Revolt of the Rich

Does this Michael Miller guy really thinks of hismself as a reporter? He has absolutely no clue what the hell is going on here in Bolivia!
Mr Miller, either you are extremely naive and irresponsible to trust your sources blindly, or you are not brave enough to come down here, get your feet dirty, heer both sides of the story, stand between the bullets, and later draw your own conclusions. The latter one is what a reporter must do in order to be a good reporter. I suggest you do that Mr. Miller.
I'll leave you with one thought by William James: "A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices."

Erich Zehl

How can this Michael Miller guy call himself a reporter? He has no *** idea what the hell is going on in Bolivia! Of course it's easy to wright such a "fantastic" headline: "Revolt of the Rich", wow, did he come up with that line all by himself?? Mr. Miller, either you are extremely naive and trust your sources blindly, or you are too afraid to come down here (Bolivia) and stand between the bullets to see the real story. The latter one is what you should be doing in order for you to be a good reporter, I suggest you do it.

Erich Zehl

"It depends on what the [government forces do] and on their capacity for crowd control and using non-lethal weapons" The army already used lethal weapons in Pando, they killed people and are many injured...
Any way, I hope that this brief explanation would give to readers a different point of view and understand why americans as a Mr. Weisbrot... is so blind with "Evo Morales. I think they believe that because he is the first " aymara indian president' he can kill people, take away the democracy, destroy the institutionaly of Bolivia...
this is what I personally call " antropologism in the news... nothing more.than a manipulation and distorsion of the reality. No Evo Morales, and no " experts".
God save Bolivia from them

Clelia Wilmeth

-"The government has been very pacifist and I think they don't get enough credit for that.."" NOT TRUE!! Since Evo Morales is the president of Bolivia, he instigated the hate between the city agains the country side, between the quechua and aymara indians against the eastern departments or "white" , he did organize his "cocaleros" people, moving them from one city to another city disrupting the civilize life in Bolivia, the cocaleros are not pacifist, they are violent people and are paid by the goverment to cause problems and even dead of other bolivians because they think and they look different.. the problem in Pando was organized by Morales minister with money from Venezuela, ... there are reports of their trips to pando to the small towns (flying helicopters, airplanes, etc); there they did pay almost $25 to every man and give them arms..

-"Morales got 67 percent of the vote, which is as big as you get in politics in the world without fixing the election" This is not true! if Morales got 67% it's because they counted the dead, una person voted 10 times; in small towns the Morales people, did took away the freedom of the citizens to vote in the privacy, they took note of someone that wasn't voting for Morales, there were sanctions for them... probably my name was used to vote. The (American States Organization (OEA) denounced this situation and told Morales that they need to audit the electoral data base. In Bolivia nobody believe this 67%! - So it is a form of serious sabotage for the bolivian democracy. This fixing has been prepared by venezuelans, since the beginning of Morales goverment .

"why they would raise such a fuss over the government wanting to take a small part of that and use it for some pensions for people over 60.." this is not true, Morales is taking away the whole revenue from hidrocarbons, in departments like Pando, Beni, where it's the only income that they have to develop their department, this the answer of Why they are against Morales. If Morales wanted to give money to the elders, he could plan his program with every prefecture, but he didn't, because he needed the money to use politically. The prefectures and municipalities are working with social programs supporting their population health plans, that benefit to every person and not only the elders. Plan that work as a universal health care program.

.-"..whole GDP is only $13.2 billion. Most of it is owned by the prefectures, the provinces, so they have a lot of money" in economy this is called "Distribution of Wealth" that is essential to any democracy, because the prefectures and the municipalities have in their hand the major responsabilities and are close to the people. the central goverment has it's own big money. can you imagine if this happens here in USA? Mr Weisbrot has forgotten the basics of a good economy.

As a bolivian, I want to coment your interview, because the reality is totally different.
-"There is the hydrocarbon revenue, which goes disproportionately to the Media Luna states" This is not true, because 50% of the revenue goes to the central goverment, and only 11% to the department of Santa Cruz, because it's a producer and it's very populated, this amount change depending of the production levels of the oil and gas fields. The other departments also are receiving revenues even without producing one drop of oil. Taking away this income, Morales is affecting the whole country, -"[the government has] already begun some redistribution" this is not true, that was done many many years ago, and he is doing the opposite!

America has proven once again that it is consistently on the side of the rich, and is forever opposed to the poor.

I think this article is awfully written. I think Mr Mark Weisbrot is out of touch with what hte real issues are in Bolivia. This is not a fight between the poor and the rich, or the rich not wanting to share their wealth with the poor. This is about democracy and defending your rights as an individual from a President that is following the path of dictatorship and communism. The revenue from gas have ALWAYS been shared with the rest of the nation, this is a fact. This is a fight to retain greater autonomy and to be able to keep some of the revenues that the provinces are producing in their own territories. This is about retaining what is rightfully yours. This is about keeping your integrity and your right to democracy, to not give in to Socialism that we all know does not work. It ultimately kills the desire to succeed and be better as a person for the sake of the masses that just want a free ride. I was born in Bolivia and most of my family is still there. It makes me really angry to see how the international media distorts this information and does not provide the whole picture. The real rebels are the Morales supporters who are trying to obtain by force what they never had. They are not willing to compromise for the well being of the nation. Everybody seems to forget that Evo Morales is a Socialist who is trying to turn the country into what Venezuela is now. How will Socialism and Communism will ever work for the greater benefit of the people?

Sparky, the most dangerous threat to the U.S.A. after the Islamic radicals are the democratic - socialist left winger American hating people like you.

Evo beset by the opposition what's new that's politics. The Democratic party in the U.S. has been totally disloyal to President Bush for almost 8 years.. And for you American haters there is not any proof that the U.S. is giving any money to anyone in Bolivia to create trouble. You reds just need a goat to hang your failures on. Furthermore you over estimate the interest of the U.S.A. in a backward country somewhere in South America, llama wool is not in high demand
here. Evo Morales is a naive socialist that like all socialist does not understand human nature, people will resist being made poor.

"the people that could not win at the ballot box are trying other means" sounds like our Democratic party and their failure to be a loyal opposition. President Bush should really have some sympathy for Ivo they share the same burden a disloyal opposition.

Fortunately the States and its government have been too pre-occupied chasin ghosts in the 'war on terror' to have noticed the huge shift that has occurred in South America.
http://theendisalwaysnear.blogspot.com/2008/04/how-al-qaida-saved-south-america.html
Now, we're seeing the reaction from the right, or the east of Bolivia as their oil and gas wealth is being threatened by someone who, OMG, wants to equally distribute wealth.
http://theendisalwaysnear.blogspot.com/2008/08/evo-and-alan.html

Once again the USA is spending money, influence, and resources to overthrow a democratically elected leader of a Latin American nation. Why? Is it because he has violated human rights or broken treaties or threatened the US? No, it is because he represents the disenfranchised working poor majority of his country, because he is taking steps to remove oligarchs and foreign corporations robbing his nations natural resources and wealth. God forbid this continues to spread until one day the American sheeple wake up from their slumber and overthrow the financial elite that run their country and once again become a democracy. For the elitist that run America, the wants of the few outweigh the needs and lives of the many.

The USA is a terrorist sponsor. Its good citizens just need to figure out that their government, both Republican and Democrat, is evil and corrupt and needs to be wiped out and replaced.

The major issue is the referendum that President Morales is calling for on Dec. 7. He wants the constitution drafted by his party to be put to a vote. The way the constitution was written and voted upon is illegal. The MAS party (Evo Morales' party) barricaded themselves in a military barracks and would not let the opposition members in to vote on the new constitution. Even then they did not follow the correct procedure of going through a lengthy line by line vote. It was rammed through and called legal. Where is the discussion about the legality of the constitution?