Comments on: Bolivia visit (part I) http://www.latintelligence.com/2007/05/16/bolivia-visit-part-i/ by Shannon K. O'Neil Sat, 28 Jan 2012 03:41:55 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Tambopaxi http://www.latintelligence.com/2007/05/16/bolivia-visit-part-i/comment-page-1/#comment-32 Tambopaxi Sat, 21 Jul 2007 11:22:24 +0000 http://www.latintelligence.com/?p=24#comment-32 Dissociation of leaders in LA from the acts of their subordinates and/or supporters is a pretty common occurence in the region. Notwithstanding the sad history of democracy in LA, people still vote in these countries in the belief (well, hope, actually) that they'll get an honest and effective leader who will hire honest and effect cabinet ministers and other functionaries. To large extent that the Presis are, repeat, are honest, though not necessarily effective. The sad part though, is that most them are products of corrupt political systems and parties, and the Presidents almost always recruit from those same systems. While I agree with your analysis in Bolivia (II) about the disintegration of traditional political parties in several countries, don't get your hopes up too much with respect to broad-based participation in support of Morales or other leaders in the region. You're still dealing with Bolivians or Ecuadorians or Venezuelans, etc. who are products of fundamentally flawed cultures and societies where corruption is the accepted norm. These means that the chances are quite high (read: outcome not guaranteed, but extremely likely) that Bolivia (and the other countries) will see repetition of the same corruption/political backstabbing phenomena, abeit in a different context; same-old-wine-in-a-new bottle scenario, if you will. It's happening for sure in Venezuela under Chavez and there's already been the high profile incident of Correa's Finance Minister in Ecuador. Every country is different in many ways, but I shouldn't be surprised if local variations on the corruption theme have already occurred within Morales cabinet and/or his political support group, MAS. Dissociation of leaders in LA from the acts of their subordinates and/or supporters is a pretty common occurence in the region. Notwithstanding the sad history of democracy in LA, people still vote in these countries in the belief (well, hope, actually) that they’ll get an honest and effective leader who will hire honest and effect cabinet ministers and other functionaries. To large extent that the Presis are, repeat, are honest, though not necessarily effective. The sad part though, is that most them are products of corrupt political systems and parties, and the Presidents almost always recruit from those same systems.

While I agree with your analysis in Bolivia (II) about the disintegration of traditional political parties in several countries, don’t get your hopes up too much with respect to broad-based participation in support of Morales or other leaders in the region. You’re still dealing with Bolivians or Ecuadorians or Venezuelans, etc. who are products of fundamentally flawed cultures and societies where corruption is the accepted norm. These means that the chances are quite high (read: outcome not guaranteed, but extremely likely) that Bolivia (and the other countries) will see repetition of the same corruption/political backstabbing phenomena, abeit in a different context; same-old-wine-in-a-new bottle scenario, if you will. It’s happening for sure in Venezuela under Chavez and there’s already been the high profile incident of Correa’s Finance Minister in Ecuador. Every country is different in many ways, but I shouldn’t be surprised if local variations on the corruption theme have already occurred within Morales cabinet and/or his political support group, MAS.

]]> By: Shannon http://www.latintelligence.com/2007/05/16/bolivia-visit-part-i/comment-page-1/#comment-22 Shannon Thu, 17 May 2007 12:21:49 +0000 http://www.latintelligence.com/?p=24#comment-22 I agree with you on Santa Cruz - and just got here last night so will get to see first hand. What surprised me is that people of all sides in La Paz said this, not just those from the MAS (Evo´s political organization) or those sympathetic to the MAS. Most everyone was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I agree with you on Santa Cruz – and just got here last night so will get to see first hand. What surprised me is that people of all sides in La Paz said this, not just those from the MAS (Evo´s political organization) or those sympathetic to the MAS. Most everyone was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

]]> By: Hillel http://www.latintelligence.com/2007/05/16/bolivia-visit-part-i/comment-page-1/#comment-21 Hillel Wed, 16 May 2007 15:21:11 +0000 http://www.latintelligence.com/?p=24#comment-21 I wonder why Evo is not being held personally responsible for the problems people see with his government. I wonder if your sense will be different once you get to Santa Cruz? That is, my sense, where the real action is - or will be. I wonder why Evo is not being held personally responsible for the problems people see with his government. I wonder if your sense will be different once you get to Santa Cruz? That is, my sense, where the real action is – or will be.

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