Where the Battle of Bolivia is Being Fought Now -- On TV

A short post from the Miami Airport, en route.

I don’t own a TV and haven’t in a very long time. So it took a few minutes (and only a few minutes) of watching TV in Santa Cruz this morning to see where the Battle of Bolivia has moved since it exploded in the streets of Cochabamba last January. It is now on TV.

There are a lot of commercials now (I presume paid for by the government, but that is only a guess) promoting Evo. Some tout how much new federal spending is being poured into Tarija. Another touts Bolivia’s national development bank. They each end with a screen of a smiling, definitely not radical Evo, with the slogan: Bolivia Advances, Evo Delivers.

In between those, in Santa Cruz at least, one can view much less slick ads attacking Evo. This morning I watched one presented by the Santa Cruz Civic Committee (paid for by who?) warning of the dire neglect that Santa Cruz has received from the national government for its desired educational reforms. The ad ended in an appeal for viewers to join in a march today in Santa Cruz.

Both ads are basic propaganda pieces, though, as noted, the government’s was slicker by a good measure. What can we say about this? I am sure we can say a lot of negative things that will vary depending on your perspective of things. I’ll say this, it is a hell of a lot better than the battle over the nation’s direction being played out with rocks, guns, sticks and machetes on the streets. But that is just an opinion.