Julio 12, 2005
The Bolivian Vote Abroad
Evo wants Bolivians abroad to receive their right to vote in the upcoming December 4 elections. After all, when I was in Bolivia in November 2000 I submitted an absentee ballot as a U.S. citizen. Why couldn’t Bolivians living in Europe, the U.S. and in neighboring countries be allowed to decide the fate of their homeland? For one thing, these important elections are right around the corner and another thing is that most embassies and consulates are not equipped to handle such a huge responsibility due to manpower and lack of funds.
But why is Evo so interested in seeing the estimated 1 million-plus Bolivians living outside the country be able to vote? Surely he believes that many of those voters would be MAS sympathizers. Perhaps he thinks that the reason that so many saw the need to flee their native lands was caused by the dearth of opportunities caused by a failed neoliberal economic model.
Evo’s party is not called Movement Towards Neoliberalism, because every other word out his mouth is neoliberal-this and neoliberal-that.
Yet, it’s amazing to see how many Bolivians immigrants in the U.S. have thrived in this capitalistic society. It doesn’t matter if one’s surname is Mamani or Choque, here in the U.S. no one seems to care what you are, as long as you work hard and do a good job. (God, I sound like a conservative). Unfortunately in Bolivia, sometimes one's last name is already an obstacle needed to overcome. Yeah, I know it’s not so simple, but just observe Bolivian immigrants when they return to Bolivia. They have even less tolerance for blockades and marches, because those obstacles simply are not here. Imagine Columbia Pike in Arlington blockaded, so that businesses are closed. So many immigrants have achieved their American dream with hard work, being able to return to Bolivia with capital to live how they want. One might say that they want a Bolivia free-of blockades and marches, which Evo believes in 100%
So what’s the deal with Evo and his insistence on this external vote proposal? Ever since the Argentine crisis of 2001, Bolivians who had once lived in that country had been returning. However, there still is an estimated 1 million ex-pats living there. They are much more organized and politically active in that country. I recall seeing posters in Buenos Aires announcing immigrant marches demanding better working conditions. Sometime last year, an Argentine journalist made some disparaging comments about Bolivians. Soon after, there were dozens of Bolivians protesting outside the radio station. You would never see that in Virginia, where many are perceived to be politically apathetic because so many are busy with work or those long commutes.
But apparently, Evo has some serious business dealings in Argentine, which means some pretty hefty organizational structures there. Boli-Nica wrote about Evo’s fruit wholesale business thrusting money into his party, which may or may not be true because some of that information came from a rumor from the partisan Petroleum World website. Nevertheless, there must be something serious going on if Evo is 100% confident that he would benefit greatly from opening up the voting to all Bolviians no matter where they are. Or maybe Evo is so nervous about his prospects and his high disapproval rating, that he needs any support that he can get.
Posted by eduardo at Julio 12, 2005 09:53 PM
Comments
I would say Evo might benefit politically from this position. Like you say, there are "rumors" he gets funded from the fruit wholesale industry in the hands of Bolivians in Argentina. This might just be a condition so Evo continues to get supported by this group.
Also, it is a calulated move, because as you very well know, there are a multitude of people who have family living and working in Argentina. In many cases these are the inmediate family members, i.e. dad, brother, sister. These people are not altogether per se, immigrants (people who move to live in another country). Many are just working there with the aim of going back to their places of origin. But, this can last decades. In the mean time, these people miss much of what is going on the the country and especially, elections.
So, absentee balloting would have a somewhat direct effect on Evo's support, not just financially but also in terms of votes. I would even suggest, especially in the Cochabamba region.
But, looking at the latest polls (and remembering what our friend Miguel C. said and what a friend of mine also said) I doubt any candidate will get enough votes to grab the presidency. Most likely Evo, if he is really interested in becoming president, he'll have to find alliances. One step towards that is the agreement between MAS and MSM. Another interesting alliance would be MAS and NFR. I tell you, Evo has to behave, thus politically, he would be very much tied with all the alliances.
This is getting interesting!
Posted by: Miguel (MABB) at Julio 13, 2005 07:48 AM