Citizen's Arrest: Adventures in Bolivian Babysitting
7:40am I woke up to an extraordinarily loud “Screech! Chunk! Thud. CRASH!“ from Simon Lopez, our busy city street. I run down the stairs to hear “Lorien! Camera!” and my siblings yelling, “The van! The van?” The crash was not our van, but instead a drunk driver crashing into one of our large metal gates. Juan, the drunk driver, had swept the side of his car into a tree by the road. He was driving so fast that he had enough momentum to go forward into a little parking lot off the street and swerve hard left. He crossed the raised cement and grass divider...
Read MoreAnalysis of Bolivia and How Evo Could *Truly* Win
We heard some fascinating political and legal analysis on current events from a top-notch specialist in Bolivian law. I’m not naming him here simply because I didn’t get his express permission to do so. Kindly, deal with it. I’m posting the analysis, and then we can all go about researching it as we wish. Prior to the Ambush in the Pando, Evo expelled almost all of the press. That is a significantly contributing factor as to why we have so little visible evidence and sound accounts of what really happened. Earlier today on a radio station in Cochabamba it was announced that...
Read MoreVideo: Pando Ambush Incident in Bolivia
What follows is a video posted on YouTube which apparently aired on a Bolivian news channel. It involves gunfire, coffins, and people swimming across water in an attempt to flee. I ask the following question in a genuine manner: what in this video indicates that a) the prefect began the attack and that b) the campesino group was peaceful? The video is extremely incomplete. The footage has been cut and/or blurred in vital moments. Overlaying the video are biased questions and assumptions of the prefect’s guilt. My Spanish is limited (I’m still trying and learning!) – is there...
Read MoreConvenient Realities in Bolivia's Blogs
We have gasoline again in Cochabamba, but at a heavy price; the international leaders of South America agreed to allow the Media Luna to participate in negotiations only on the condition that they remove all of their blockades. The blockades were the only peaceful bargaining chip available to the Media Luna, and blockades were in extremely heavy use by MAS during the Gas Wars of 2004/5 and in the presidential election of 2005. The hypocrisy is astounding. Meanwhile, although the Media Luna has complied and ceased all blockades, the MASistas have constructed blockades of their own....
Read MoreSolitary Gringos
All is still quiet in Cochabamba. The U.S. government is pulling entirely out of Bolivia. The Embassy will be closed by Monday night. The DEA has left. The government works in 30 day increments, so they will reassess the situation every 30 days. ‘Tis a curious thought, that as Americans this is the first time since we’ve been here in Bolivia that we lack any actual U.S. presence. We are effectively on our own. The apparent lack of serious danger somehow does not reduce the slight ill-at-ease of that state of being.
Read MoreAbout Lorien
I vote as a libertarian influenced by Hayek and Burke, and I think as an anarchist guided by the biblical principles of liberty. I have fenced foil in a diaper-suit and run for political office in a skirt-suit, but my shoes were always fabulous. Both dreadful politics and inspiring design are likely to make me teary.
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