I’m familiar with neither this author nor this publication, but here’s a thought-provoking article about rumored US military efforts to build a base in Paraguay.
If it’s true, it’d make sense strategically — the base would be close to both ever-unstable Bolivia and the troublesome triple frontier region, which is home to South American al-Qaeda-linked groups.
Check out Foreign Policy’s Failed States Index Map. Interesting stuff.
My gripe: Ecuador is listed as “borderline,” while neighboring Peru is described as “in danger.”
Is Peru really in worse shape than Ecuador, which has seen three presidents deposed since 1997? While Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo’s approval ratings have been subterranean for a while (only about 7-10% of Peruvians currently approve of his performance), the government appears more stable than its northern neighbor.
The country-by-country data provides some insight: Peru receives a poorer score for “Security Apparatus.” I suppose that’s a reference to the Peruvian state’s ongoing struggle to deal with those pesky Maoist rebels, the Shining Path. The guerillas have been quiet of late, though, so I find this explanation surprising.
UPDATE: I just took another glance at the map, and I wanna know this: who’s doing the fact-checking over at Foreign Policy? Morgan Spurlock? Amazingly, Bolivia’s not even included on the list.
Bolivia’s president — as you’ll recall reading about here and elsewhere — stepped down a few months ago after a massive indigenous uprising. Bolivia is truly teeting on the edge of chaos; Peru and Ecuador are comparatively far from collapse.
A fantastic story from the NY Times’s Juan Forero:
EL ALTO, Bolivia – In her red multilayered skirt, white pumps and gold-laced shawl, the traditional dress of the Aymara people, Ana Polonia Choque might well be preparing for a night of folk dancing or, perhaps, a religious festival.
But as Carmen Rosa, master of the ring and winner of 100 bone-crunching bouts in Bolivia’s colorful wrestling circuit, she is actually dressing for a night of mayhem.
With loyal fans screaming out her name, she climbs the corner ropes high above the ring, bounces once for momentum and flies high, arms outstretched for maximum effect. To the crowd’s delight, the dive flattens her adversary, María Remedios Condori, better known as Julia la Paceña (Julia from La Paz).
This, ladies and gentlemen, is “lucha libre,” Bolivia’s version of the wacky, tacky wrestling extravaganzas better known as World Wrestling Entertainment in the United States and Triple A in Mexico, which serve as a loose model. But there are no light shows, packed arenas or million-dollar showmen.
Most unbelievable passage:
“The cradle of freestyle wrestling is Mexico because that’s where the best fighters were – Hurricane Ramírez, the Jalisco Lightning, the Blue Demon,” explained Juan Carlos Chávez, promoter of the Titans.
But now, he says proudly, Bolivia has its own stable of wrestlers who tussle in choreographed matches. And Bolivian organizers have introduced the innovation of fighting Cholitas, the indigenous women who wear bowler hats and multilayered skirts.
“I wanted to get people’s attention and fill up the coliseum,” said Juan Mamani, 46, the president of the Titans and a wrestler himself. “At first, I thought of fighting dwarves. I even brought in one from Peru. Then I thought of Cholitas. It’s been popular ever since.”
Incredulous emphasis mine. God help us if Juan ever discovers midget cholitas.
The NY Times reports that, just as analysts had begun discussing the possibility of civil war, the situaion in Bolivia seems to have been resolved—for now:
Bolivia’s Congress accepted the resignation of President Carlos Mesa late on Thursday night and swore in the head of the Supreme Court as the new president, an appointment expected to defuse more than three weeks of protests that have paralyzed the nation.
The “solution”: a new head of state and new presidential elections to follow. We’ll see how that goes. Will the indigenous narco-politician Evo Morales take office, which would delight the protesters? (If you think Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez is scary, check out Morales’s resume.)
Here’s the problem with the current prez, Eduardo Rodríguez. Look at the color of his skin. The guy’s white, he wears Armani specs, and he sports a power tie straight outta the Brooks Brothers Summer catalog:
Now take a gander at your average protesters. Notice the color of their skin. Notice the way they dress:
That, kind readers, is what this conflagration is all about: Race. And Money. The white, European-descended, wealthy Bolivian oligarchs who run the country vs. the impoverished Indian majority. No way around that fact.
Next Andean country to dissolve into chaos: Peru. Seriously.
Things’re spiraling out of control in Bolivia.
IHT: “Protesters in Bolivia take over 7 oil fields”
NY Times: “No. 1 Quits in Bolivia, and Protesters Scorn Nos. 2 and 3”
CSM: “Bolivia: Tiny Nation, Big Troubles”
And the Best Headline Award goes to The Motley Fool: “Bolivia’s Gas Pains” (which is actually a decent overview of the natural gas issue)
The Bolivian president, Carlos Mesa, yesterday submitted his resignation in an attempt to bring weeks of crippling protests over the management of the country’s natural resources to an end.
Mr Mesa – whose 19 months in office have been beset with political crises – had struggled to stay in power in the face of demands for greater state control of Latin America’s second largest natural gas reserves. He also faced calls for more independence from some of the country’s wealthier provinces.
Mesa’s offered to quit before, but it looks like this time he means business.
AP:
Mesa tried to step down three months ago over protests against his hydrocarbons policy, but Congress rejected his resignation, giving Mesa crucial support after he had said the country was becoming ungovernable. Mesa was counting on foreign investment to tap Bolivia’s 28.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, Latin America’s second-largest reserves after Venezuela, to drive economic growth and create jobs.
This time, however, analysts said lawmakers frustrated over Mesa’s inability to persuade leftist popular forces to accept a law to increase gas taxes would probably accept his resignation and hope a transitional leader would be able to reconcile the country’s polarized political forces.
”Is this a serious resignation? It looks like it is, though it’s not irrevocable,” said Eduardo Gamarra, a Bolivia specialist at Florida International University interviewed by telephone last night.
The departure of Mesa, an independent politician who has been assailed by all sides, would leave a void, Gamarra said, that ”in a worst-case scenario, could lead to civil war, laced with all kinds of serious racial overtones. Quite possibly, in a best case, we’re looking at six months of serious uncertainty and political turmoil. The situation is very severe.” It was not clear when lawmakers would meet to accept or reject his resignation. If he is permitted to step down, he would be replaced by the president of the Senate.