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Noviembre 26, 2004
Another Goni Interview
The St. Petersburg Times had a chance to chat with Goni, in one of his rare interviews.
His overthrow still hurts. But a year later, "Goni," as he is universally known, is philosophical about it. "When something as traumatic happens to you as happened to me, there's one lesson you have to learn," he said, over an outdoor lunch by the Miami River. "First, it's not all my fault. And two, it's not everybody else's fault, either. It's some place in between."
A fair story, and it appears he is no longer overwhelmingly bitter at the events. In his past interviews, Goni blamed the "narco-terrorists" for his ousting.
Goni also talked about the lack of support from the Bush administration, even though he dangled the natural gas carrot in front of them. Instead of receiving 150 million dollars in loans, Bolivia only received 10 million.
"The tragedy of Bolivia is that we were one step away from the fruits of reform," said Sanchez de Lozada. "We lost that moment."
Despite his rueful reminiscing, Sanchez de Lozada has not given up on his homeland altogether. As the world's energy resources become scarcer - and costlier - he hopes that Bolivia's natural gas deposits eventually will be tapped. But for that to happen, Washington will have to shift its attention. He offers some parting advice for U.S. policymakers: "It's a lot easier to handle Latin America than the Middle East."
Posted by eduardo at Noviembre 26, 2004 07:49 PM
Comments
Yeah, that's a pretty fair assesment. I think part (part, not all, of course) of the opposition to Goni stemmed from his proposed reforms (which go back to the "1994 agenda"). Plans to decentralize the political & administrative system, and to modernize the bureaucratic infrastructure threatened many entrenched interests & clientelist networks (tied to the powerful syndicatos). W/o the kind of overwhelming electoral mandate he had in 1993-97, his attempts to reform became mired in bad politics -- he was forced, after all, to include MIR (one of the most corrupt parties) as well as NFR (one of the most obstinantly powerhungy parties) in a cobled-together coalition. It wasn't the broad, yet pragmatic, MNR-MRTKL-MBL base of 1993-97. In hindsight, it was probably doomed to failure.
Posted by: Miguel Centellas at Noviembre 27, 2004 08:27 PM
Yes, that awkward coalition only had the chance to increase perception of corruption. I was listening to Radio Panamericana online and MNR had some campaign spots. It ran down all of the major accomplishments since 1952, including PP, SUMI, Bonosol and the universal suffrage.
It's true that MNR has accomplished a lot compared to the other administrations (and I still sympathize with them to a point, due to my family connections), but in the end it seemed as if they were out of touch with Bolivian reality. Having Sanchez Berzain as Goni's right hand man could only lead to his downfall.
Posted by: eduardo at Noviembre 28, 2004 10:25 AM