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The Referendum in Bolivia is actually not important
In less than two hours, the polls will close in Bolivia. Soon thereafter, the result of the constitutional referendum will be announced. Half of the country will be happy, half of the country will be sad. Some people will dance, others will cry. Some will light fireworks, others will jump from the balcony.
My dear Bolivian friends, it’s really not worth it! Don’t get hung up by the result, and even more so, don’t hang yourself because of it. Don’t let it strain friendships or relationships.
- If you are on the SI side and the NO side won, don’t worry: MAS will still be able to put up another candidate at the next election who will propose to continue the politics of Evo Morales. The agenda of MAS does not depend on one person. It’s a large party and they have plenty of people. If not, you can run for President yourself.
- If you are on the NO side and the SI side won, don’t worry: It doesn’t mean that President Morales will get another term, it just means there will be another election with him as a candidate. But there are plenty of able opposition parties and candidates who can run again him and by no means is the next election a sure thing for anyone. If necessary, you can run for President yourself.
Now let’s all be happy that the alcohol ban will be lifted on Monday.
And if there are reports of election fraud, then both the SI and the NO voters should unite, demand an investigation and prosecution if warranted. Because anyone who commits fraud in an election or a referendum displays blatant disrespect to voters from both sides. The integrity of democracy is far more important than the outcome of the referendum, particularly on such a relatively minor question. The Bolivians who gave their lives and their liberty in the fight for democracy didn’t fight for the question of two or three or four presidential terms. They fought for free and fair elections, regardless of the outcome. Let’s not forget this priority.
My Shadow is a Cowboy
The great thing about a hat is that your own shadow suddenly looks much cooler.
(Photographed on the walk from San José de Chiquitos to Santa Cruz la Vieja in Bolivia. But that doesn’t really matter for this photo, does it?)
Video Blog: NO campaign in Santa Cruz
It was Sunday evening, I was sitting in the central square of Santa Cruz in Bolivia, resting from the half marathon which I had run earlier that day. It was Valentine’s Day and of course I was by myself, when I suddenly heard the sound that I like so much, that gets my pulse racing, makes me grab my camera and run towards it, as tired as my legs may have been after running 21 km in the morning. That sound is the sound of political protest.
I caught the beginning of a walk by the NO campaign, the campaign against changing the Bolivian constitution, against allowing President Morales to run for a fourth term in office. Even if you are not too interested in politics, these videos give you a nice glimpse of the area around the cathedral in Santa Cruz.
The crowd grew by the minute. People who had sat in the park playing with their children, eating ice cream or staring at their phones (the big difference between Cochabamba and Santa Cruz: people sitting in a park in Cochabamba eat, people sitting in a park in Santa Cruz stare at their phones) had gotten up to join the parade.
Bystanders were clapping in support. None of the cars which were forced to wait because of the march honked in frustration. Even this child showed his support.
And like any good political protest, it ended with the singing of the national anthem.
Posted in Bolivia, Photography, Politics, Travel, Video Blog
Tagged Evo Morales, Santa Cruz
2 Comments
Free T-Shirts vs Self-Made Costumes
Handing out free T-shirts is one way of getting people to campaign for you. So done by the campaign for the constitutional amendment which would allow the renewed re-election of President Morales in Bolivia.
This was outside the bus/train station in Santa Cruz. Some guys showed up with a huge supply of T-shirts and immediately a long line formed.
That’s one way to run campaigns. But my impression was that the people of the “SI” campaign were often rather lackluster, just standing around in groups and talking among themselves.
The “NO” campaigns I have seen in Cochabamba and Santa Cruz seemed to be more grass-root organized, more energetic, with more authentic conviction (and sometimes anger). Take this father and his son, who asked me to take their photo at the rally of the “NO” campaign in Santa Cruz, and their self-made costume for example (although the “NO” campaign also offered pre-printed T-shirts of course).
Only vote while sober, please!
When I stepped into the convenience store on Avenida America in Cochabamba, I noticed something strange. A large section of the shop was cordoned off with black linen. It was the alcohol section.
“What happened?” I asked the shopkeeper, “Did you become Mormon or 7th Day Adventist?” “No,” he smiled, “it’s the law. We are not allowed to sell alcohol before and during the referendum,” referring to the vote on 21 February 2016 about the proposed amendment to the Bolivian constitution which would allow the re-election of the President for another (fourth) term.
And indeed, an ordnance passed by the Bolivian Election Commission stipulates the ban of sale and consumption of alcohol for 48 hours before an election or a referendum. It also bans the carrying of sharp or blunt objects, public performances and any motorized transport on election day.
The purpose of the alcohol ban is for voters to have a clear mind when they make a decision on Sunday. Creative hot-shot lawyer as I am, I tried to argue that I am exempt from the ban because as a foreigner, I cannot vote anyway. Thus, it doesn’t matter how clouded my judgement will be tomorrow. The law doesn’t provide for such an exemption, but I argued for the necessity of a “reducción teleológica”, a teleological reduction which narrows the applicability of a law beyond its wording based on its intent, and was proud that I made up the right legal terminology in Spanish simply by guessing that it would be similar to the English or German one.
Needless to say, my argument did not prevail and I did not get any whiskey. Probably the shop clerk was right in rejecting it, because another purpose of the alcohol ban might be to avoid the anger and violence which can result from the combination of losing an election and getting drunk. And in such brawls, even I as a foreigner could be – and given my history of mingling in other country’s affairs probably would be – involved. Although Bolivia has been a relatively stable democracy since the 1980s, in light of the turbulent history before, with dozens of revolutions, military coups, counter-coups, maybe it’s better to be safe than sorry. On the other hand, banning public gatherings and public transport just makes a military coup easier because it’s harder for any opposition to organize. Anyway, let’s not cry wolf and let’s all get along regardless of whether we vote SI or NO tomorrow. Then we’ll also be able to drink again Monday night.
I haven’t been able to find out if the sale of coca leaves goes up during the alcohol ban.
This should also provide for interesting data on whether there will be fewer or more accidents (obviously only on Saturday and Monday when driving is not banned), fewer or more crimes, fewer or more hospital admissions than on comparable weekends.
Video Blog: Cochabamba in Bolivia
This is Cochabamba, the city which is now my home in Bolivia:
And yes, the animals at the 3:22 minute mark are llama fetuses. They are sold at the “Witches’ Market” and you are supposed to bury one of them in the ground when building a new house. It will protect the domicile. If you are building a house soon, I can mail you one.
Despite this somewhat spooky corner of the “La Cancha” market, the city is very friendly, with many parks and an agreeable mix of tradition and modernity. It’s not a museum town for tourists, but a city in which people really live. But despite its size (650,000 people), I never get the feeling of living in a city which is too large or too hectic.
Trailer: “Los 8 mas odiados” (“The Hateful Eight”)
When I like a film, I may go to the theater a second or a third time to watch it again. (Yes, I pay for films because I believe in copyright law. And because I think that many films don’t work as well on a small screen.) This happens regularly with Quentin Tarantino’s films. Inglourious Basterds I watched three or four times, once without glasses and from the last row to focus just on the soundtrack.
Luckily, with The Hateful Eight, I have another reason to go and watch it again and again and again. In Bolivia, it’s playing with Spanish subtitles of course.
That’s a great way to learn Spanish, but in order to catch all the subtitles and to remember them, I will have to watch this film more than once. About eight times, I guess.
German history follows me all the way to Bolivia
Zur deutschen Fassung dieses Artikels.
A few days ago in Santa Cruz in eastern Bolivia:
The Orient Express on which I had come from San José de Chiquitos, even further in the east of the country, was delayed by an hour, so I had to hurry to get to the airport to catch a flight back home to Cochabamba. In the city center I looked and asked around for bus no. 135, but to no avail. I had to bite the bullet and hail an expensive cab. Luckily, there are always plenty of them cruising around.
One of the first questions of every cab driver is of course: “Where are you from?”
“From Germany,” I still reply, although I haven’t lived there for seven years. But in first or passing conversations, simplicity prevails.
“Oh, my father was from Germany,” the driver says, as excited as me about this coincidence. “But he was no Nazi!!” he adds, waving his right index finger and looking at me in the rear-view mirror to make sure I got this very important clarification.
I express my retroactive admiration for the taxi driver’s father’s opposition to the National-Socialist regime, but he already continues telling me the story of his father: a German Jew, from the area around Frankfurt, who had gone through several concentration camps, lost his whole family, was the only one to survive, emigrated to Bolivia, married a Bolivian woman and had a family here.
“That was a huge massacre that this guy Hitler made,” the taxi driver remarks, still visibly agitated by his father’s fate. As far as is possible in the brevity of time, in the morning rush-hour and with my limited Spanish skills, I try to point out that one would do injustice to the tens of thousands of abettors and the millions of followers of the Nazis if one were to forget their role in the holocaust. It’s not like one man could organize and carry out a genocide on an industrial scale for twelve years by acting alone.
Although I already have more than enough work of this kind, I spontaneously launch my own offensive of reparation: “Did your father still hold German citizenship when you were born? Because then you would have German citizenship, too.” After all, this is one of my areas of specialization. And if the case was that simple, we wouldn’t even need to invoke Art. 116 II of the German Constitution which mandates the restitution of German citizenship to the victims of Nazi persecution and to their descendants.
Carlos, that is the name of the potential German, doesn’t really want to travel to Germany, but is nonetheless excited by the prospect of a German passport: “Then I can finally visit my children in the US without having to apply for a visa.” We agree to remain in contact, that he will e-mail me more details of his family’s history and that I will see what is possible in his case. He doesn’t offer to reduce the fare of 70 bolivianos, though.
You can read a bit more about the Jewish emigration to Bolivia here. Or you can get Leo Spitzer’s book Hotel Bolivia.
Of particular interest is the town Chulumani, hidden in the almost impenetrable Yungas forests. Some of the Jews from Germany fled here because they thought they’d be safe in those remote mountains. For the same reason, a different group of Germans fled to Chulumani after World War II: high-ranking Nazis were hiding from prosecution there. For a time, Klaus Barbie (who advised Bolivian dictators, whose families had also come from Germany, coincidentally) and allegedly Adolf Eichmann and Josef Mengele lived in the same town as the Jews who had fled from them. For the Bolivians, it was hard to comprehend why these immigrants didn’t get along with each other, for they were all Germans in their eyes.
Links:
- More about Bolivia.
- More about history.
- I never made it to Chulumani, sadly. But when I return to Bolivia to write a book about this fascinating country, I will of course go there. I am thankful for any support for this mission!
Posted in Bolivia, German Law, Germany, History, Holocaust, Immigration Law, Law, Travel, World War II
Tagged Chulumani, German citizenship, German history, German passport, immigration, Jews, Nazis, Santa Cruz
16 Comments
Video Blog: How you wake up in Santa Cruz
It’s early morning in Santa Cruz in Bolivia. Although the smartest thing in this heat would be to get up and go to work at 5 o’clock, the Square of 24th September, named after a revolt on that day in 1810, is still almost empty at 8:30. Only a few shoeshine men and pensioners are already about.
And the band which woke me up. Despite the time it took me to shower and get dressed, they are still playing in full swing when I finally join the spectacle, which is largely and sadly devoid of viewers or listeners.
But listen and watch for yourself:
And it continued like this at least for another half hour. It seemed to me like the duration of the concert was timed exactly to cover the time needed to read El Deber, the local newspaper, drink a cup of coffee and smoke a cigar.
The apartments with a balcony facing the Square of 24th September must be really sought-after.
The Happy Hermit 