Some exciting (non-baby) changes: I am (as of yesterday morning) Latin American Studies program coordinator at Dickinson College.

It now seems clear why David Sánchez resigned. This news report in La Patria (an Oruro newspaper) explains: Sánchez tried, in vain, to win an audience w/ Evo to ask him not to go forward w/ a planned mobilization of as many as 10,000 cocaleros (from La Paz & other areas) will march to Sucre on September 10. Sánchez feared that this might lead to violence. In the 1960s, René Barrientos (ironically, rabidly anti-communist) & other military dictators often used such tactics to subdue regime critics. These were the days of the so-called “military-campesino” pact.

Chuquisaca’s prefect, David Sánchez, has resigned. The MAS candidate was elected in December 2005, during the country’s first prefectural (gubernatorial) elections. Since, technically, prefects are appointed by the president (according to the current constitution), it’s unclear whether there will be a new election. Meanwhile, rumors are flying about a possible military intervention (a “militarization”? a declaration of martial law?) in the city of Sucre (the capital of Chuquisaca department).

A day after a regionalist opposition-led strike, Bolivia’s government shot back. It has frequently attacked the opposition for its ties to the US & other international NGOs (such ties do exist, of course), specifically singling out the US for its “political” aid. Of course, isn’t all aid “political”? Or does Venezuela’s millions in military & other aid not serve a “political” purpose? But today’s attacks resembled a witch hunt.

Álvaro García Linera, Bolivia’s vice president, is giving a lecture on “Marxism and Indianism” at Cornell University on September 3. The event is co-sponsored by the university’s Latin American Studies Program.

Florida International University’s prestigious Latin America and Caribbean Center (LACC) is hosting a mini-conference on Bolivia in on September 17: “Bolivia Hoy: Miradas Constructivas.” Speakers include Manuel de la Fuente, Maria Eugenia Choque, Javier Hurtado, and Pablo Mamani. The discussant will be Eduardo Gamarra.

I saw this yesterday on Attack of the Show (after stumbling on the infamous viral YouTube video) & couldn’t resist. So even if you like maps just because you like maps, check out mapsforus.org. There’s even some great West Wing footage.

After some tense confrontations in Santa Cruz & Cochabamba, things are heating up in Bolivia. I was even shocked to read that Percy Fernández, the alcalde (mayor) of the city of Santa Cruz publicly stated at a press conference that the only solution is two “form two nations”—w/ Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando, and parts of Chuquisaca and Cochabamba on one side, and the rest of Bolivia on another. I think this might be the first time an elected official has publicly endorsed secession (or at least something very, very close to it).

While it’s not truly the “first” Bolivian blogging conference (there have been smaller ones, both in Santa Cruz & La Paz), the first truly large Encuentro Bloguiviano is scheduled for this Saturday. I wish I could be there, but I’ll sure it’ll be blogged. Drop by if you get a chance.

I thought I’d take a moment to highlight an interesting post by a Bolivian blogger (I’m going to make a more concerted effort to do that, at least on a weekly basis). La Vero Vero noted an editorial by José Luís Exeni (a prolific Bolivian social scientist). La Vero Vero is the penname for the author of the blog Kamchatka; Exeni has his own blog, FadoCracia.

But the brief editorial, titled “Una gran omisión” [a great omission], is quite thought-provoking. In it, Exeni wonders why so much of the Constituent Assembly’s attention has been given to issues such as where the capital should be located, what kind of regional autonomy to introduce, etc.—while completely ignoring the issue of the right to information (and especially tolerance & “inter-cultural discourse”) in a democratic society.

The original editorial was posted here in La Prensa.

According to La Razón, coca has replaced fruit crops as the main agricultural product in Yungas (the cloud forest region of northern La Paz). While fruits are still produced in some parts of the Yungas, it seems that some areas must now import fruit. It used to be that Yungas was Bolivia’s fruitbasket. It seems this is no longer the case.

Our friend, Eduardo Avila, is heading back to Bolivia to help launch the Voces Bolivianas (one of the Rising Voices micro-grants).

Eddie Avila is the author of Barrio Flores, but he’s mostly been busy as a regional editor for Global Voices & the Bolivian-American Project. I look forward to reading his posts. I’ve missed reading the posts of one of the blogfathers of the Bolivian blogosphere. Voces Bolivianas should be great, since it will focus on building a strong El Alto-based blogosphere.

This should be an interesting week in Bolivia, w/ a number of anti-government protests gearing up. Perhaps it’s ironic that a government formed through popular mobilizations that destabilized two earlier governments is being similarly assailed for the better part of a year. But the harsh reality is that once “the street” becomes a legitimate mode of political discourse, it can be used in any direction & for any motive. The tragedy of Bolivian politics is that it has become almost completely de-institutionalized.

Just because it’s hilarious, YouTube video of the 2007 “Hipster Olympics” (below).

It seems some people are offended by recent beer ads by Annheiser-Busch (a swill I detest, for the record) because it uses Spanglish

Tan bueno como encontrar un parking en frente al building

in its ad campaign. The objections seem to be pedantic & based on not realizing that A) not all people speak the same Spanish, B) Spanglish is spoken by millions of people, and D) languages evolve in multicultural environments. I myself have used parquing and bilding when speaking Spanish (not Spanglish!). The simple rule of Spanglish is this: use the word w/ the fewest syllables (so “parking” beats “estacionamiento” hands down).

I’ve decided to say goodbye to Technorati, which seems to have stopped working properly about a year ago. Since it seems to only randomly index anything, it’s become the last place I look for things. So I’m giving IceRocket a chance, instead. You should also check out Newsvine.

My latest essay for Tiempo Político¹ is up today. It’s titled: “Reelección indefinida y ‘democradura’: ¿un modelo chavista para Bolivia?” I’ve posted similar discussions on indefinite reelection here & here. I’ve provided an English translation below.

Things seem to be getting worse in Bolivia, as this La Razón series of special reports makes clear. The Constituent Assembly is on the verge of completely breaking down, the legislature was involved in a brawl (complete with video), and inflation continues to creep up. My parents (who lived through the 1970s and 1980s) are a little worried of a repeat of those events.

MABB has a post on the mounting tensions in Sucre, which could break this evening.

Not surprisingly, Venezuela’s legislature unanimously approved changes to the constitution that would (among other things) extend the presidential term from six to seven years & allow for unlimited reelection of presidents. Essentially, Hugo Chávez could be president for as long as he wishes (he’s currently been president for almost ten years).

After reading a TNR article on America’s obsession w/ genealogy, I’ve become obsessed w/ genealogy. I remember as a kid looking at a small family tree my tío Jorge had drawn. But I don’t remember much, other than the fact that there was a “Pio” in it somewhere (I think my great grandfather). So I recently set up a free account on Ancestry.com. And it’s been a fascinating way to procrastinate.

Like many others, I’m scrambling to get ready for the Fall semester. I’m mostly ready, but I like to get a lot of other projects either out of the way (or well under way) before classes start. Otherwise, they get shoved to the back burner.

I’m finally starting to structure my long-neglected Bolivia politics wiki, currently concentrating on entries for MAS & MNR. These entries will serve as templates for the rest of the project, which will take at least a year to complete. I’ve applied for a research assistant, which would help considerably.

Beyond that, there’s manuscripts (and revisions to manuscripts) to send out. Then there’s the upcoming LASA conference in Montreal. And, of course, my two-year visiting position ends next June. So there’s that. I’ve no idea where I’ll be living in 10 months (or how I’ll pay for food, rent, and student loan bills).

While I’m still putting together my own data on presidential candidates & their Facebook supporters, techPresident has been doing that, too. And lately it’s been presenting the information in handy graph form. Click here to view their Facebook supporters graphs, their MySpace supporters graphs, and their YouTube stats. I still prefer using Facebook, since it’s more restrictive (MySpace accounts can include groups, not just individuals, and it’s possible to have multiple personal accounts, which can inflate figures).

I got to see my future son (yes, it’s a boy!) for the first time today. It is actually rather amazing what can be seen in a sonogram. Don’t kid yourself, it’s still incredibly fuzzy. But you can actually make out fingers, toes, and other little body parts. I officially have permission to look for robot, Star Trek, or similarly-themed baby accessories. Sweet.

MSM has split from MAS. Despite claiming that the two parties are still “allied,” MSM (Movimiento Sin Miedo) has decided to form its own independent caucus (bancada) w/in the Constituent Assembly. According to Francisco Cordero (MSM), the small social democratic party has a compromise w/ “the process of change in the country,” not w/ MAS.

My mom has a great post on last week’s indigenous-military parade in Santa Cruz.

I just set up a new category in my Amazon Bookstore for books on democracy. They should appeal to both general readers & academics. Here are the first three:

For all Evo’s problems managing his increasingly fractured MAS coalition (see previous post), he’s making some important headway in foreign diplomacy (along w/ some mistakes).

Evo’s government continues to face problems. The MAS-indigenous rift is growing. Now the MAS-MSM alliance is in jeopardy.

If you’re interested in finding recipes for your favorite Bolivian dishes, the folks at Cocina Boliviana are foodblogging. And they have videos, too.

There’s been a number of defections from MAS recently. And the party’s response has been to hold disciplinary hearings against “rebel” delegates to the Constituent Assembly. Frankly, the move seems more likely to backfire & cause greater problems w/in the MAS coalition. But that’s the tactic they’ve chosen.

Evo seems determined to drive Sucre into the arms of the media luna. Two days ago, he spoke in Santa Cruz & warned of possible “repercussions” against Sucre for its rudeness to him during his 4-hour speech marathon (see previous post). Today, residents of Sucre respond, warning that Chuquisaca (the name of the department) is a “cemetery for tyrants & dictators” (the words of Sucre municipal council president Felipe Herrera). As expected, both Tuto Quiroga & the Santa Cruz (and other) cívicos expressed their solidarity w/ Sucre.

Below is the list of articles I’m assigning in my undergraduate “Democracy & Democratization” course this Fall.

If you’d like to watch Bolivian TV over the internet, a few options have popped up. I like tvrover.com (which works great on Macs). You’ll need a fast internet connection, but you can get links to streams at tvrover/bolivia. It links to streams from Unitel, Gigavisión, Megavisión, and Full Televisión (Santa Cruz). The Unitel station comes in crisp (it also has the best production values).

I can’t get JumpTV (it’s Windoze only), but it links to ActivaTV (a sports channel), ATB, Bolivisión, and Red PAT.

Evo’s speech in Sucre didn’t go over well. Although there was some laughter when the president announced that Bolivia would “surpass Switzerland” in 10-20 years.

I’ll admit that I’ve not carefully read the baby books. Yes, that makes me a bad father/husband. But, in my defense, they’re geared to panicky women (understandably) & aren’t very interesting (yes, I did flip through them). But if you want to make sure I’m fully prepared for fatherhood: Buy me these three books from my personal wishlist.

Did Barack Obama hit his first hiccup in the Facebook primaries race? He’s still gaining supporters (all the candidates are), but his rate of increased support was the lowest for the 7-day period between July 30 & August 6. He only gained 4.53% more supporters (the median rate for Democrats was +9.36%; the median rate for Republicans was +10.80%).

I recently noticed that at least a few of the books listed in my Amazon Bookstore have been purchased. So I thought I’d plug three books & mention that I’ve been adding a number of books to the various categories.

Today is Bolivia’s national holiday (6 de agosto). La Razón has a special supplement on “182 years of union & diversity.” The image on the left is the cover; the issue includes a number of articles. They range from historical reflection on past presidents & the founding of the republic, to nine in-depth essays focusing on the country’s nine departments.

Also, Correo del Sur is back online (it had problems w/ its server host), w/ a number of unique reports—including a sub-site devoted to the capital campaign. More later today ...

More interesting developments out of Bolivia today: Both government & opposition agreed to include departmental autonomy in the new constitution.

Just to help spread the word that Blogs Bolivia has a really great new re-design. If you want an access point into the Spanish-language Bolivian blogosphere, check it out. It currently links to almost 600 individual Bolivian bloggers. It’s maintained by yet another Miguel.

Inflation “jumped” in July, hitting a monthly rate of 2.68% (higher than the up-to-then annual average). Here’s an info graphic showing the spike.

I barely made the deadline to be included in the CD, but I’ve sent out the paper I’m presenting next month at the Montréal LASA conference. It’s not nearly as “finished” as I’d have liked, but there’ll be plenty of time to revise it later. Here’s the (overly ambitious, not fully realized) abstract:

Huge news out of Bolivia. The largest organization of Andean indigenous communities has officially broken with Evo Morales & his MAS government. The group is CONAMAQ (Consejo Nacional de Markas y Ayllus del Qullasuyu). The specific cause had to do w/ a disagreement over whether to have a quota for indigenous representation in the legislature written into the new constitution (CONAMAQ had insisted on 70 out of 167 proposed legislators; MAS had offered a minimum of one per department). I’ve previously argued that Evo Morales was not truly an “indigenous” political figure (if there is such a thing). He certainly didn’t campaign as such until after 2002.