Grateful for the Holidays
This holiday season in Bolivia I am grateful for…my family being together…rains that have painted the Cochabamba Valley green…turkey leftovers…falling on my bike into a really large pond of mud…the friends that have come by to say hello…my daughter’s fabulous pumpkin pie…the comparative lack of commercialism surrounding the holidays…the look on my dogs' faces when they get to share in the turkey leftovers…the cool hammock my wife gave me…the rubber band gun my daughter gave me…time to read…all the great lights in Plaza Colon, complete with 267 simultaneous Christmas songs (different ones) playing from those strings of lights…relative peace in Bolivia…getting woken up at 7am on Christmas morning by a six-year-old…the CD I made with five different versions of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" (especially the Bruce Springsteen and Pointer Sisters versions)...talking to family in the U.S. on the phone…not screwing up the mashed sweet potatoes…the pumpkin pie (worth mentioning twice since there is a whole pie still left)…not much email…walks with my dogs…that the guys who I saw in the woods this week weren’t actually cutting down trees but planting them…hope…and a week without Blogs.Happy holidays to all our readers from all of us at The Democracy Center!
Labels: friends-and-family
posted by The Democracy Center at 4:33 PM
The Democracy Center, based in Cochabamba Bolivia and San Francisco California, works globally to advance human rights through a combination of investigation and reporting, training citizens in the art of public advocacy, and organizing international citizen campaigns. If you like the Blog, consider becoming a subscriber to The Democracy Center's free e-newsletter by sending us an email at 
23 Comments:
Merry Christhmas Democracy.
when is the holiday for worshipers of cuchi cuchi?
Time is an amazing thing, it always follows the rhythm, but our dance to it is ever so dependent on our mood and perception,it is either too slow or too fast, we are often unable to follow its pattern accepting it just as it is. To see your gratitude Jim is truly inspiring and incites me into looking at my list of things, peoples, situations for which I too, am grateful for. It is a long list!!!
One year is coming to a close, with the other just waiting for new opportunties, new adventures and new chapters for life. We will launch into the future with our New, and Now Inclusive Constitution, a tool for social justice or being entitled to the same rights and services as all other citizens. A result of nearly 19 years of struggle, I was there in 1990, when the CIDOB marched accross the country demanding the refounding of the State of Bolivia through a Constitutional Assembly. This 2009 will bring us the new magna carta. In these nineteen years, we've learnt to demand but discuss, persist in patience and be determinant and decide for the whole of society and not just our selfish sectors. We have a long way to go still. The financially powerful will still be at war against those with political power of an active voting populace in a democracy. Bureucratic policies may still not match the intended goals of narrowing the gap between the super-rich and the super-poor. Inviting corporate capital while avoiding corporate domination will still be the diablada dance we carefully execute. The daunting taks of implementing the various rights and obligations of the citizens with the existing bureucratic beast not be easy, either. Our support for this democratic, cultural revolution is full-on and has no intention of backstepping one bit and so I join my large Bolivian family's unashamed inspiration and hope for a peaceful and fruitful 2009. On Jan 25th, my vote is a resounding SI! for Autonomia Constitucional for Santa Cruz and everyone else.
Just a short note to thank you for your interesting and informative blog. The news in the states rarely covers latin america these days, perhaps understandably, so it's nice to read you. Keep up the good work in the new year!
when is the holiday for worshipers of cuchi cuchi?
Anon 1:55 PM
The answer is obvious. August 6. When Bolivians celebrate the Republic!
Peace. Buffy :)
Jim,
Didn't Morales recently throw the DEA out of Bolivia? I've been looking but I can't find anything in your blog on the subject. I'd be curious to hear your point of view. Is it buried somewhere and I'm just not seeing it?
wow gold
Plenipotentiary Pablo Solon is leaving his loft at the Cancilleria and off to NY today to run the Bolivian UN representation as the 2nd in command with the 1st not yet approved by the Bolivian Senate. Ay, ay yaay Viva mi Patria Bolivia! Our house needs a serious clean-up.
Ok, his 1st declaration of democratizing the UN by ridding it of the Security Council and other not-so democratically run bodies is right on the money as the world over has been pointing to this need to change or reform the institution for, oh say the past 60 years to no avail. But it isn't original, as Nicaraguan, Miguelito d'Escoto has already been brandishing that flag as this year's GA Assembly President.
So what would I like to see Solon do at the UN for us Bolivianos?
Use the forum to cultivate relationships, not antagonize prospective allies. Be a transparent and inspiring force. Remember, the UN is not a world government, it's a forum for the world's sovereign states to debate issues and determine collective courses of action. We need the Miguelitos of Nicaragua and others to come to their collective senses and overturn the 1961 United Nations Single Convention on Drugs listing the coca plant as a banned drug. We need to educate the world that "Boliva is not just the thrid producer of the Coca Leaf" but contextualize this information explaining that Bolivia is the "lowest producer of coca leaves in the World!" All the world's coca comes from three countries -- Colombia (50%), Peru (33%), and Bolivia (17%), according to the latest figures.
Bolivia is also home to vast forested lands, maintained in a direct and intrinsic relationship by indigenous guardians of those forests and with them, the destiny of Humanity. The Bolivian delegation to the UN must inform of the reasons for the refusal to the proposed "carbon market" mechanisms, as they potentially violate the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (DRIP)'s Art 32: Right to give free and informed consent prior to any project affecting our lands and resources, particularly in connection with the development, utilisation or exploitation of mineral, water or other resources."
Hold President Barack Obama to his declarionts of being a "citizen of the world", and his pledges to "rejoin the world community," by positively engaging with his delegation.
We are not naive and know the indigenous way of discussion and consensus building is not necessarily the language of most of our bureaucrats but we are hopeful and wish him well. Change is coming but we will be patient because things take time at the U.N., we will be heading toward the 64th G.A. and there is an ambitious Bolivian agenda, larger than what I've stated, but we must lead in a good way and know progress is plausible on some key issues, under this changing world political scenario, or Pachakuti feel.
Happy Kwanzaa, dawgs!
;-)
The Croats are Morales' Jews
Beni is Morales' Katrina.
Well, well, well...it appears that Evo is ending the year in true form. Just as the head of the Bolivia GAO is about to publish a report showing how $US1,000,000,000.00 has been stolen from YPFB by the MAS, he is fired and arrested and in his place a true revolutionary partymember is appointed, you know, the kind that takes the oath with a his left fist clenched up high.
It appears that 500yrs of oppression justifies stealing over one billion dollars from YPFB. Going forward, they expect to steal at least another 5 billion. They are so bold as to even list these as "operating expenses" in the latest budget filling.
Not even Goni, Banzer and Paz Zamora were so bold. Poor Bolivia, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
ps. Anon 7:05 above, should take a trip down to Bolivia and see how "consensus" is built in the syndicates in Bolivia. I know the cosmovision, I've seen pachakuti in action, and let me tell you, Morales' been pimping Bolivia and his traditions.
Anon 12:32 would love to see the report, if it actually exists. Link please?
Feliz Navidad y prospero 2009.
Mucha paciencia, reflexion y tolerancia para con todos los que nos rodean.
Por un mundo mejor,
Juan C Quiroga
This just in:
Alleged Croat. Terrorist Branco Marincovic has been captured in Santa Cruz
http://www.lostiempos.com/noticias/29-12-08/29_12_08_ultimas_nac8.php
Bolivia condemns Israel for attacking Palestine and Hamas. Were these attacks before or after Hamas started to shell Israel?
Buffy :(
Cuchi Cuchi worshipper can't even pinpoint Israel in a map, much less "Palestine" (the Gaza strip would be more accurate). He's just grunting the barks of the lefty pack.
It's time Israel showed its cojones and acted against those Hamas terrorists.
By the way, cocaine interdiction and incineration has been suspended in Chapare for lack of food and money. Guess who was the sugar daddy who financed such operations? The US!
Happy Kwanzaa!
;-)
The Croats are Morales' Jews
Beni is Morales' Katrina
Croat:
The jews in israel need you. Go and kill some arabs celebrating your new milenium. It should make you very happy, afterall your lack of human solidarity is so rooted in your kind.
The daily La Razon published an article claiming that Branko Marinkovic was captured by the Bolivian police this past weekend. A dramatic photo of the capture was also published but in a weird way, that smacks of the Twilight Zone, this so called headline was the only one that shows the alleged capture. No other Bolivian newspapers corroborated or condemned this obviously fabricated piece of “journalism”.
Furthermore, Branko el “líder moral de los cruceños” was quoted by another fine example of the Bolivian 'Libertine Press', El Mundo de Santa Cruz, as being up and around in his beloved Media Luna. In this latest installment of Branko’s drama he was found among Santa Cruz’s “humble" newspaper hawkers just as they were about to democratically elect a new directive.
Franco
http://www.la-razon.com/versiones/20081228_006500/nota_256_737528.htm
http://www.elmundo.com.bo/Secundarianew.asp?edicion=30/12/2008&Tipo=Politica&Cod=7830
right-on...maybe they can capture BinLaden next
I love numbers. They are so bold and definite. The most optimistic estimates indicate that, in 2009, Hugo Chavez will receive only 25 billion $ from his country's oil revenues (basically the only ones)down from 60 billion this year. The sad thing for the venezuelan people is that during his first 10 years in power, Emperor Hugo I has completely destroyed the country's productive sector and now they have to import absolutely everything. In 2008, just the imports of food and beverages amounted to 25 billion $. Obviously, the venezuealns won't be happy when they find out the party is over and there is nothing left to eat. They will go out to protest and will be brutally repressed by the government forces and the fascist groups of thugs that respond to Chavez. Everything has been caefully planned by the masters in fascim : The cubans. Ugly times ahead for bolivians too. "Plenipotenciario" knows perfectly what's about to happen and doesn't want to be around in La paz when the "social movements" come down from El Alto to show Evo and his buddies their "love".
Marcha por paz en el medio oriente y contra la guerra y asesinato de civiles. Organizada por la Asociacion Palestinos Bolivianos.
Donde: Santa Cruz, Bolivia partiendo la calle Charcas N 370
Cuando: Martes 6 de enero desde las 9:30am
http://www.eldeber.com.bo/vernotaahora.php?id=090103234846
This is a blog intended for those who speak the language of Shakespeare, dawgs. Be polite.
;-)
The Croats are Morales' Jews
Beni is Morales' Katrina
The Israelis are the good guys
Babies paraded as homicide bombers included?
thanks
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