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Octubre 17, 2004
Black October - One Year Later
Today marks the one year anniversary of Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada resigning the Presidency. It has been a rollercoaster of a year, yet with some (in my opinion) positive steps forward. No one pretends that the worst is in our rear view mirror, but with a Referendum under the belt and a Constituent Assembly in the works, things may seem a bit brighter. I had left a couple weeks before everything went down and upon my return, things haven´t changed much on the surface. However, I think there is a bit more optimism seeing what Carlos Mesa is trying to do. The political parties are, for the most part, dead in the water.
It is hard to summarize everything in this one small paragraph, but I honestly feel that the political parties have set Bolivia back so far, that there is so much cynicism about anyone who enters politics. The word "public servant" is never used as a synonym for a politician or anyone working in the public sector.
I feel very guilty about what I have back in the States. When I came back, I asked some of my friends about so-and-so, and they tell me "Oh, he´s in Sweden" or "He went to Spain to try his luck". Each day there are stories in the newspapers about Bolivians being deported from France and Western Europe.
I try hard not to take for granted all of the opportunities I have had because of my American passport. Something needs to change in Bolivia, there was absolutely no way that things could have continued the way that they were. The monopoly by the political parties and corrupt officials sucked the life out of the country, but I see slowly things can start to begin the process of changing just a bit how Bolivia operates.
photo: La Razon
A couple of newspapers published special sections commemorating the events last October.
La Razon: A un año de octubre, el país aún permanece entrabado
El Deber: Octubre negro, 411 heridos mantienen vivo el dolor
Posted by eduardo at Octubre 17, 2004 06:41 PM
Comments
Question: Why do you say that the political parties are dead in the water?
Posted by: MB at Octubre 18, 2004 07:05 AM