The Evo/Costas meeting: How was it for you, Ruben?

"Sorry about the 'monkey' cracks, dude."
"No worries dude."

The meeting we outlined earlier this morning between Evo Morales and Ruben Costas has just finished. It lasted around 75 minutes and, sadly for the Evohaters out there, it went well according to the main guest at least. Here's a translation of a quote from Costas found in this report:

"The meeting happened in a very good atmosphere, with a very good predisposition shown by the President. The main objective was the search to construct a clear and sincere dialogue, the possibility that we as public servants, head of the country and head of Santa Cruz, work for what we want for Bolivians and for citizens of Santa Cruz, work for the wellbeing of our people and in a coordinated way."

Those with memory will notice that Costas now openly recognizes Morales as President of all Bolivia, a quantum leap in itself from a man who refused to recognize his mandate for many years. The other words from his lips were also highly conciliatory. Hey, we still don't like the dude much and there's every reason to want actions and not words before he's worthy of any sort of trust, but today was a good day for Bolivia. Peace beats war every single time.

Bolivia: Peace breaking out

Over at Bolivia's state news service ABI, the main story this week is that main opposition leader in Santa Cruz, Ruben Costas, has accepted an invitation from Evo Morales to sit down and talk. This might not sound like much to those unversed in BoliviaPolitik, but just the fact the two are willing to get together for constructive talks is a major step forward. This is, after all, the same provincial politician who refused to recognize Morales as his President, used racist language at every turn in his insults and was one of the main players in the attempted secession plans of 2008.

But let's not dwell on the past too much, as if Costas goes to the table with the right attitude Bolivia can turn out as the winner here. Good EngLang service Bolivia Weekly has more on the subject right here.

Ignacio Villa Vargas, the key witness against the Santa Cruz Bolivian mercenary terrorists, blows the lid off the story

Today in Bolivian daily 'Cambio' there are a dozen or so pages devoted to the story of the Santa Cruz terrorist cell taken down by Bolivian police and the aftermath of the whole episode. The main event in today's paper is an official, published Q&A with Ignacio Villa Vargas, the Bolivian national who was the group's Mr. Fixit, chauffeur and gopher.

In the very extensive interview he basically blows the lid off the whole affair, directly implicating Branko Marinkovic, Ruben Costas and other Santa Cruz bigwigs with Eduardo Rozsa Flores, Michael Dwyer and the others in the terrorist cell. He also testifies that the group was out to kill Evo Morales, Veep Alvaro Garcia Linares, their Cabinet Minister Juan Ramon Quintana and the Bolivian Cardinal Terrazas whose house was bombed. Here is the first part of the confession.

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Question: Please tell what you want to inform the Interior Ministry regarding the latest events occurred in the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, specifically regarding the attack on the house of Cardenal Julio Terrazas and other aspects.

Ignacio Villa Vargas answers: First I would like to say the I was President of the Santa Cruz Youth Union (the far right wing Unión Juvenil Cruceñista, or UJC) for seven years in the 1970s. This is why I am well-known in the city of Santa Cruz and also in Cotoca. Because of this the ex-President of the UJC, 'Negro' Cejas, came to find me, because I was his advisor. He told me that they were putting together a "real group" and I should get in contact with a person who answered to the name of Germán. The gentleman called me on my cellphone and we arranged to meet at the COTAS stand inside the trade fair show site for our first meeting, to which I drove my vehicle. This must have been on a date in or around October 2008.

When I arrived at the meeting Germán was in a group with Branko (Marinkovic) and other gringos that I didn't know. Also present were Estaban Mauricio Roca, Pedro Yovió and Guido Nayar. There must have been eight people there and it was 1pm, the time the meeting was to start.

Branko Marinko­vic talked to me and offered me a series of economic offers and other deals. We were talking and they also linked me by phone to the Prefect of Santa Cruz, Ruben Costas, who offered me a house and some land. I asked what would have to be done and they answered that we had to finish what had been started. They were definitely referring to the attacks that were going to happen in the city soon as a demonstration of serious intent. They attacked the radio of Guido Guardia two months later, they made the attack on Saúl Ávalos by localizing him as target. Sometimes they would ask me to take them on a tour of the streets before the attacks. I saw that they were looking for escape or emergency routes. Regarding the attack on the Cardenal, Germán (Rózsa) and the Irishman (Dwyer) were there that day. They asked me to pick them up from the Hotel Santa Cruz at around 10pm and asked me to drive around several times close to Seminario Street in the Santa Cruz neighbourhood (where the Cardenal lived).

Later I found out that a terrorist event occurred which repulsed me because I am Catholic. While laughing Germán commented that they had got out the car and placed the explosive that I saw them holding into a rubbish bin. He also said that he lit the fuse, got back in the car and drove forward half a block and waited for the explosion, then had to go back three times until Germán verified that the fuse had taken. He said with a smile that it was a pity we hadn't killed the priest and that involved with the explosion were the driver and in the back seats were Germán and Michael Dwyer, who was armed with a pistol with the instruction to open fire and kill if somebody saw them.

I can co-operate with the information about the other vehicle hat participated in the attack, a white 1997 Toyota Corola driven by a certin Alberto Mendoza (I know know if he is the owner) and they had paid 200 Bolivares to use it for two hours. they told him it was to do some business."

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More excerpts

Question: Please tell us who is Germán, noting his general characteristics

Answer: Germán is Eduar­do Rózsa Flores. He also called himself as well as Germán by the last name Villaroel. I met him at the Expoferia meeting. He was semi bald with a scar on his face by his left cheekbone, a robust body and the leader of the group, the one shown dead in the police intervention.

Question: What was the objective of Germán?

Answer: His objective was to kill Evo (Morales), Linera (his VP) and Quintana (his cabinet minister). He talked about his constantly. He said there was somebody who was going to give him more than U$100,000 to kill Quintana.


Question: How was he thinking of carrying out the attacks if the seat of government is in La Paz?

Answer: It was going to happen in Santa Cruz. They even talked about buying a rocket launcher that cost more than U$120,000. The money was going to come from the owner of the Bimodal terminal named Daré, with whom I even talked by telephone and said that Germán had to pick up part of the money to do the job. They also wanted a radar to locate the aircraft that transported Quintana to Pando and then to use the rocket.


Question: How often did they meet and where was the place of meeting with the "bosses", as you call them, and who were they?

Answer: They met every 15 or 20 days. The safest place was the trade fair grounds because it had a security perimeter where only authorized people could enter. When I attended the meetings there were present Monseñor Rivero Alejandro Melgar, Branko Marinkovic, Rubén Costas, Hugo Achá and others. Generally they met when Germán called a meeting. Sometimes he would also be present at the meeting. Soemtimes I could see that Alejandro Melgar went with Germán and I to pick up the money (nobody else, not even the gringos) from the Melgar office, in the Oriente Building 5th floor first office on the left. There are three offices all together and they met there and sometimes I was present. They only talked about financing questions.

Question: Tell us who provided the firearms and how contact was made with these people.

Answer: Only by telephone. I don't have it (the number) now but I can get it later. I once went to a purchase of a mini Uzi with silencer for U$1,500. We bought it in "the fourth ring" (neighbourhood of Santa Cruz). Germán did the deal which had been previously agreed with the vendor.

Question: Who financed these operations?

Answer: Everyone knows that they funded the group but nobody will report the financing. CRE, Cotas, Saguapac and other Santa Cruz institutions funded German's group or the UJC.

Question: How many attacks took place in Santa Cruz or in other departments of Bolivia?

Answer: In Santa Cruz only three, in the interior I don't know. The three in Santa Cruz were those I've mentioned; the radio of Guido Guardia, the house of Ávalos and the Cardinal's house. There were only three.

Question: Where did you stay when the attacks took place?

Answer. For the first attack we were staying in Branko Marinkovic's house at Km4 of the northern highway. For the Ávalos attack we were in the Hotel Asturias and for the Cardinal's attack in Hotel Las Americas. For the three attacks Germán was always the leader. Security and gunman was Michael Dwyer and his driver, always in the same place.

Question: What was going to be the next attack to be made that you know of?

Answer: I heard that they were going to take a car laden with explosives to the Prefecture. It was going to be in the day time and cause the maximum amount of damage possible to the people at the place, for the simple reason of damaging the Prefect.

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And it continues and continues. The whole Spanish version is very long and has dozens of questions and answers. None of it is good for the bigwigs in Santa Cruz, that I promise you.

Bolivia: Remember the Moneda Declaration

Thank you to the many readers who have sent on the link of the interview given by now dead terrorist cell leader Eduardo Rozsa-Flores (ERF) in which he states that he was in Bolivia to organize a militia in order to force the separation of Santa Cruz (and/or the rest of the 'medialuna' region) from the rest of Bolivia.

In the interview (here in full on youtube, thanks MH) ERF claims his actions to be legal. Fortunately, we can point to a clearly defined document that shows he is wrong. The Moneda Declaration of September 15th 2008 came in the wake of the attempted coup and violence in perpetrated by the authorities in East Bolivia. Here's the link to the whole thing in English, but here are points one and two of the nine point declaration:

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1. Their fullest and decided support for the constitutional government of President Evo Morales, whose mandate was ratified by a wide margin in the recent referendum.

2. They warn that its respective governments energetically reject and do not recognize any situation that implies an intent of civil coup d'etat, the rupture of institutional order, or that compromises the territorial integrity of the Republic of Bolivia

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This makes it abundantly clear that the whole of the continent of South America and other guest states such as Mexico categorically reject the separatist movement of East Bolivia, headed up by the people who funded ERF and his gang of now dead or arrested insurgents. ERF's interview makes it abundantly clear that he was working to illegally divide Bolivia with the full knowledge of people such as Prefect Costas and Branco Marinkovic. There is now plenty of evidence for arrest of these people and I'm quite sure there's more evidence to come.

As I mentioned before, I'm quite sure that foolish wannabe Dwyer had no idea what the hell he was getting involved in.

MEANWHILE, I received the following text and photo this morning as forwarded by a friend. Very interesting. so much for all that crap about them being unarmed in the hotel.

There is a photo Bolivian media today that has not yet been covered in
the international media. The photo can be found in the archives of
Eduardo Rozsa Flores blog from December 2008. It shows Rozsa Flores
sleeping almost naked with two automatic weapons in his bed.

The Bolivia right wing newspaper El Deber claims the photo is a fake
and not on the blog, but indeed it is on his blog, its just buried in
the archives. I found it there and the link is below. The text in
Hungarian seems to indicated that he published the photo to show his
friends what life in hiding is like. The news media in Bolivia has
confirmed the the furniture and walls match the Hotel Buganvilla in
Santa Cruz, a location not previously identified.

Regardless of why Rozsa Flores posted this photo, it does seem to lend
credence to the idea of a shootout rather than a cold blooded killing
of Rozsa Flore and companions in their underwear in the Las Americas
Hotel room.

Here is the link on the blog you need to scroll down:
http://eduardorozsa flores.blogspot. com/search? q=nov-dec+ 2008

Dengue: Such a serious problem that even Ruben Costas is talking sense

On February 5th IKN reported in this post that there was a serious dengue outbreak in the lowland region of Bolivia this year. Unfortunately, the whole thing has lived up to the worst expectations and there are now 35,000 cases of dengue confirmed amongst Bolivians, of whom 21 have died from the lethal hemorrage version type 2 (that occurs when a person is bitten twice by a dengue carrying mosquito).

Dengue "season" coincides with the rainy season in South America, and as such has the rest of March to run in all likelihood. That's far too long for a disease that is threatening to move to the 50,000 case forecast of a month ago, so over the weekend Bolivia fumigated itself. Dr Morales himself was out there with smoker and facemask in the Trinidad region, but we're going to leave the quote to Ruben Costas, prefect of Santa Cruz (the most affected area) and arch-political enemy of Morales (and we're talking up to and including the brains behind last year's aborted coup attempt).

Costas actually managed to say something sensible, and your humble correspondent is happy to agree with the guy for a change. Costas said:

"Today we forget any differences; today we are concerned with our people, with health and this is important. Today we join together our forces."

"....when the health of our population is in risk, anything else becomes secondary. Today is a day of cleanliness, today is day to be conscious that we must fight against this plague."

Which goes to show that redeeming qualities can be found in anyone if circumstances dictate. By the way and to wrap up, this year's dengue outbreak has been worst in Bolivia, but Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Peru have all recorded cases. An illness that knows no political boundaries is something to think on, is it not?

The language of hate in Bolivia

Evo: born to be Blingeed

One of the common complaints from Evo Morales supporters is of media bias inside Bolivia. This complaint is made by the rank-and-file and the President himself (an Evo mouthful recently got media types so miffed they refused to cover Presidential affairs for a period). So it does beg the question as to whether Evo has a point or whether he's being overly sensitive about the normal cut-and-thrust of political doings.



So as IKN is the kind of place that tries to treat its readers as thinking, reasoning dudettes and dudes,

YOU BE THE JUDGE!

Here are a few examples of the type of news editorial spoken on the air at the very popular local Radio Oriental, Santa Cruz. The speaker was Luis Arturo Mendivil, who is a local rich, landed lawyer and is also the owner of the radio station in question. This translation comes to you via Reporters Without Borders and the headsup was given to your humble correspondent by this post in the blog Ten Percent (a site friend linked on the right). My thanks to both sites.



Finally, please note the glossary of terms at the bottom that explains such local expressions and terms as "colla", "stone llama freak" etc. Let's see if you can see a hint of bias, hatred, calls to violence, or racism in the texts that follow, but just to help you along a tad I've picked out a few choice phrases in bold type.

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First editorial, 11 April 2008:

“How much longer are we going to put up with the attacks of these evil colla sons of bitches? I am not one of those sissies who hide behind a false ‘Bolivianism.’ As a result of the criminal Upper Peru centralism, the pacos have invaded us with the aim of robbing us, murdering us, extorting things from us and plunging us into all-out violent crime. All these damned collas who laugh while destroying the productive home, while the other idiots do not react. Worst of all, we are just giving in to our murderers and vultures. You are better off dealing with a criminal, because you can always convince a criminal. But dealing with colla pacos who come in order to hate us, who come ready to hate us, can we put up with this much longer?

Let’s form our own police force, yes, let’s have a Santa Cruz police force so that these evil collas stop attacking us, extorting things from us and murdering us. When you see a colla, you see a murderer, a criminal, a piece of offal. That’s what you have when you see a paco. How can you talk about public safety with pacos around? There are 10 or 15 of them hidden at a street corner? Why? To rob us, to extort things from us. If I die tomorrow, I will no longer be there to denounce this gigantic mafia we have. Because there is no such thing as a paco with dignity, a paco with any kind of worth, a paco who wants to work. Why don’t we react? You will see what they do to us on 1 May. The pacos who have come to Santa Cruz are not here for law and order, they have come in order to kill, rob and commit crimes. They are here to stick it to us in the backside. Good night and have a good meal [sic].”

Second editorial, 11 June 2008:

“I am not proud of being a Bolivian, as the collas would say. I am proud of being a camba, of being a Santa Cruz man to the core. I want to be an Amazonian. I want to take advantage of this piece of Latin America without having to keep the company of these ignorant brutes, these animals in human form. I will never stop calling them that, these drugged, alcoholic maniacs who yesterday or the day before tried to demonstrate their ferocity in La Paz like poor animals. When a human being takes the form of a two-legged animal, when a human being loses his rationality, when we listen to these brutes and imbeciles who govern us, each day we lose a bit, or a lot of what we aspire to become.

I was listening to this imbecile, this ignorant cretin who represents us on the international stage, I was listening to him say he was not satisfied with the ambassador’s statement but would consult lawyers. Obviously, it is a man with knowledge of international law who can maintain relations between peoples, and not this stupid donkey, this animal, this stone llama freak. We must develop every possible mechanism to oppose this proposed referendum which makes no sense, which is just a sexual infatuation between the government and Tuto Quiroga [former president and current head of Podemos, the main opposition party, who is regarded as traitor by the most radical supporters of autonomy]. We won’t let ourselves be screwed by these sell-outs. They are all in the same corner as this crazy government that wants to make us submit to a socialist-model economy that has failed all over the world.

We must forge a broad social pact to preserve and extend our autonomy, as these imbeciles are trying to make it fail and to lead us into chaos. I am becoming steadily more convinced that those who govern us want our blood. My concern, and I appeal to our leaders about this, is that these stone llama freaks should stop thinking they can impose their vision of government on us. The referendum will lead us to a dangerous extreme.

This populism without content, vision or ideological basis that rules us is a source of uncertainty. We are beginning to feel the effects of the blockades, including inflation. The departmental prefect made proposals today. The response he will get tomorrow will be insults and blockades. We think the prefect’s proposal must be improved. Santa Cruz cannot and must not lower its guard towards this government. The war continues and the collas won’t stop until they see blood flow. They won’t stop until they have destroyed the pro-autonomy process. They won’t be happy until they have eliminated our system of production. That is why we must halt this cholo mentality in Bolivia.”

Third editorial, 18 June 2008

“We are above all Santa Cruz supporters, fanatically camba and nothing, absolutely nothing, can make me proud of being Bolivian. I want to pay tribute to these men and women who put their lives at risk in order to ensure that our rights are respected. The cholo, thieving, drug-trafficking bourgeoisie of Upper Peru, nowadays with Chávez’s trollops in their wake and manipulated from the upper levels of Illimani, know no limits in their hate for the people of Santa Cruz. It is a good thing we have a strong Unión Juvenil Cruceñista [an extreme right-wing group based in Santa Cruz that supports autonomy; implicated in attacks on state media].

We need a strong youth to deal with the blockades and take charge of defending the people everywhere, and not these damned collas who are just a bunch of nonentities, delinquents and perverts. The guy running the government is a pervert too, he is incapable of doing the job. The Unión Juvenil Cruceñista is attacked, insulted and vilified here. Damn you, those of you who think that our youth here is shit. Our youth is full of nobility, unlike that race of collas who just want to suck the state’s tit, who just want cocaine, who just want to rob. That’s the difference between the camba and the colla. We are sick of hearing this gang of scruffy collas, these stone llama freaks, who want to get rid of the Unión Juvenil Cruceñista. They cannot do anything without insulting us, these sons of bitches, who do anything to discredit the Unión Juvenil Cruceñista.

Any of these sick colla bastards can insult the Santa Cruz youth. I ask myself: where are the media, which are always ready to denounce a scandal? What does the press say? Where the human rights people. Where are these lousy collas? Where is the ombudsman? They all need to say something. When the collas come out with their machine guns, organise ambushes, kill, rob and spread terror and blood, is this a work of art that must be applauded? We are going to defend everything to do with Santa Cruz.

"Colla" or "cholo": inhabitant of the highlands of western Bolivia. Most “collas” belong to the Aymara or Quechua indigenous groups. “Upper Peru” was Bolivia’s name when the region was under Spanish colonial rule. Present-day Peru was called “Lower Peru.”

"Camba": traditionally, the peasant of the eastern lowlands. Nowadays it is used for all the inhabitants of eastern Bolivia, especially Santa Cruz.

"Paco": a common and somewhat vulgar term in Bolivia for a policeman of the lowest rank. As he is paid so little, it is always assumed he will try to extort money from the public.

"Stone llama freaks": Partly because the complexion of many Aymaras and Quechuas has a coppery tone, racists often claim that they look like llamas (the Andean domestic animal) or look as if they were made of stone, or both at the same time.

Bolivia: Santa Cruz racist violence caught on camera

This video is not for family viewing. Do not click and watch if you find any of the following too upsetting;

1) young white males beating up old indigenous women in broad daylight

2) foul language in written English (as seen in the subtitles translation)

3) undiluted hatred shown by white people towards indigenous people, solely based on skin colour

4) the spectacle of gangs of whites beating up individual indigenous men because they dared to be in "their town".

5) etc

This one goes out to all the medialuna apologists. Watch and learn about the people you support.

Wow, Buffalo

A mighty surprise this morning. Some dude at the Buffalo News called Newton Garver has written this note on Bolivia under Evo Morales, the US role in the destabilization plan of the half moon states, the eventual Morales victory and the state of play today.

Newton has obviously done plenty of homework on this, as it's pretty darned accurate (bar the mis-spelling of Oruro, but that's very easily forgiven) and really is a very good potted history of the country since Evo came to power. Refreshing to see some accurate journalism on Bolivia from the pen of a US citizen. Go have a read yourself...here's the link again.

Bees 1, Racists 0

In Bolivia this morning there's an event going on that that's sweetly symbolic. Plan 3,000 is the working class enclave that's home to many Evo supporters in otherwise hostile Santa Cruz. The people there are sick of the way white racist scum continue to try and lord it over them and so they're fighting back...with honey.

Eduardo Loayza is director of Radio Integración (yeah you got it, Radio Integration) and from 8am to 3pm today, November 30th 2008, anyone who turns up at the door of the radio station will be "vaccinated against racism" with a spoonful of honey. Here follows the words of Loayza, because his words are better than mine on this subject (translation; Otto guilty as charged):

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"(This is a) symbolic act that is also interesting and curious. For the first time there is a vaccination with a spoonful of honey against racism in Santa Cruz and it is taking place in Plan 3,000. This dosage will protect people from all racist discourse, from all violent attitudes, it will sweeten the soul and the spirit, the person will live longer and will respect others.

We have lived through very difficult times in September when institutions were violently assaulted. Every day the media brought us more violence. Messages charged with hate poison our families and our children, every day they poison the soul. We want to say "enough!" to all this. It is a rejection in a different way; not answering (violence with) violence, but trying to reply with sweetness. This is why we are going to use honey as the antidote to sweeten the spirit and soul of many people."

Each person will receive a certificate of vaccination that says, amongst other things, "vaccinate once a year. With this vaccine you will respect others and their opinions. You will obtain spiritual peace and live longer. With this vaccine you are protected from the "civics and unionists" (ottonote; main racist organizations in Santa Cruz) and from any racist or discriminatory discourse."

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Otto sez: Eduardo Loayza totally but totally rules. Yay, yay and three times YAY for the dude. Make love not war.

Bolivia news round up

Veep Alvaro García Linera, overjoyed at being interim President while Evo
visits Washington DC, breaks into a chorus of Nessun Dorma

This first one is one of the nicest things I've had the pleasure of writing all year. Hard line right winger Pablo Klinsky, president of the Santa Cruz Parliamentary Brigade and member of the team that tried to overthrow Morales this year admitted that the coalition, CONALDE, had lost to the government. He said that CONALDE had not simply been weakened but had been "catastrophically defeated." Music to my ears!

Meanwhile, Evo is in Washington DC and has been on top form, according to all sources. Here's a snippet of Evoness from today's proceedings.

"When I was leader of the Coca producers in Cochabamba they called me a nacrotrafficker and a coca mafia (boss). Now that I'm President they call me animal, monkey, simian and that I'm incapable, an assassin, a dictator and authoritarian. If I were authoritarian I would never have allowed a recall election. For the first time since 1950 a President won more than 50% of the vote (in the 2005 presidential election). They then asked this party that won more than 50% for a recall election. They wanted to revoke me. If I were authoritarian I would have said "I have won with 54% and therefore I will not put myself up for referendum." But I submitted to the referendum and the people ratified me with 67%".

Anyway, Evo can't have explained his drug-runner's ambitions very well to his police force before leaving on his US jaunt, because the Bolivian anti-drug force (FELCC) arrested nine people last night who were armed with shotguns and attempting to smuggle 102kg of cocaine. But remember, Bolivia is the narco-boss's dream state. That's cos Dubya told you. When has he ever lied to you?

Bolivia, and Evo just keeps on outflanking the autonomists

So what would you do if you had just won an important victory against your sworn political enemies? How would you react if the racist, fascist attacks you'd been suffering for months on end were finally beaten down and silenced? Would you gloat? Would you take revenge?

Not Evo. Here's a photo of Doctor Morales this weekend presenting 103 brand new ambulances to the region of....wait for it...Santa Cruz. That works out at two per department inside the Santa Cruz region, and the money for the donation came from a combined effort of Bolivia, Venezuela and Spain....yes, Spain. The photo was taken at the town of Montero, about 30km from the city of Santa Cruz itself. Hey, remember all that stuff Prefect Costas said about Evo being persona non grata in "his" region? Yeah, you got it...that was BS too.

When will you realize that you've been lied to all this time by people who call Evo the racist and the separatist?

PS: Just so you know, have a headsup, marking your card for the future etc; 112 indigenous rights organizations from 18 different countries have joined together and will officially lobby the necessary people to ask that Evo Morales wins next year's Nobel Peace Prize.

Guess what? Bolivia wants peace...all Bolivia

"Jaw jaw is better than war war."
Winston Churchill (a man who knew about both)

Leaders of Bolivia, militants, national and local governments, indigenous resistance goups, fascist shock troops; please take notice.

Yesterday the United Nations released a survey taken of over 2,000 Bolivians from all departments and all walks of life (margin of error on survey +/-2.11%). The results might surprise people who've never been to Bolivia or bothered to speak to any of its citizens before opening their mouths and opinionating about what's going on. Bolivians recognize the need to change their country, they don't not support violence, they want to two sides to talk for as long as necessary in order to reach an agreement etc etc. and according to the suvey that's as true in the "rebel states" of Santa Cruz and the other medialunas as it is in the eastern pro-Morales states.

Here are some charts that the UN put together to present its findings yesterday. All I've done is translate the question over each one. All in all it looks like the average Bolivians are a lot smarter than the people that claim to be their leaders.

Do you agree with this phrase? It is important that Bolivians support the re-start of dialogue (between the gov't and the medialuna states)

Dark green = strongly agree, green = agree, orange = disagree, red = strongly disagree

Which of these two phrases is closer to your way of thinking?

Green = The country needs to change but without violence:
Red =Some violence is always needed when the country wants to change

Do you agree with the following phrase? However difficult or long it may be, we must continue negotiating until we reach an agreement

Dark green = strongly agree, green = agree, orange = disagree, red = strongly disagree

Do you agree or disagree with the people who say that sometimes violence is needed to support the process of change that the gov't proposes?

Dark green = strongly agree, green = agree, orange = disagree, red = strongly disagree

Breaking: Spooks After Bolivian Peace Corps Mutineers

So here's the screenpaste of an interesting visit I had this evening. At 7:11pm EST some outfit called the "Central Intelligence Agency" from a place called 'Fairfax, VA' came a-visiting. Well that's very nice of them (please call again, or maybe take out an RSS feed, guys), but the interesting bit is where they came from.

If you notice the referral link below, it says "peacecorpssarah at blogspot dot com" which is the blog of that Peace Corps worker who quit the service to protest the way she was pulled out of Bolivia by her country and was then interviewed by AP. Here's the post on it I wrote yesterday with the link to her blog, just in case you need a reminder.

Domain Name		(Unknown)
IP Address		198.81.129.# (Central Intelligence Agency)
ISP		ANS Communications
Location		Continent : North America Country : United States (Facts) State : Virginia City : Fairfax Lat/Long : 38.849, -77.3165 (Map) Distance : 3,849 miles
Language		English (U.S.) en-us
Operating System		Microsoft WinXP
Browser		Internet Explorer 6.0 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; .NET CLR 1.0.3705; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; InfoPath.1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727)
Javascript		version 1.3
Monitor		Resolution : 1024 x 768 Color Depth : 32 bits
Time of Visit		Oct 14 2008 6:11:22 pm
Last Page View		Oct 14 2008 6:11:22 pm
Visit Length		0 seconds
Page Views		1
Referring URL		http://peacecorpssarah.blogspot.com/
Visit Entry Page		http://incakolanews....ce-corps-munity.html
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Now it could just be me, but it does seem a little strange to suddenly get The Man snooping round a young Peace Corps worker's blog just days after she kicks up a fuss and makes it into the public forum via Associated Press. So Sarah, if you start seeing a lot of dudes hanging around your house wearing dark glasses and fedoras you know what the story is, yeah? They're just making sure....you're....errrr......protected.

Like............ errrrrr.......... safe............... y'know?

As for Bolivia, it's kinda strange that the CIA should be so interested, no? I mean, it probably has nothing to do with the secret meetings between opposition leaders and the US Embassy in August that were immediately followed by uprisings that tried to destabilize the Morales gov't by fascist autonomists and a successful massacre of indigenous people in the area.

Just a coincidence, you know.......move along now......nothing to see here.


UPDATE Wednesday AM: MGrace at Bolivian blog 'Down South' has had the spooky visitors, too

Bolivia: The talks break down

News out of Cochabamba a few minutes ago is that the Morales gov't and the autonomists of the media luna region have not come to any agreement, talks have broken down and the meeting has come to naught after 10 hours of negotiations. Something must have happened, because earlier reports suggested that the two sides had agreed on 90% of matters and hopes were high for a signed agreement tonight.

International observers, including the UN, were at the meeting in the role of official observers. It will be interesting to get their take on what happened and why the process failed. From now, we can expect Evo to push ahead with the calling of the constitutional referendum without any compromise deal with the fascists. This one isn't over by a long way, unfortunately.

Oh, another thing. Morales is calling for Presidential elections for June 2009. Let's see how that one unfolds, too.

Business as usual in Santa Cruz: Hatred, Attempted Linchings, Racism, Media Bias

Salvador Ric

How would you treat an ex-Minister of your country if you saw him eating in a restaurant? If you agreed with his politics, you might say hello. If you didn't care either way or disgreed with him, you'd probably just let him be. If you hated him and all he stood for, you might even mumble something in his direction.

In Santa Cruz, fascist capital of South America, they call in the heavy mob and try to linch them. Here comes Otto's translation of this report from Spain's respected "El Economista".

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Radical right wing groups from the Unión Juvenil Cruceñista (UJC), the attack arm of the Civil Committee of the Bolivia region of Santa Cruz, attacked an ex-minister of the gov't of President Evo Morales, who this Sunday reported his agressors' intention to kill him.

"What they wanted was to kill me; the reason they gave was that I was carrying a gun. I have never in my life carried a weapon," said businessman Salvador Ric, who was Minister of Services and Public Works during the first year of the Morales mandate, between 2006 and 2007.

According to the ex-Minister the youth group's actions, which has in the past sacked and set fire to public offices, taken over toll booths, airports and attacked indigenous rural dwellers, was supported by the Civil Committee of Santa Cruz, the region whose elite are opposed to Morales.

The moment I left (the restaurant), Carlos Soruco, who was Viceminister of the Interior during the gov't of Hugo Banzer (ex-dictator and later constitutional President) physically attacked me and I defended myself", then later was punched and kicked by members of the UJC.

The attack on Ric Friday night was later reported by local TV stations.

This violent episode follows on from another, also in Santa Cruz, in which the commander of the Armed Forces was insulted and booed in a public place.

"I have serious doubts that Santa Cruz will accept the changes (for equality proposed by Morales), I don't know how they will ever come to accept that dark-skinned people are just as Bolivian as the whites..... There is so much hate and racism, and the media ignores it all."

Evo draws the line

"Otro Golazo de Evoooooo!"

Seems like your prescient Otto was spookily correct yesterday when writing "There comes a point when patience will run out" about the way the racist scum decided to break off negotiations with Bolivia's democratically elected government.

Just to recap, the fascists decided to throw a tantrum when one of their own was arrested for the trivial matter of state terrorism. Only in the warped minds of the separatists can a legal arrest made on someone who actually admits to the wrongdoing (i.e. the attack on gas pipeline installations in Tarija) but they said that it was a kidnapping, broke off talks and said they'd reconvene Monday 29th. Well today Evo just called their bluff; he's called this Sunday 28th as the deadline for any definitive agreeement. In the words of Doctor Morales;

"Sunday is definitive, I'm going to be there (in Cochabamba at the meeting place) on Sunday and hopefully the prefects will be there, too"

Other Evo zingers include, "Apparently the prefects are suspending dialogue in an attempt to protect those who committed acts of terrorism and common crimes during the protest of last September",

....and also, "(the talks) cannot be conditioned to certains claims that must be dealt with by the judiciary."

So Evo once again shows them who's boss. And as a reminder, what's in play is the contents of the new constitutional referendum. Morales has shown he is willing to adapt the draft resolution on some points with the media luna states (a policy expressly against the wishes of many indigenous organizations, it should be noted), but if the prefects from the rebel states don't agree to anything by Sunday's deadline, they get no changes. Zip, nada, zilch. The constitution goes to referendum as stands and Evo gets to say "Look, I tried to talk with the dumbasses....gave them a chance...they want to be idiots, that's fine."

Evo: You are the man. And over 67% of Bolivians agree with me. And all of Unasur, come to think of it.

The fascists walk away from Bolivia peace talks

Why they've walked away speaks volumes. A Tarija thug was arrested yesterday for being the ringleader in last month's attack on the local gas pipeline installations (remember all that about Brazil's supply getting cut off? Yeah, that's the one). The dude, named José Vaca, admitted being involved in the attack and was arrested in proper style by police. This prompted the prefect of Tarija, Mario Cossio, to accuse his democratically elected national gov't of "hunting" and "kidnapping" civilians. Aren't these guys beautiful, eh? This is regional-sponsored terrorism, no bones about it. So Evo's gov't shows major restraint yet again, points out that the arrest of José Vaca was on strict orders of the Fiscal General (i.e. head honcho of judiciary and not connected to the gov't), and asks the fascist scum to come back to the negotiation table.

There comes a point when patience will run out. This is not a question of state terrorism or gov't sponsored clandestine operations (that's the USA's speciality in the region, not Evo's). This is simple rule of law. You attack a gov't owned gas installation and block supply? You get arrested. Normal. These separatist shits seem to forget that nobody supports them outside of their tiny bastions.

To the disappointment of many, peace breaks out in Bolivia

Bolivian Veep, Alvaro Garcia Linera, with the
agreement he sent to the separatist leaders.
They signed. KowTow! KowTow!

I've spent extra time following the Bolivia situation recently, and I'm happy to say that I believe this will be the last in the series of posts, at least for a while.

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It's just bizarre coincidence after bizarre coincidence.

We hear today that the US is withdrawing its Peace Corps spies....sorry, workers from Bolivia. This from the White House Daily Briefing today:

QUESTION: So the withdrawal of the Peace Corps volunteers has nothing to do with any reduction measure?
MR. MCCORMACK: Well, we want to have a good relationship with Bolivia and the people of Bolivia, and the Peace Corps is an important part of trying to help the people of Bolivia. That’s what they’re there trying to do. But of course, we have to look at the situation on the ground, and it’s our obligation to take those steps that we think are necessary to ensure that our people are able to accomplish the long-term goals of that mission. And we believe that this was a prudent step based on the situation on the ground in Bolivia.

We hear how the US gov't recommends its citizens leave the country and is laying melodrama on with a trowel by arranging evacuation flights out of Bolivia to Peru tomorrow. (Hint to those US citizens thinking about climbing aboard; El Alto airport to Peru/Bolivia border is two hours by bus and costs U$1.50. If you're that scared make a run for it now, dudes).

We hear how today, of all days, the USA decides to put Bolivia on its narcotics blacklist. No matter that, for example, Peru produces 290MT of cocaine per year. According to the USA experts, the 120MT potential of Bolivia (whatever potential may mean) makes them far, far naughtier.

We hear from US-based press reports how today's arrest of Pando prefect and alleged brain behind last week's massacre, Leopoldo Fernández, was going to set it all off again;

"....The arrest today of opposition leader Leopoldo Fernandez, governor of the remote Amazonian province of Pando, abruptly ended efforts by the president and opposition leaders to talk about compromises after..."

And then just as the world waits for the serious fighting to start, the Evo gov't sends a piece of paper over to the autonomy rebels and says "If you want to talk, stop the shenanigans and sign this". What do they do? To the disappointment of many an editorial writer up North, they sign. Reuters reports;

""We have decided to sign this accord for peace to return," Santa Cruz Gov. Ruben Costas told reporters."

The talks are scheduled to start Thursday in the city of Cochabamba (symbolically around midway between La Paz and Santa Cruz). The autonomy leaders will arrive in a position of considerable weakness, but let's hope Evo doesn't make them squirm too much (not on the first day at least) and they can sit at the same table for long enough to make some real dialogue progress.

As for the region's attitude towards the United States of America? Down here we all know that the US (ex) Ambassador to Bolivia was caught in a secret meeting with the separatist leaders. That's not party politics, that's a plain boring fact. And when the USA was caught red-handed on the diplomatic front (not to mention embarrassing scenes with US special ops forces in Santa Cruz), its show of foot-stomping has been non-stop ever since.

Unfortunately for the USA, it isn't going to get its wish for a country falling apart, no matter how hard it screams and stomps that foot. Bolivia isn't "on the brink", it's totally under the control of its legitimate and democratically elected government that has 100% support from all the region's states.

Dear reader; if you're in North America, reading this and thinking about a loved one with a US passport somewhere in Bolivia right now, let me tell you that the average Bolivian on the street has no ill-feeling towards the USA. Quite the opposite, in fact. Along with the rest of South America, the present reaction is the same all over. They're laughing at you guys. So don't worry, because apart from a few taunts of "whuss" your people are perfectly safe.

Bolivia: An excellent, must-read report from Jim Schultz of 'The Bolivia Blog'

Click this link to go to an excellent article put together by Jim Schultz of The Bolivia Blog at 'The Democracy Center'. Jim, a longtime resident of Bolivia, looks at the current situation and the background to the conflict. This article offers a wealth of knowledge in a single place.

No better way to find out how the current situation has arisen. Top quality work, Mr. Schultz.

Bolivia: Reactions from Regional Countries

As you read down the following list:

1) Play 'spot the difference'.
2) Note the total regional support of Evo Morales and his government.
3) Note how you have to come to a small corner of cyberspace to hear what's really going on.
4) Note that even Alan García gets one right occasionally.
5) Note the only regional President not to have made an official statement or used official diplomatic channels is Alvaro Uribe of Colombia.

Also, just to lighten the dense text find some photos of those loveable democratic Santa Cruz scamps and their handiwork.

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Michelle Bachelet, President of Chile:

"We call for the immediate cessation of violence in Bolivia....conditions must be generated for peaceful dialogue."

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Chancellor of Argentina (speaking of behalf of the government)

"Faced with the serious violence and terrorist sabotage reported in the sister republic of Bolivia, (the Argentine government) fully reiterates its full and unconditional support for the constitutional government of President Evo Morales Ayma."

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Spokesperson for President Lula da Silva, Brazil

"We will not support or tolerate a rupture of institutional order in Bolivia, above all because this order was recently ratified by a manifestation of its people (i.e. the referendum)".

"(Brazil) will not recognize any government that substitutes or tries to substitute the legitimate constitutional government of Bolivia."

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Tabaré Vasquez, President of Uruguay

"(I express my) total support and solidarity of the authorities of Bolivia elected freely and democratically."

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Rafael Correa, President of Ecuador (currently on state visit to Peru and speaking in the presence of Alan García)

"Obviously, President Morales and his government has the unrestricted support of Ecuador, and as I have said to President García of Perú, the unrestricted support of democracy and the unity of Bolivia."

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Alan García, President of Peru

"(I agree with my Ecuadorean counterpart in) expressing our will in respect to the democratic government, in respect to the government that the Bolivian people support, and our natural rejection of violence and any separatist force that breaks the integrity of nations."

García also spoke of the need for "civilized dialogue to overcome claims and impasses."

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Manuel Zelaya, President of Honduras, refused to accept credentials from the new US ambassador to his country this afternoon.

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Sean McCormack, US State Dep't Spokesperson (translated from Spanish)

"We regret the actions of Presidents Hugo Chávez and Evo Morales in expelling our ambassadors in Venezuela and Bolivia respectively. This reflects the weakness and desperation of both leaders in the face of internal challenges (to their countries)."