Global Support for Bolivia’s Challenge to Anti-Democratic Investor Rights

Dear Readers:

I am on the road once again, this time headed back to the Balkans to conduct advocacy trainings for staff of the UN there. I’ll try to write about this when I get a moment. Meanwhile, during my absence the Democracy Center team in Cochabamba will continue to offer updates on events in Bolivia, and we will also offer a series of special guest Blogs that we have invited colleagues of ours to write, on issues related to Bolivia that warrant more attention than we have given them.

We begin that today, with this guest Blog from our friend Sarah Anderson at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, looking at the brewing global citizen effort to fight a case against Bolivia by a European telecommunications giant in the same secretive World Bank trade court that handled the famous Bechtel vs. Bolivia case after the Water Revolt.

Jim Shultz

Global Support for Bolivia’s Challenge to Anti-Democratic Investor Rights

By Sarah Anderson

Not long ago I received emails from 59 countries. No, these were not money scams. They were not shady “get rich quick” offers. No pleas from dubious royal family members in need of help transferring their fortunes.

These were messages from civil society activists across the globe, asking me to add their organization to a letter in support of Bolivia’s withdrawal from an obscure institution called the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). In all, I received 863 sign-ons from every continent, representing a wide range of labor, environmental, religious, consumer, small farmer, human rights, women’s, development, and peace organizations.

How did this happen?

I would guess that most of the endorsing groups first heard of ICSID through the notorious Bechtel v Bolivia case. As readers of this site well know, the Democracy Center played a lead role in garnering widespread international media attention to this David v Goliath story.

For a detailed history of the case, see here.

The short version is that Bechtel, through an international consortium called Aguas del Tunari, privatized the water system of the city of Cochabamba in the year 2000. The company almost immediately jacked up water rates to sky-high levels, provoking massive protests that became known as the “Water War.” Bechtel eventually abandoned the project, but then turned around and sued for some $50 million, using a Dutch-Bolivia bilateral investment treaty that gives private foreign investors the rights to bypass domestic courts and sue governments in international tribunals. ICSID is the most widely used facility for adjudicating such “investor-state” cases.

“Water Warriors” and other activists in Bolivia spearheaded an international campaign around the Bechtel v Bolivia case that dragged on for years, but produced several import results, which are still unfolding:

Case dropped: The effective media and strategic work by the Democracy Center, the Coordinadora de Defensa del Agua y de la Vida, and many other groups in and outside Bolivia created enough headaches and embarrassment for Bechtel officials that they finally threw in the towel. Shortly before President Evo Morales took office, Bechtel settled the case for a token sum. It is the only example to date in which public pressure succeeded in ending an ICSID case.

Withdrawal from ICSID: The experience of the lengthy and eye-opening Bechtel case led the Morales administration last May to become the first country in the world to withdraw from ICSID. The government cited the court’s record of favoring narrow corporate interests over the public good and undermining national sovereignty, particularly in developing countries.

However, even though Bolivian officials followed proper procedures, ICSID appears to be simply ignoring them. In October, that court registered yet another investor-state lawsuit against Bolivia, this one by Euro Telecom International, an Italian/Spanish/Dutch corporation that owns 50% of ENTEL, which provides more than 60% of the country’s telephone services.

While the details of the company’s claims are a bit beside the point, it’s worth noting that the company is still operating and generating profits in Bolivia, despite its claims that the Bolivian government “destroyed” the value of its investment by setting up a commission to explore recovering control of the formerly public company and by making some regulatory changes.

Educating Global Civil Society: ICSID’s decision to allow this case to proceed, despite the fact that Bolivia has withdrawn from the ICSID Convention, is outrageous. And yet, it probably would’ve gone largely unnoticed, if not for the campaign against the Bechtel lawsuit. By capturing the public’s imagination, that work helped educate global civil society about a system of investor rights that undermines democracy and human rights in favor of the interests of large corporations. And the payoff is clear in their rapid endorsement of the petition regarding the latest ICSID case against Bolivia.

Worldwide, there are more than 2,500 bilateral investment treaties like the one used by Bechtel to sue Bolivia. Similar investor rights are included in virtually every U.S. free trade agreement.

The Pakistan Attorney General has admitted that these treaties were often forged in his country when a foreign head of state was visiting and an “unimportant” document was needed for a photo-op signing. Only now, he says, are countries beginning to understand the implications.

And many are beginning to learn the dangers of these rules the hard way. Argentina has been hit with more than 30 investor claims totaling billions of dollars, most of them over actions to lessen the pain of the country’s 2000 financial crisis. Ecuador is facing a $1 billion suit from just one company – Occidental Petroleum. Ecuadoran activists have long campaigned against the U.S. oil company for their alleged involvement in human rights abuses and operating in indigenous lands without authorization. Now that the government has canceled their contract (on a technicality involving unauthorized subcontracting), Occidental is using ICSID’s unaccountable tribunals to fight back.

Rich countries are not immune either. The United States is facing a suit brought by a Canadian company over California state laws aimed at reducing the environmental damage of gold mining.

And so the efforts of global corporations to use these wildly excessive rights to advance their own narrow interests continues. But the outpouring of support from around the world for a small country that is attempting to shake up the system gives hope that one day the tables may be turned.

Sarah Anderson directs the Global Economy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC, and is a co-author of the report Challenging Corporate Investor Rule.

You can read the complete citizen’s petition in any of the following languages by clicking on the links below:

English
Español
Italiano
Portugues
Français

Buying a Car Bolivian Style

I am once again a car owner, after going "dry" for nearly a decade.

As a native southern Californian I have certainly owned other automobiles in my life – most with mixed experiences in the luck department.


The Ghost of Cars Past

My first car was a 1955 Ford, a 20-year-old behemoth of steel gifted to me by my eldest sister after it sat inoperable in her front yard for a very long time. It was a monster in three colors, blue, white and rust, and built like a tank. It was fortunate that it was built like a tank because a few months after I finally got it running an elderly man with failed vision turned left in front of it while I was behind the wheel and, in the process of the tank getting totaled I bit its steering wheel in half.

From there I moved up to my brother's car, a small Opel that I bought from him for $500. Shortly before I sold it to go to college I backed it right on top of a gleaming Yellow Corvette as its owner was showing off the new paint job to friends. I narrowly escaped death at his hands, as well as a striking escalation in my insurance rates.

After college I bought a dark blue 1968 Volkswagen that my friends nicknamed Gumby after the small green figure that I had permanently twisted around its rear view mirror. Gumby (both the car and the green figure) was stolen from me in 1983 after a brief but caring relationship of four years and two rebuilt motors, from a suburban movie theater parking lot in Sacramento. If the person who stole it reads this, I'd like it back please.

It may have been that trauma of Gumby loss that led to a delay of more than a decade before I became a car owner once more. Married and with a small daughter who rightfully disliked long nighttime bus rides in San Francisco, I heeded my wise father's wise advice. "Buy a car that is two years old with low miles." And so we bought the 1992 Toyota Corolla that became known, at my daughter's suggestion, as Emalina. No misfortune there, other than perhaps the discovery that the car we had bought in the dark of night from a car lot in Petaluma, in the day time, turned out to be the mysterious and slightly unpleasant color, 'Rose Tope'.

Car Buying Bolivia Style

All of which brings me back to Bolivia.

For a decade here we never owned a car, making our way through Cochabamba by trufi buses and an occasional taxi ride. Moving to the boonies, to lands surrounded by corn, cows, and mud, led us, however, into the strange world of buying a car Bolivian style.

We began, much to my eldest daughter's stated horror, in search of a used Toyota Taxi, a station wagon. That led us to a place called the Zonafraca, a wide lake of mud on Cochabamba's southside where a ceaseless army of used cars arrives from Japan, without any Bolivian paperwork or license plates, and with all of the steering wheels and other driver accoutrements still on the right side of the car. Here, those who understand a system beyond my gringo comprehension, manage the complicated import process and the more mysterious methodology of 'transforming' the cars, by moving the steering wheel and other driver accoutrements to the left side of the car.

Giving up on that option, we spent several rain-soaked days looking for cars at a place oddly nicknamed la playa (the beach) at the base of the monument to Las Heroinas. This is where the cars that have completed the boggling Zonafraca process get sold to the public. We drove and prodded a collection of used Toyota taxi station wagons and wisely realized that choice was a stuck-in-the-mud disaster waiting to happen in our new mud-paved neighborhood. So we switched our sights on a small used Toyota Jeep.

Test-driving those presented its own adventures. One ran out of gas in the middle of downtown traffic. Another had been 'transformed' in such a way that its steering wheel was now upside down. We finally found one that felt right, a 1995 that is green with sparkles. My youngest daughter approved because of the sparkles.

Driving Bolivia Style

And all this brought me to an experience that I have avoided like tainted lettuce for the full ten years I have lived in Bolivia – driving in Bolivia.

Many years ago, when I lived briefly in Boston, I often heard the local reminder, "In Boston, traffic lights are just advisory." In Bolivia, all the traffic rules are just advisory.

Need to make a sweeping left turn from the far right lane, right in front of lines of properly placed traffic? No problem. Stopping for red lights? I have people behind me honking and screaming "idiota" when I stop for red lights. The only traffic rule in Cochabamba that seems to be mandatory is about pedestrians. That rule seems to be – if you are a driver approaching a street corner and a pedestrian is crossing, speed up right at them. Really, it is like clockwork. I keep a running tab of all the times I have had a car actually stop for me as I crossed the street here. After a decade of keeping track I am running a grand total of two times.

To be sure, I will not be driving our 1995 Toyota Jeep that is green with sparkles into work in the city. For that trip I prefer to walk fifteen minutes past the cows and the corn and take my chances on the crowded taxi trufis that hustle people from the campo to the city and back.

But I do admit, the southern Californian in me feels a certain glee at having wheels once again, even in the face of dubious traffic rules. All that's left now is to come up with a name. I think that "Sparkles" is out.

The New Issue of the Democracy Center's Annual Magazine

Dear Readers:

Here at The Democracy Center we begin 2008 by publishing the second annual issue of our magazine, Jallalla! (an indigenous word here in Bolivia for Live!). The full issue – dedicated to ‘citizen power’ around the world – is freshly posted on our Web site and I hope that you will take a look here.

Below is an introduction to the magazine and a summary of what you’ll find.

Happy reading and thank you, as always, for your interest and support!

Jim Shultz


The New Democracy Center Magazine: The Power of Citizens

In the United States, 2008 promises to be ‘the year of the politician.’ Candidates for the Presidency alone will spend more than $1 billion this year trying to convince voters to go their way. That's enough money to take every person in Bolivia out to lunch every day for four months, or to finance the War in Iraq for 36 hours.

Yet, with so much focus on politicians and what they do, it is easy forget that what really makes a difference, from California to Cochabamba, is what citizens do. From peacemaking to battling global warming, it is citizens, not politicians, who are taking the lead.

This issue of Jallalla is dedicated to the power of citizens, the ability of each of us to make a difference. As before, a main focus of this magazine is Bolivia. In this issue we look at the current state of things in this country we call home, including political battles, environmental struggles, what 'feminism' means here, and some updates on issues that have put Bolivia in the global news.

But just as The Democracy Center's work reaches out globally, so this second issue of our annual magazine goes global too. We spotlight some of the work we have been doing with citizen groups around the world – from Uganda to the Balkans. We also spotlight an important new Democracy Center campaign, Voices from Latin America, which aims to bring a very different perspective into that big election-fest scheduled up north in 2008.

Here’s a look at what you’ll find in the new issue of Jallalla, at this link (and also information on how to order the glorious print version).

FOCUS ON BOLIVIA

2007: A Nation at a Difficult Crossroads

The year 2007 in Bolivia showed us just how difficult a road it is when a country begins to move in a new political direction. The first year of President Evo Morales was marked by big beginnings that symbolized hope and long-sought change. In Morales' second year in office, however, deep fault lines – divisions drawn by ethnicity, ideology, politics, socioeconomic differences, and regional interests– kept the country in constant conflict.

The Struggle for a New Constitution

The demand for a new Constitution finds its seeds among the nation’s indigenous majority. From the start, Bolivia's Constituent Assembly saw its task as looking far beyond traditional constitutional issues of how government should be organized. The Assembly declared that it had a mandate to make dramatic changes on an array of issues, including indigenous rights, autonomy, and land reform.

Focus on the Environment

The Chacaltaya glacier is a thick layer of ice that stretches across the rugged scalp of a mountain that rises more than 17,000 feet above sea level. The glacier dates back tens of thousands of years to the last ice age. For as long as people have lived in Bolivia's capital, La Paz, Chacaltaya glacier has been a source of water and life. But if geologists are right, by 2015 the last of the glacier will melt into a final drop of water and disappear. This is what global climate change, set in motion by energy use a hemisphere away, means for Bolivia's highlands and its people.

La Q’owa: A Taste of Bolivian Culture

Walking through the streets of Cochabamba on the first Friday of any month, one is struck by a pungent aroma wafting through the air and trails of smoke sneaking out the doors of small stores. This is the scent of the Bolivian ritual of the Q’owa (koh-wah), and a reminder of one of the ways in which many Bolivians still hold fast to ancient traditions.

Feminism from the Ground Up

Machismo is a phenomenon that runs deep in many cultures around the world, including in Bolivia. Feminism, however, is another powerful current that has its place in Bolivia’s history, one whose story is rarely told and often misunderstood.

Bolivia In Brief: An Update On Issues in The News

Coca: Bolivia Tries a New Approach: With a cocalero leader in the nation’s Presidency, Bolivia has taken a different approach to the green leaf that is simultaneously an ancient part of the nation’s culture, and also the base ingredient for cocaine.

A Former President Faces New Legal Challenges: Former Bolivian President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada was ousted by popular protests in October 2003 and living in self-imposed exile in suburban Maryland, now faces serious legal assaults on two fronts – one criminal and one civil.

ACTIVISM GONE GLOBAL

Road Trips: A Look at The Democracy Center’s Work Around the World

In Uganda, community organizers gather under a sprawling mango tree, plotting strategy as they monitor how the local government spends public funds. In the new Balkan republic of Montenegro, environmental advocates working with the United Nations debate the best way to protect a river from devastating development. In Santa Fe, New Mexico, a workshop brings together environmental activists, Pueblo tribal leaders and others to compare notes on how to wage effective lobbying campaigns in their state legislature. These are a few of the places and people that have been a part of The Democracy Center’s work recently, providing advocacy training and support to communities all over the world.

Seeds of Change: Social Entrepreneurs Across the Globe

Usually, the word “entrepreneur” conjures up the idea of a person who sees a demand in the economic marketplace. In that demand, the marketplace entrepreneur finds opportunity for profit and assembles the resources, capital, and market know how to take the risk of making that vision real. Not all demands, however, can be met by the marketplace. Not all opportunities are defined as a return on investment.

Voices from Latin America: Bringing Perspectives from Abroad into the U.S. Elections

The U.S. War in Iraq teaches us again that U.S. foreign policy is not something that we can leave solely in the hands of our politicians. Citizens have to take a strong and direct interest in what our nation does abroad, which includes understanding what people in other countries have to say about the impact of our policies on them. Voices from Latin America is an effort by The Democracy Center and our friends both north and south to bring Latin American perspectives directly into the U.S. election debate in 2008.

The Peacemaker: An American Woman's Journey With the Iraqi People

Cathy Breen served as a Maryknoll lay missionary in Bolivia for a decade. Later, in the run-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Cathy traveled to Baghdad to bear witness and report what she saw back home. She was on the ground and under the bombs during "Shock and Awe" and for the toppling of Saddam and the chaos and violence that followed. She now works with the huge community of more than 700,000 Iraqi refugees. These are her words from an interview in November 2007 from Amman, Jordan.

Beyond Violence

Last May Democracy Center staff member Leny Olivera traveled to Vermont to gather with 80 people from more than 20 countries for a global meeting on nonviolence. For three weeks they lived together, and shared their experiences of violence and ways to work beyond it.

Read any or all of these articles by visiting the on-line version of the magazine here.

Also: Please consider making a donation to support The Democracy Center’s work. Checks can be mailed to the US address below, or donations can be made by credit card here.

Noah, Where are You When We Need You?

The hard rains have come once again to Bolivia. And again, as last year, they have not been kind.

Flooding at the hand of the storm formations known as "La Niña" have put some parts of Bolivia completely under water. As of this morning at least 29 people have been reported killed by the floods, and town after small town has been inundated with water. Those that have survived have had their simple homes destroyed, their animals drowned, and their lives on the economic margins made even more difficult.

In the Chapare region near Cochabamba, the town of Villarroel has been essentially submerged.

The government and nonprofit groups are doing the best they can to get aid to those affected. But infrastructure is weak here and it isn't always possible to reach people swiftly. Fears now turn to the risk of disease, as clean water supplies diminish and contamination spreads in the wake of the flood.

Readers here are free to offer their suggestions of who to contact to help in those efforts.

A note to readers: We, and apparently thousands of others, have had serious problems with Blogger of late, which has prevented us from posting for days and caused problems with comment posts as well. We think the problem is now solved and we promise to update more often in the days aheead.

"El 11 de Enero": One Year Later

Readers:

Last Friday, January 11, marked the one-year anniversary of a day here in Cochabamba that few who lived through it will ever forget. Following days of growing tensions between rival political factions – which included the burning of the local Governor's office and ongoing blockades, protests, and counter protests – Cochabamba exploded into an afternoon of Bolivian on Bolivian violence that left three men dead and many others seriously wounded.

To mark that anniversary, once again Cochabambinos returned to the streets in two factions, not to throw rocks, wield machetes or fire pistols, but to remember those events in different ways. Aldo Orellana and Elliot Williams of The Democracy Center spent the day in the streets, interviewing people from varying perspectives, to put together this report.

Jim Shultz


"EL 11 DE ENERO": ONE YEAR LATER

January 11th, 2008 passed peacefully in Cochabamba – in stark contrast to the year prior. Last Friday a variety of organizations took to the streets to remember the tragedy of January 11th, 2007. With three deaths and were dozens wounded, the physical and emotional impacts of the fratricidal violence remain clear today. Rallies, marches, and religious services held throughout the area. Two of the biggest events were held in nearly the same space, but hours apart. Below is a description of the two along with some of the opinions expressed by the participants.

The first march and rally was lead by youth groups and organizations from throughout the area. A couple hundred people walked with signs proposing unity and denouncing violence and racism. The march lead through downtown to the Chakana, a memorial erected July 11th, 2007 in honor of those killed six months earlier. Despite its inclusive message, this monument has been destroyed twice since and was fortified anew to mark the year anniversary.

Once at the Chakana, there were a few moments of tension. The memorial is in a space adjacent to where the Civic Committee’s event would be held hours later. With some people already waiting for the second rally, a line of police separated the two groups. Shortly however, the focus turned to speeches, an offering to the pachamama (mother earth), and some traditional music.

The Cochabamba Civic Committee organized second and larger of the two events. An immense stage complete with lights and a booming sound system looked out upon hundreds of people, nearly all of them waving a Bolivian or Cochabamban flag (if not both). The stage was adorned with a banner stating: “Never Again January 11th.” The large crowd was met with a number of speakers from the Civic Committee, ending with the Prefect Manfred Reyes Villa. Speakers called for unity and democracy in Cochabamba and Bolivia. Despite the occasional drizzle and cool evening, the mood was lively. People from all over the department attended the event.

Despite rumors that the new Chakana monument would be destroyed, it remains intact. This is a positive signal for end of the violence in Cochabamba. Respecting the Chacakna shows a respect for diversity, free expression, difference and finally democracy.


Words from Those at the Gathering of Social Movements

Young person from the tropics of Cochabamba

As young people from the tropics of Cochabamba we have felt this racism that exists here in Cochabamba, and they showed us very clearly January 11th. With their pistols, bats, they yelled: “Indians of shit leave here from our Cochabamba.”
It’s for this that we, the youth have met here voluntarily, not like the civic committee that has been called to meet at 6pm to for the officials of the prefect and their lackeys.

Social and community worker

We know that…we are passing an historic moment, we should not permit discrimination, racism or fascism. We have to assure this process of change, we have to assure…a new country because tomorrow the courts will be ours, tomorrow we have to leave a country full of glory with social justice. I also call to unite all the youth organizations because like this we will be able to be one single force, to give one single blow to be able to defeat fascism and racism.

Youth from a social movement

Over there are those that have killed our people, over that are those that say they defend democracy, over there are those that have impoverished our country…We as youth should be here present to defend our indigenous groups. Never more will we allow the fascist right to discriminate and exploit our people.

We have organized, against all the dirtiness of this system that taught the youth of the right to go to the streets to abuse campesinos, to abuse workers.

It is for this that we youth are left in the defense of our fathers, we have come out to never again permit a hand to be raised against a campesino or a worker…they are the ones that work the land, they are the ones that sacrifice for the country. In this sense, we want to pay homage to those fallen after more than 500 years of exploitation…to all the martyrs of the people.

A young woman

We are not from MAS, we are part of the social organizations that have come from January 11th to struggle for the vindication of the people. When Manfred Reyes Villa joined the media luna, the oligarchies, the wealthy people that have maintained the neoliberal power during so many years…they failed to recognize the vote that said ‘no’ to the autonomies, and he invited violence.

We believe also that it is an outrage to believe that the original peoples, that the people of the countryside do not have the standing of citizens when attacked as the invaders of the city. This land has been inhabited for thousands of years before the invasion of the colonizers by Quechuas, Aymaras, Guaranis and various groups.

This day, January 11th, was the beginning of a fight because the racism has not been forgotten; this is a problem that has carried over from colonialism. Racism now shows up in violent acts, manipulated by media and influencing people to forget their ancestors, to forget about the origins, believing that the only model is that of the West.

We say therefore to the right that we are not going to forget this day, that in memory of Luciano Colque, of Juan Tica Colque we have raised this Chakana and the struggle has not finished.

An older man wounded by a bullet January 11th

I received the impact of the bullet before they broke the police barricade. They are the ones that have shot us and later that kicked us, until they could end our lives. Also I want to tell say to the means of communication to not lie.

They have demonstrated…they are violent. Before they said they were pacifists, days before they had marched with white flags saying that they defended democracy, but they have violated democracy, they have abused the laws. Well I tell all the youth and all the people of Cochabamba, we defend our natural resources, that this is our aim for everyone.

Wife of someone who had been shot January 11th

My husband was shot in this plaza January 11th. He did not come to fight with anyone. They shot him and with sticks they smashed his head and his stomach. My husband remains traumatized, and even now is afraid to walk by here. I do not know why they hit him, why the police did not stop it, why they did not stop so much. We should be united I do not know why it is like this. This trauma has remained with us.


Interviews with People at the Civic Committee Rally

[All were asked why they were there and what they hoped would come of this day.]

45-year-old man

The events that took place January 11th, 2007 are being remembered – when the armed groups of cocaleros promoted by the government of Mr. Evo Morales came to Cochabamba to subdue the institutions and to take out the Prefect that was elected. So they wanted to interfere with the institutions and democracy. Because of this we are remembering all these events when they came, invaded, destroyed the city, did not allow the citizens to walk free, and aggressively they interfered with all the rights of the citizens. They did not allow them to work, they insulted them, including spitting in peoples’ faces. So the people that day organized and said enough, enough of those who come and treat us in this way in our land.

So the citizens organized to walk…we organized and decided to take them out of the city. So that they would go to their land.

There had never been this kind of confrontations in the history of Bolivia between the country and the city, but from the beginning of Mr. Evo Morales’s government, a very racist and discriminatory government, they began organizing these types of groups, groups that clashed, that had always done this.

And there was a death. A young man of the city, a 17-year-old boy that was killed cruelly, they tortured him, cut him with machetes and hung him. So this is being remembered also one year after his death. For us a martyr, martyr for democracy, for the rights of people.

A 14 and 15 year old boy

We are here to support the country, the homeland and all that.

I am here to support democracy and to hear that through this we will be better, that everyone has the right to give their opinion that Bolivia is not only based in one area of the country, Bolivia is everyone.

A 52 year old woman

Remembering that last year on this date, there was a confrontation between all people from Cochabamba here, from both parties. The cocaleros with the people from here. And in this confrontation there were three deaths, two cocaleros and one young man from here, Cochabamba, Cristian Urresti. So for this, this [event] is being held, to remember this.

They are asking for democracy, that Cochabamba be free, that the country be free. Not to say that if you want to do something and that if we say the opposite we won’t let you do what you want. So this is what is wanted, for people to be free and for there to be democracy.

A 38 year old woman

To support Cochabamba, and the Prefect, to support liberty and democracy in Bolivia.
That it is remembered now as a day of unity, to erase a bit of what happened last year when there were three killed, the confrontations between Bolivians was a very sad thing.

A 49 year old man

We want the unity of the country, we want democracy, we want a future for Bolivia, we do not want any kind of fighting.

36-year-old man

We are here, because we are within a government, of a son of bitch of a dictator...Evo Morales made a mistake, he thought that we were different tribes like in Rawanda, Hutus and Tutsis, he was wrong this is a country.
If Evo Morales does not respect democracy, with a balance of how he does things, if one side grows [over the other], well this is not a country. Bolivia is not like this and will not accept it…Here in Bolivia, are you going to guard democracy or not? So Evo Morales, Garcia Linera, sons of bitches. This is a democratic country, and they do not want to do this fine, we will raise arms. And here in Cochabamba, as q’ochalas (people from Cochabamba) we are ready. The cocaleros will not enter Cochabamba, we wait for them, they don’t enter here.

Interviews and writing by Aldo Orellana and Elliot Williams

Bolivia´s Warring Leaders Have a Talk

Dear Readers:

This week brought important political developments in Bolivia, with the meeting in La Paz on Monday between President Morales, Vice-President Garcia Linera, and all nine regional Governors – a meeting broadcast live on national television.

Here is a Blog post from Aldo Orellana and Elliot Williams of The Democracy Center team, about these developments and what they might mean for Bolivia.

Jim Shultz

Bolivia´s Warring Leaders Have a Talk

The year 2007 in Bolivia ended in an escalation of tension that seemed to bring Bolivia to the breaking point. Two years into the Morales presidency, and in the wake of bloody battles over the Constituent Assembly, the tensions culminated on December 15th when two competing political paths were presented to the nation – one in the east and one in the west – the new Constitution presented in La Paz by the national government and the autonomy statutes presented in Santa Cruz and announced in the departments of Beni, Pando, and Tarija.

During these final months of the year, leaders on both sides continued to provoke, pushing further polarization, and drawing the country closer to its limits. Only the arrival of the holiday season succeeded in interrupting the tension. Many here imagined that 2008 would open with tensions just as high, as the New Year did exactly a year ago today, when three men were left dead as a result of political conflicts in Cochabamba.

The announcement of a meeting for Monday, January 7th between the national government and the regional governors produced a new hope for peace for many Bolivians. The meeting set out to discuss three central points: the new Constitution approved by the MAS-dominated Constituent Assembly; the autonomy statutes proposed by the eastern regions; and the distribution of the Impuesto Directo a los Hidrocarburos (IDH), one of the key mechanisms through which revenues from foreign oil companies are allocated and spent here.

The climate of the meeting was very calm, despite various altercations occurring in past days. The state television channel directly transmitted the dialogue to the nation, starting at 6pm and lasted for nearly eight hours. The President, Vice President, various cabinet members, and the nine Governors were all in attendance. There discussions produced three important preliminary agreements: to review the conflict-ridden themes of the new Constitution; to move ahead with the autonomy processes; and to create a compensation fund for the departments. The work of following-up on those proposals was to be done by specific commissions with teams of people from both sides of the debate.

The first commission began meeting on January 9th in La Paz to discuss the IDH. The commission tackling the problems of the new Constitution and autonomous statutes will begin their work next Monday, when the Governors and the national government are scheduled to meet again in La Paz.

January 7th was critical in many ways. It marked one of the few times that President Morales met with all nine Governors together. The leaders, who had up until this point been pursuing rival courses that were driving the country apart, began a process to potentially bring the country together. The balloon of political tension that seemed ready to burst in December, began to deflate, if just some.

Signs of cooperation continue since Monday. Morales and Cochabamba’s Prefect, Manfred Reyes Villa, two of the bitterest political rivals in the country, met this week to discuss the distribution of the IDH. This is the first time the two had spoken since they cut off contact a year ago. Morales has also proposed to make the some of the autonomy statutes of the media luna compatible with the new constitution. A large gap between the parties surely remains, but attempts to decrease this divide seem to be genuine.

While public opinion seems to support efforts at compromise, the issues on the table don’t have easy solutions. For example, the autonomy statutes planned by Santa Cruz call for departmental control of land and resources, but the new Constitution clearly put the national government in charge of these matters. Given the wide gaps involved, the question remains, how far can this discussion go? Do the discussions that began in La Paz on Monday offer a lasting or temporary peace? How will the citizens of Bolivia respond to the calls of unity issued by the government? Have the divisions that have been fomented for so long created too large a gap to bridge?

In Cochabamba we may get an answer to these questions sooner than other parts of the country. January 11th marks the one-year anniversary of violent clashes that left three people dead and the city divided. Many events will take place this day. It remains to be seen whether these events will occur as billed – a way to honor those whose lives were taken a year prior – or if they will be used to rally the two sides and reinvigorate the schisms of 2007. This anniversary could be a preview of the future.

But for now, those who predicted that Bolivia would careen off the side of a cliff as 2008 began, will have to put those predictions on hold. For now, both sides of the east-west divide have decided that dialog, rather than conflict and sharp rhetoric, are in their better interest, and the nation’s.

Written by Aldo Orellana and Elliot Williams.

Hillary Clinton Questioned About Bolivia in New Hampshire

As frequent readers of this Blog know, one of our projects this coming year at The Democracy Center is "Voices from Latin America", in which we will be helping bring questions and perspectives from Latin America into the important 2008 election debate.

This project included the video from Leny Olivera to the YouTube GOP debate, on the coca issue, which you can view here:

http://www.democracyctr.org/blog/2007/11/bringing-coca-to-youtube-republican.html

On Monday, on the eve of the pivotal New Hampshire primary, a friend of ours, Tim Provencal, a former Maryknoll lay missioner in El Alto, joined the effort by asking Hillary Clinton a question about Bolivia at a campaign forum in Dover. You can watch his question and Senator Clinton's response by clicking on the video link above. Stay tuned for more questions about Bolivia and Latin America aimed at U.S. Presidential and Congressional candidates throughout the year.

We'll be launching our Web site on the Democracy Center's Voices from Latin America project soon. In the meantime, for more information including about how to get involved, send us a note at contact@democracyctr.org.

Violence and Discrimination in the Process of the Constituent Assembly

Dear Readers:

Thank you for your patience the past couple of weeks as the holidays and my family’s move has taken attention away from posting here. But we are back, with plenty to cover in the days ahead – from the dialog between the Morales government and the governors to the commemoration this week in Cochabamba of a year since last January’s fatal conflicts over Constitutional reform.

The battles over political change in Bolivia are about not one thing, but many – regional and economic interest, political party power, competing visions of good governance, and without question, race. There are many who will argue here that “race” is being used by some here as a smokescreen to advance other agendas. But the issue of race in Bolivian politics runs deep and requires a clear-eyed analysis, and not analysis by a foreigner, even one who has lived here for a decade.

This Blog post, by Democracy Center team member Leny Olivera, examines the issue of race, gender and discrimination in Bolivia’s political conflicts with a report on a recent meeting on the topic held here in Cochabamba just before the holidays. This isn’t the first thing we have written on this topic and it won’t be the last.

Jim Shultz

Violence and Discrimination in the Process of the Constituent Assembly

Just before the holidays, I participated in a workshop on “Gender and Political Violence”, which looked in particular at the role of those issues in the Constituent Assembly process. Fifty people participated in the event, the majority of which were women. Those attending included domestic workers from five departments of the country; members of feminist assemblies of Potosí, La Paz and Cochabamba; and several young people’s organizations.

The workshop began with an analysis and evaluation of the process of the Constituent Assembly. Then the meeting looked at the forms of political violence in Bolivia from history to present and then we held a roundtable discussion conversation to gather perspectives and proposals of action on a set of issues – the results of the Constituent Assembly, the practices of political and gender violence in Bolivia, and the general political climate.

Political violence in Bolivia has existed since colonization. This violence emerged from groups in power to introduce fear and make the subjection of people easier. Later, during the dictatorships of the 1970’s, the French police advised Bolivia’s dictators how to most effectively intimidate the population. With this type of violence many massacres occurred, such as the massacre of All Saints Day. In the 25 years of democracy since 1985, economic repression replaced political repression. Many workers were fired after the implementation of the new model of capitalist development, which only brought more poverty and unemployment to the country.

One type of violence that is not usually so visible when looking at history is gender violence. Where is its origin? Throughout history all states have been based on a patriarchal system. This is a system of oppression and violence that is displayed in every area of life across relationships of power. Explaining political violence by exploring domestic life is not usually done. Instead, generally we associate the political with the public and the domestic or daily work with the private – which we associate with gender.

Julieta Paredes, a participant from the Feminist Assembly of La Paz gave a clear example of this in her exposition “Women are of the Home and Men are of the Street.” This is a clear example that reflects this division. However, we women are half of the population and all themes of life concern us, not only those related to health and daily life.

In the last months in Bolivia these systems of oppression have been even more in evidence when an indigenous person became president and the privileges of a powerful minority were put into question.

Testimonies of violence and discrimination during the Constituent Assembly

Another participant, Carmen Julia, part of the Feminist Assembly of Sucre, explained that the situation in Sucre now is terrible. People in disagreement with the attitude of the Interinstitutional Committee about moving of the capital are intimidated – their photographs displayed on big posters with their names and addresses; blacklisted from Sucre’s society. In addition, a group of University students studying sociology and history declared themselves Nazis and shaved their heads to demonstrate their ideology. She also explained that the worst violence and discrimination was against indigenous women.

[The photo above pictures Guadalupe Herrera, a staff member of the City of Sucre who was among many indiginous women attacked and insulted during the Assembly process.]

Antonio Abla from Sucre described how one indigenous member of the Assembly, Mrs. Isabel Domínguez, a member of MAS and a Quechua from the region of Cochabamba, was insulted at the beginning of the sessions of the Assembly. When she began to speak in her native Quechua, an assembly member of PODEMOS from Beni shouted: “India de mierda (Indian of shit), to speak, first learn to speak in Spanish.” This violent and racist attitude was seen even before the violent conflicts that drew attention to Sucre. People spat in the faces of many indigenous women and people from the countryside and cast insults like ‘ignorant chola’ (derogatory term for women who wear typical clothing) and ‘llama’.

Julieta Paredes of the Feminist Assembly of La Paz, observed that the discrimination was directed towards indigenous women who were not professionals and were viewed as “illegitimate” among the traditional sectors of power in Bolivia. The discrimination that the women experienced was more heartbreaking in not respecting their right to participate in politics – a right to give opinions and to make decisions on what is done in our communities and our society.

During the Constituent Assembly sessions in Sucre Mrs. Nelida Faldin, an assembly member from a rural community in Beni, commented that for her the sessions were like a landlord and an indentured servant sitting the same table. For many assembly members who came from an upper or upper middle class business background, it was not only a shock to be at the same table, but also to be using the same bathrooms.

In Cochabamba, during marches of the civic committees many people, myself included, were direct witnesses to racial insults like: ‘llama vomit’, ‘ediondo’ (someone who smells bad), ‘foolish pieces of crap’, ‘coca eater’, ‘shit eater’.

Especially after the conflicts of last January in Cochabamba, there has been more open racism and intollerance, from both sides. But this escalation feels like it has been provoked by the leaders on each side, rather than just something spontaneous by the people. There are political interests in Bolivia that want to see the nation divided and openly-expressed racism has contributed to that polarization.

These and many other racist and violent attitudes that many people experienced in public spaces generally were not taken into account throughout the Assembly process. Because of this, participants in the Cochabamba workshop agreed on the importance of including daily life in the political analysis. This helped us to understand the limitations of the national constitution. During the process of change in Bolivia, racist and violent attitudes that have long existed under the surface have been on glaring public display. Some of these were provoked, and others were raised when indigenous people and women acceded to spaces of power as never before. Even if the new Constitution, which is more inclusive and promotes equality for all, is approved, it will take a longer process than this to realize these rights in the reality of daily life.

Written by Leny Olivera