I’m Miguel Centellas, a political science professor at Mount St. Mary’s University. Because of academic interests, I post frequently on Bolivian politics. I also occasionally discuss interesting books, pop culture, and daily life in Baltimore.
There were attacks against the Venezuelan consulate & a Cuban medical mission early this morning in Santa Cruz. From police reports in La Razón, the attacks involved small dynamite (probably the “M-80s” frequently used in Bolivian protests), and no one was injured. But this is the first attack on any embassy or consulate in recent memory (to my knowledge). It follows days after a government military assault on the city’s airport re-stoked anti-government tensions (see previous post).
----- PS. Just to be clear: I don’t endorse such attacks on any embassy, consulate, public building, or private residence or business. By anyone. At any time.
I'm glad to see that they're taking on the root of the problem, rather than turning on their fellow Bolivians.
On a lighter note, when I Babblefished the La Razon article, it just translated the Cuban leader's surname in a most hilarious manner.
Posted by
Frank IBC
October 23, 2007 10:32 AM
Frankly, that is sick (your comment). So Miguel, this isn't "worrisome", or "dangerous" to you?
Just seems that your usual liberal outrage and fear of civil war is somehow missing.
And do you have a linking agreement with La Razon that we should inform google about? Hehe, half-joking.
Posted by
Kausachun Coca y Gringos
October 23, 2007 12:38 PM
I didn't think I had to be outraged, since, well, an attack on an embassy is clearly an outrageous, stupid, and illiberal move. I may not have openly shown my revulsion ... but I clearly didn't endorse the move either. And, yes, it's very clearly a worrisome move.
In part, I'm not yet ready to cry bloody murder, since the press reports suggest it may have been a petty attack. Keep in mind that these kinds of "dynamite" attacks in Bolivia are frequent, and usually involving something about the size of an M-80. Protesters of all sorts usually carry them in protests, and launch them into the air (they make a nice "bang" for attention-getting purposes). Occassionally, they'll launch them (some come w/ little launch cannisters, like bottle rockets) or throw them at buildings, etc. Usually, little harm is done. In this case, the worst damage was to the roof: a tile fell.
The fact that this "attack" wasn't connected to a large protest march and/or rally on the consulate & Cuban medical building suggests that it was a lone punk acting stupid. I would suspect that a "real" attack by media luna elites would involve much larger ammounts of firepower, and probably a demonstration of several hundred (or more) people. Something like the popular assault on the home of Sucre's mayor a few months back, where "dynamite" was thrown at her house by campesinos.
Why do I link to La Razón? Well, I find it to be the most "reliable" Bolivian paper. Based in La Paz, it's something of the paper of record, the Bolivian New York Times, if you will. Occassionally I link to Correo del Sure (from Sucre) or El Deber (from Santa Cruz). Those are good papers, too. And, for disclosure, I've on occassion written columns for the weekly political supplement, Tiempo Político, which runs in Friday's La Razón.
I try to keep up w/ as many papers as I can. But my daily routine involves reading La Razón. If I have time, I may also skim a few other papers. Another good one is Los Tiempos (from Cochabamba).
