I follow Latin American politics very closely (check my diaries for prior postings), because I believe that the Bush administration has been caught absolutely flat-footed by the social democratic movement that's spreading through South and Central America like wildfire. More to the point, with Mexico's election upcoming next year, and populist Obrador being the odds-on favorite to win, the concept of social democracy creeps closer to the U.S.'s southern border.
Bolivia is about 2 months away from a presidential election, and Jim Shultz from Democracy Center's Blog for Bolivia favors us with two great postings in the past week that will help everyone understand the political dynamic that's unfolding.
I know this is kind of a niche topic, but if you're interested, take the jump...
First up is the odd story of an American of Bolivian descent who recently traveled around the country to "test the waters", and see if he could gin up support for either a presidential or vice-presidential run. Edwin Lozano is a Sr. Vice President with Pepsico in New York. He stopped in to chat with Shultz in La Paz a couple of months back, and the story is both humorus and concerning. Who would put Lozano up to doing such a thing? I'm fairly certain he didn't wake up in the middle of one night, and say, "Hey - I'd like to be President of Bolivia."
Jim's second recent posting is a handicapping of the presidential race as it's currently shaping up. The Bush administration has already accused Venezuela's Chavez of being the money man behind leading contender Evo Morales, and said that Chavez is meddling in Bolivian politics. Pot, kettle, black, etc. Anyway, according to Shultz, even if Morales wins by a significant margin, it doesn't mean he gains the presidency of Bolivia.
Blog for Bolivia's traffic is spiking in the runup to the election, and for good reason - there's few places on the web that you're going to find a more dispassionate and reality-based breakdown of Bolivian politics over the next few months. Check it out.