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bolivia | by Miguel Centellas | 20 May, 2004 at 04:13 PM | comments (2) | trackback (0)
President Mesa finally announced the questions for the gas referendum. And although there are five of them, they seem rather vague & almost destined to win a "yes" vote by their very wording (which, I'm sure, was the point). But. Despite that, the questions are unclear as to what they...
bolivia | by Miguel Centellas | 16 May, 2004 at 03:43 PM | comments (0) | trackback (0)
The highways out of La Paz are blocked again. Although the markets are still stocked, and prices have only barely inched up, you can't travel by land out of La Paz. This better lift soon, since I need to go to Cochabamba for a few days....
The military & justice?
bolivia | by Miguel Centellas | 11 May, 2004 at 02:19 PM | comments (0) | trackback (0)
Bolivia's recent political crisis, sparked by the military's objection to a court ruling that four officers be tried by civil courts, is a serious challenge to Mesa's ability to govern. And. Like most political crises, this one's not as simple as might look. While it's important to hold the military...
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Bolivia's anti-protest protest
bolivia | by Miguel Centellas | 11 May, 2004 at 02:16 PM | comments (0) | trackback (0)
In a country where protesting is considered a national pastime, an anti-protest protest isn't ironic....
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bolivia | by Miguel Centellas | 07 Apr, 2004 at 12:46 PM | comments (1) | trackback (1)
Mesa's being hit from all sides. Current protests include: cocaleros & handicapped. Threatening to protest are: public universities, cobistas, teachers, and public transportation. The embassy pressures on coca erradication, MIR is upset because two miristas were removed from their appointments....
Decentralization via regional autonomies
bolivia | by Miguel Centellas | 03 Apr, 2004 at 02:28 PM | comments (23) | trackback (0)
As a participant in the Mallasilla conference on decentralization, I was a member of the grupo de taller that developed a model based on municipal governments. Conference participants were organized into three groups: a cultural-ethnic framework, a federalization framework, and a modest one based on the already-existing municipal governments. In...
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bolivia | by Miguel Centellas | 30 Mar, 2004 at 03:40 PM | comments (1) | trackback (0)
That's what you'd call a commission that plans to have a referendum election w/o any pre-electoral propaganda (for "yes" or for "no"). Welcome to Bolivia. Parliament's hoping to pass a referendum law — a law that allows for & outlines the gas referendum — that explicitly prohibits any political propaganda....
bolivia | by Miguel Centellas | 28 Mar, 2004 at 02:12 PM | comments (2) | trackback (0)
La Razón just published their latest poll (conducted along w/ Nuevo Día & ATB) of Bolivian political attitudes. The survey has a representative sample of 819 residents from the cities of La Paz, El Alto, Cochabamba, Santa Cruz — no other areas were covered in the survey (though these cities...
bolivia | by Miguel Centellas | 26 Mar, 2004 at 12:14 PM | comments (1) | trackback (0)
The COB (Central Obrera Boliviana) marched last night, as they said the would. This time, the police showed up to secure peace & order — unlike Wednesday where their total absence led to violence between protesters & pedestrians after the few cobistas assaulted anyone who jeered them....
bolivia | by Miguel Centellas | 15 Mar, 2004 at 07:35 AM | comments (3) | trackback (0)
Mesa's speech last night was a stern talking to aimed at the legislature, the syndicalists, and the cruceño business class. And while the missive included a desire to engage in political dialogue w/ each of these sectors — and a call to put personal interests behind & think of Bolivia...
bolivia | by Miguel Centellas | 12 Mar, 2004 at 12:39 PM | comments (3) | trackback (0)
The Achilles' heel of presidentialism is the system of checks of balances. Why? Because in presidential democracies, political parties (especially the opposition) have invested interest in sabotaging the executive's agenda. They can cast blame on the executive (and/or his party), winning electoral support for themselves. Prior to October, Bolivia's political...
bolivia | by Miguel Centellas | 09 Mar, 2004 at 12:32 PM | comments (27) | trackback (0)
For the first time in twenty years of democratic history, Bolivia's facing the harsh realities of presidential politics. For the past two decades, Bolivia resembled a parliamentary system, where every president was supported by a solid legislative majority. Bolivia overcame the governability problem inherent in presidential democracy (read Juan Linz...
bolivia | by Miguel Centellas | 28 Feb, 2004 at 11:49 AM | comments (23) | trackback (0)
As Bolivia's gas referendum approaches, many are hailing the birth of referendum democracy. I'm not convinced that referendum democracy is desireable or even a solution to the country's problems. For all its strengths, referendum democracy — in practice — has important drawbacks. It increases the power of bureaucracies. It reduces...
brazil | by Mike Derham | 23 Feb, 2004 at 11:19 AM | comments (3) | trackback (0)
Over the weekend both Marcelo and Cláudio put up interesting posts about how Argentina and Brazil have responsibility for their fiscal straits, in large part because of the failure of the political/economic elite to (as Marcelo put it) "act like a damn elite." While I agree with them, an article in today's Wall Street Journal gives creedence to the other side of the story.
bolivia | by Miguel Centellas | 08 Feb, 2004 at 12:15 PM | comments (4) | trackback (0)
There's a recent meme circulating about Bolivia becoming the "Afghanistan of the Andes." While this is in the realm of possibilities, I don't think it's in the realm of probability. Yes, Bolivia's suffering a crisis of governability. It's also true that Bolivia's involvement in international cocaine production makes exercising government...
bolivia | by Miguel Centellas | 05 Feb, 2004 at 01:42 PM | comments (0) | trackback (0)
Several weeks ago, Bolivian business mogul Samuel Doria Medina left MIR (Movement of the Revolutionary Left) & launched his own political party, FUN (Frente de Unidad Nacional). Last week, Doria Medina joined some alteño dirigentes in a march through El Alto. This past week, the party's militantes have been out...
bolivia | by Miguel Centellas | 02 Feb, 2004 at 01:48 PM | comments (5) | trackback (0)
There's been some attention paid to the role of El Alto (the sprawling slum twin city of La Paz) in national politics. After all, October's guerra del gas was primarily an alteño affair. It wasn't until after the city of La Paz had been besieged & cut off from the...
brazil | by Mike Derham | 02 Feb, 2004 at 10:08 AM | comments (0) | trackback (0)
Jeffrey Sachs, the global development guru had an op-ed piece in Friday's Miami Herald praising both Lula and Fernando Henrique Cardoso in providing the leadership necessary to help Brazil weather the economic crises of 1999 and 2002:...
bolivia | by Miguel Centellas | 01 Feb, 2004 at 05:07 PM | comments (22) | trackback (0)
The city's abuzz, anticipating Mesa's big speech tonight at 9pm. He's going to unveil his administration's economic austerity plan. The government has to somehow bridge the gap between income & expenses (it spends about twice as much as it brings in). How'll Mesa do it? What's the big plan?...
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" Five questions | Miguel Centellas
" The chances of a coup? | Miguel Centellas " The military & justice? | Miguel Centellas " Bolivia's anti-protest protest | Miguel Centellas " Mesa in a tight corner | Miguel Centellas " Decentralization via regional autonomies | Miguel Centellas " Ministry of Stupidity | Miguel Centellas " The state of public opinion | Miguel Centellas " The COB out of sync w/ Bolivia | Miguel Centellas " Finger pointing | Miguel Centellas
" Five questions | Miguel Centellas
" The chances of a coup? | Miguel Centellas " The military & justice? | Miguel Centellas " Bolivia's anti-protest protest | Miguel Centellas " Mesa in a tight corner | Miguel Centellas " more from living in latin america...
"President Mesa finally announced the questions for the gas referendum. And although there are five of them, they seem rather vague & almost destined to win a "yes" vote by their very wording (which, I'm sure, was the point). But. Despite that, the questions are unclear as to what they..."
" continue reading Five questions...
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