There’s an interesting new blog from Bolivia, called precisely Blog From Bolivia. Take a look at this tidbit:
I am just back from a two day trip to La Paz. I met with the Bolivian Vice-Minister who has been handling the government’s negotiations with Bechtel….. The Vice-Minister verified that our international pressure campaign against Bechtel has worked and that the company is ready to drop its $25 million legal case against Bolivia - for a token sum of two Bolivianos, about 30 cents
How’s that for some inside scoop?
The blog is part of the organization The Democracy Center’s website. The center’s director, Jim Schultz has been living in Cochabamba for quite some time and has been involved in community activism programs in Bolivia, the U.S. and all over the world. The Center won Top Story of the Year from Project Censored for their work in the “Guerra del Agua” 2000. I met Jim in 2003 through some common friends, and when he gave a very informative presentation to the Maryknoll School in Cochabamba.
There are no immediate plans to add a comments section to the blog, primarily due to time constraints. However, hopefully the active interest of the small handful of bloggers who comment on one another’s site will convince him that there is room for more discussion about Bolivia in blogs.
Comments (3)
I once found about Schultz doing some research. The thing I didn’t like is that I read his writings in Indymedia Bolivia.
I like to read Indymedia and Narco News to get another perspective. I definitely take it with a grain of salt. I would rather not get my news exclusively from the major newspapers. Being out of the country, it’s harder to get a large cross section of information.
I also try to get opinions from my friends and cousins “on the ground”.
That is what I like about Indymedia. One can get often information from the front lines, from “embedded” reporters. But, the opinion articles they publish are at best mediocre. And, you know why? Mainly because there are no authors. No one signs anything they write. You don’t know who they are and that takes all the credibility. If they would write their names (also the people who maintain that site) it would be much more credible.
That is my problem.