Slavery is almost over in Bolivia, yo. I mean life still sort of sucks for most of the Guarani people and it ain't going to be easy in the next year or generation or two or whatever but can we just all take a deep breath and acknowledge that fucking race-based SLAVERY, which has existed in Bolivia since colonial times until like LAST YEAR, is just about gone now? And guess who is super unhappy w/ this development? The comic-book-evil white slaveowners quoted in this AP story. Shocking.
Congratulations to reporter Frank Bajak for this honest and deep story. Maybe one day you'll learn to write about class the way you write about race but, haha no. That would be Communism, probably.
Comments (7)
Uh oh. Hey hey. Looks like there might be some excitement in the new Honduran gubmit:
And via Tiempo:
Posted by El Cid
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January 6, 2010 6:39 PM
Posted on January 6, 2010 18:39
Heh...I hope Larson loses everything he has in the region. Teach him to try to get other people to depend on him for their very existence. With luck, he may just end up in the same deep shit as Branko.
Posted by QueenBina
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January 6, 2010 4:38 PM
Posted on January 6, 2010 16:38
I think it's way suspicious that the Associated Pukes produced an article favorable to the indigenous in Bolivia. I saw it in the Washington Psst the other day, and that makes it way more suspicious--that the CIA picked it up. What's wrong with this picture?
Speculation: It goes without saying that the U.S. government, operating as shills for U.S. corpos, lust after Bolivia's lithium, oil and gas. The "war on drugs" profiteers also want back in, to suck up more U.S. tax dollars, reestablish some drug networks and spy on the indians.
But I think it's more than this. I think they want to keep Bolivia out of their war on Venezuela. It's a "divide and conquer" tactic. They kiss up to the indians for the time being while they "circle the wagons," grab some fuel for their great war machine, and secure a pool of slave labor in the northern South America/Central America region, with Colombia (adjacent to Venezuela's northern oil region) as their launching pad.
Colombia is becoming 'South Vietnam,' with SEVEN new U.S. military bases including a base on the Guajira peninsula overlooking the Gulf of Venezuela and Venezuela's main oil reserves, facilities and shipping. Corrupt government/military has "invited" the U.S. military in--a secretly negotiated agreement with alarming clauses such as the 7 bases, U.S. military use of all civilian airports, diplomatic immunity for U.S. troops and 'contractors,' and no limit on U.S. deployments, for a ten year period.
Local fascist politicians in Venezuela's northern oil region aren't exactly loyal to the national government. (They openly talk of secession.) And Colombia is working on manufacturing a "Gulf of Tonkin"-type border incident with which to trigger a war.
The U.S. reconstituted the 4th Fleet in the Caribbean in summer '08, has new bases in Panama and has been doing illegal overflights of Venezuela's oil coast from U.S. bases on the Dutch islands. And they just picked off one of Venezuela's allies in Central America--Honduras--and secured the U.S. military base and port facilities--the nasty way.
Bolivia is one of Venezuela's strongest allies. The Bushwhacks tried to split it up in Sept. 08, colluding with the white separatists, but this backfired and united all of South America behind Morales. The secession plot failed. Bolivia is a landlocked country, tucked away in the heart of South America, surrounded by mostly leftist governments. It is a hard nut to crack. They are putting it on the "backburner" and trying to neutralize it (by making nice) for their move on Venezuela.
You don't often see a flip-flop like this AP article--a country (Bolivia) that kicked out the U.S. ambassador and the DEA, that accused the U.S. of colluding with white separatist murderers and rioters, that has elected the hugely popular head of the coca leaf farmers union as president and that reveres Mother Earth--being described sympathetically in our corpo-fascist press. I don't expect Evo to fall for their "divide and conquer" shit. But I think that's what they're trying. I think this is a CIA-approved article and strategy.
After Honduras, I don't think it's possible to be too paranoid about U.S. intentions in Latin America. The worst is true.
Posted by PeacePatriot
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January 6, 2010 6:45 AM
Posted on January 6, 2010 06:45
Bina - Artunez isn't the only obvious liar. In Bajak's article on the slave-owners from last February, he quotes Ronald Larsen as saying:
“We’re way over the minimum wage” of $81 a month
http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/global/40295747.html
But in the new Bajak article, Duston Larsen says that his family "had always paid their workers twice the minimum wage" along with that top notch vocational schooling.
I call bullshit. And recently paying your "servants" more (since there's more work to be done now that half of them joined the underground railroad) does not count.
Posted by Revolter
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January 6, 2010 12:11 AM
Posted on January 6, 2010 00:11
Oh yeah, the comically evil Larsens:
"Larsen is also upset that the government recently began giving out food in Guarani communities -- to break the people's dependence on him for employment, he says. "These people, their main thing in life is where they're going to get their next bowl of rice," he said. "A few bags of rice buys a lot of support."
http://www.borev.net/2009/02/american_stands_up_for_slave-o.html
Posted by Revolter
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January 5, 2010 11:49 PM
Posted on January 5, 2010 23:49
Okay, is anyone else getting head-spins reading this:
The claims of serfdom are unfounded, said Javier Antunez, president of the cattlemen's association based in nearby Camiri.
"The government has made a lot of proclamations about servitude but it hasn't produced anything solid to be able to prove it irrefutably," he said in an interview.
...and then this:
An Uruguayan Roman Catholic priest, Rev. Nacho Aguirre, delivered food and medicine afterward to those still living in servitude in remote communities only accessible by four-wheel-drive vehicle.
But he left Bolivia this year after the bishop of Camiri, his superior, e-mailed him that the ranchers hated him and "swore they would kill you."
...followed by:
A mission of the Organization of American States in June 2008 determined that "people of all ages, including boys, girls, adolescents and seniors" had for decades been subject to "excessive physical labor," in some cases under threat of corporal punishment. Mission members were also told that "in many cases, the (ranch) owners were either local political leaders or directly connected to them."
Gee, what's that I smell burning? Your PANTS, Señor Antunez!!!
Posted by QueenBina
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January 5, 2010 11:24 PM
Posted on January 5, 2010 23:24
Dear diary,
The strangest thing happened today. I went over to read da boooorev and there it was praising an AP hack-o.
Lunch was good day...we had pie.
Love you lots, diary,
O
xoxoxoxoxoxox
Posted by otto
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January 5, 2010 10:47 PM
Posted on January 5, 2010 22:47