We arrived in Cuenca this morning. It’s nice to be back. Classes start on Monday.
Bolivia’s still a mess: today protesters unsuccessfully tried to block the road linking La Paz to its airport. And for an excellent re-cap of what all the fuss is about, see “Bolivia’s Gas War,” which ran recently in CounterPunch. Benjamin Dangl writes:
A new cycle of conflict has developed in Bolivia as worker unions, coca farmers and ordinary citizens unite to prevent the sale of the nation’s gas reserves to the United States through a Chilean port. In a country whose economic identity has been strongly shaped by U.S. pressure in the war on drugs and IMF structural adjustments, The Gas War is the most recent case where the Bolivian public has vehemently protested against foreign interests taking priority over the country’s economic well being.