2008 Woodie Awards
OVERSEAS BRIEFING
KELLY BLYNN
Issue date: 3/9/06 Section: News
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BOLIVIA - I've been in Bolivia for almost a month now, making my way through the challenges and excitements of being in a new culture, relearning and improving my Spanish and meeting new people. My program is based in Cochabamba, a city of 800,000 people or so, nestled in a valley with the Andes towering above to the north and west. The city boasts an eternal spring, and indeed the weather is nearly perfect, 70s in the day, 60s at night, typically sunny - certainly a difference from rainy, snowy, chilly, but of course lovely Vermont.
Bolivia today is South America's poorest country, with 70 percent of the population living below the poverty line. The poverty is extreme, but the culture, society and political movements here are incredibly vibrant and active. Bolivia is also South America's most indigenous country, and walking along the streets each day, I see everything from your modern businessman and woman to women and children in traditional Aymara and Quechua dress, with kids and possessions wrapped up and carried in brightly-colored weavings on their backs. Also, not a day goes by when I don't see people gathering in the plazas, giving speeches or hanging political slogans from their windows. All the graffiti I have seen is not hateful, like at home, but instead focused on the important hot political issues of the moment - gas nationalization and coca.
In December, Bolivia elected the first indigenous president in South American history, Evo Morales, by one of the largest margins in the country's history. Critics say he is incompetent as a leader, and laugh at the red sweater he dons in place of a fancy suit, but it will be interesting to watch and see if he knows more about how to lead his country than his U.S.-educated predecessors who were supposedly more competent, but have done little to help the Bolivian people or economy. It is truly fascinating to be here in the midst of the strong forces of both modernization and globalization, and also indigenous movements.
Bolivia today is South America's poorest country, with 70 percent of the population living below the poverty line. The poverty is extreme, but the culture, society and political movements here are incredibly vibrant and active. Bolivia is also South America's most indigenous country, and walking along the streets each day, I see everything from your modern businessman and woman to women and children in traditional Aymara and Quechua dress, with kids and possessions wrapped up and carried in brightly-colored weavings on their backs. Also, not a day goes by when I don't see people gathering in the plazas, giving speeches or hanging political slogans from their windows. All the graffiti I have seen is not hateful, like at home, but instead focused on the important hot political issues of the moment - gas nationalization and coca.
In December, Bolivia elected the first indigenous president in South American history, Evo Morales, by one of the largest margins in the country's history. Critics say he is incompetent as a leader, and laugh at the red sweater he dons in place of a fancy suit, but it will be interesting to watch and see if he knows more about how to lead his country than his U.S.-educated predecessors who were supposedly more competent, but have done little to help the Bolivian people or economy. It is truly fascinating to be here in the midst of the strong forces of both modernization and globalization, and also indigenous movements.