of the 21st century, anyone? if it weren’t so sad, and if i weren’t afraid of getting beat up, i would make a shirt saying ‘emerging terrorist’ and wear it everywhere.
with this in mind, i poked around for other recent news on bolivia and came up with a whole slew of alarming news. a few days ago, the excellent narco news published an article detailing an aborted military coup d’etat that was to have happened april 25th. evo morales, the cocaleros leader, first released the details of this would-be coup. a few days later, the bolivian president carlos mesa admitted a coup had been planned. also, recently, the bolivian gov’t gave in to the u.s. who wants to build two u.s. military bases in bolivia. as if the u.s. would ever every let another country build a military base in the u.s…
but of course the u.s. has hundreds of bases all over the world. then,coca in bolivia is an old tradition that forms a big part of indigenous culture (indigenous people make up at least 60% of the population) so erradication is not an option. when the u.s. continues to assault the whole idea of coca and coca-growing, how can bolivians not react? lastly, u.s. embassy-evil-man david greenlee is also pressuring mesa for immunity for u.s. military in bolivia. incredible.
p.s. yeah, the whole sinclair-nightline thing is outrageous.
p.s.2 i love this feminist(e) blog.
