"NOTES FROM BOLIVIA"
Volume 19 - December 2, 1998
Dear Readers,
It has been six weeks since my family and I moved from San Francisco to here in Cochabamba, Bolivia. The challenges of resettling have been formidable and after some delay "The Democracy Center On-Line" is back. I was deeply moved by the many warm and thoughtful e-mail notes I received in response to my last newsletter announcing our move. From the vantage point of Bolivia the content of "The Democracy Center On-Line" will surely change in the months ahead. I hope it will continue to be well worth your while to read and to pass on to others, as many readers do with each issue.
Many Thanks,
Jim Shultz The Democracy Center
"NOTES FROM BOLIVIA - THE DEMOCRACY CENTER ON-LINE"
DROUGHTS - OF WATER AND JUSTICE
When we left California in late October all eyes were on the election and on the possibility (soon realized) of a Democratic Governor for the first time in 16 years. In Bolivia the names Gray Davis and Dan Lungren were on no one's lips. In Bolivia talk focused on two topics - the continuation of a year without rain and the detention in Britain of the former dictator one country to the west, Augusto Pinochet.
The drought. Remember all that rain that fell on California in 1998, enough to make this the wettest year in a hundred? Well it came from somewhere and that somewhere is Bolivia - the loser in "El Nino's" rearrangement of global rain patterns this year. And droughts here are serious things. When we lived here before (in 1991-92) there was a drought. I will not forget the procession of old women who knocked on our door begging for a gallon of water to carry home. We gave them what we could until our own tank ran dry. This year on many days the sky would cloud over, dark and promising, only to clear up again to a summer sun.
Then shortly after our arrival hope came in the form of several days of genuine rain, enough to make the brown landscape a pale shade of green. On other days the clouds again passed over teasingly without dropping anything, but the promise of an end to the drought was in the air. So it was the weekend before we arrived here that another drought looked like it might end - this one a drought of justice - with the arrest of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.
THE DICTATOR NEXT DOOR
For many North Americans Pinochet is a name as obscure as Davis and Lungren are here in Bolivia. But for many South Americans the name Pinochet is synonymous with murder, kidnap, and political terror. In 1973 the General and his armies stormed the Chilean National Palace, killed the elected President (Salvador Allende) and began one of the most brutal dictatorships in the continent's history. Potential dissenters, of whatever nationality (including U.S.) were rounded up, taken to a soccer stadium and killed. Calling the shots from Washington were Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger. When Pinochet finally turned over power to an elected President two decades later he had himself named "Senator for Life" to give himself immunity in Chile for his regime's brutality.
Then in October a heroic prosecutor in Spain got word that Pinochet had slipped quietly into Britain for treatment at a London clinic. The Spanish government formally requested Pinochet's extradition to Spain to force him to stand trial for the Spaniards killed under his direction. Pinochet was officially detained. Few headlines could have been bigger in Bolivia. Many Bolivian friends and relatives had been among Pinochet's victims. The arrest also spilled over into Bolivian politics. Hugo Banzer, sworn is as President last year with less than 40% of the vote was Bolivia's own 70s era dictator. Suddenly the old stories of the disappearances and human rights abuses became news again. "I felt every muscle in my body relax," said one Bolivian friend of mine, describing his reaction to the news that after 25 years Pinochet might just be called to account for his crimes.
"WILL IT RAIN OR WON'T IT?"
So now the world await news from London, about what officials there will actually do with the former Chilean dictator. A court of the House of Lords ruled a week ago that Pinochet's claims of diplomatic immunity are invalid. Now the British government, under heavy pressure from both sides, must decide by December 11 whether they will extradite Pinochet to Spain for a real trial, or cave in to Chilean demands that the General be sent home for a fake one. The shadow of Nuremberg and the principal that officials are responsible for their actions hangs over the decision. President Clinton, acting more like a Nixon clone than an advocate for human rights, is lobbying behind the scenes for Pinochet's release, according to the British press. It is not enough that the U.S. got South America's rain this year, now we want to take away it's justice as well.
Here in Bolivia the wait for word from Britain is like the long wait for rain. Bolivians look at the sky, filled with passing clouds, and wonder aloud, "will it rain, won't it?" No one knows, but there is hope. Perhaps the drought will end. And perhaps after 25 years the dictator next door (and maybe others) will actually face justice. No one knows, but for now there is hope.
NOTE: A CHANCE TO ACT
We do not have to sit idly buy and wait for justice in Britain, we can demand it. Below are the Web and e-mail addresses for President Clinton and for British Prime Minister Tony Blair. If you feel moved to do so send them both a short e-mail message today telling them you support Augusto Pinochet's extradition to Spain for trial.
President Bill Clinton: http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/Mail/html/Mail_President.html
British Prime Minister Tony Blair: webmaster.co@gtnet.gov.uk
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