Interesting things are happening in Bolivia, as this article in The Washington Post indicates. Evo Morales, the first Aymara Indian elected President there, is a great admirer of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and of Cuba's Fidel Castro, but not of the United States. Morales' electoral constituency is concentrated among the Quechua and Aymara Indians in the highlands, who make up perhaps 55% of Bolivia's population.
However, most of Bolivia's wealth comes from the eastern lowlands, based on agricultural production and natural gas. The eastern Santa Cruz province held a referendum this past weekend on whether to take some power back from the central or national government, and the referendum passed. The underlying motive of the referendum was to keep their locally generated wealth at home, instead of subsidizing poor Indians in the highlands. Other lowland provinces are considering similar referenda, all of which Morales and the Bolivian army say are "illegal."
If you have an interest in Latin America, this is a situation to which you should attend. We haven't heard the last of this matter. It could degenerate into civil war, although there is little sign of that yet.
