Bolivia: Stop Stupidity

Well waddya know? Enders is a blue-eyed-whitey. Hoodathunkit...

When The Miami Herald starts a report with.....

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

LA PAZ, Bolivia -- With some newspapers and broadcast outlets relentlessly exposing the government's shortcomings, President Evo Morales and his supporters say the privately-owned media have sided with his opponents yada yada continues here

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

....you just know you're in for a deception-filled feast of fun about Bolivia. What follows those opening lines is pretty much as you'd expect, laying heavily on anti-Evo BS, slipping cute words like 'autocrat' in there and trying to make out that all the opposition press has been doing in Bolivia is highlighting cases of government corruption. No mention about the racism or support for illegal separatists, or revisionist histories about the Pando Massacre or the innocent chats Ruben Costas enjoyed with then US ambassador Goldberg. All those squeaky-clean reporters have have doing is fighting the good fight against graft.

But the name of the journalist caught my eye, John Enders. It rang a bell so I Googled it. It turns out it rang a bell for a different reason (another John Enders was involved with developing the polio vaccine), but I did chance upon our John Enders' sparse little blog. In it we find out just how little he knows about Bolivia when he opines:

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In Bolivia, socialist Evo Morales is a smart fellow and, like most Latin American radicals, doesn’t necessarily believe all of his own rhetoric. He is caught between those who want to return the country to the statist ways of the 1950s and those eastern Bolivia business interests who seek to create a capitalist mecca. Evo already has learned he cannot dictate radical change to his people without widespread and violent opposition. Washington should give him limited support for social reforms, continue to maintain contacts with the opposition and wait for a more moderate, transitional figure in Bolivia to surface as Morales’ successor.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Say whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? Let's do a bit of deconstruction on his views about Bolivia and Evo:

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In Bolivia, socialist Evo Morales is a smart fellow

Well, yes he is

and, like most Latin American radicals, doesn’t necessarily believe all of his own rhetoric.

Got some proof of that, John? I'd say he's come to power calling the same tune all the way and has kept his promises, too. What makes you think Evo says one thing and believes another? An example, please.

He is caught between those who want to return the country to the statist ways of the 1950s

Errr, no. He has the democratic majority vote support of people who are fed up with being ripped off by big business. We're talking about the country that made collecting rainwater illegal to make sure Bechtel's concession on the privatized water supply got maximum bang-per-buck. We're talking about the country that has put eight point five billion dollars in its currency reserves since nationalizing the oil&gas industry. Previously that cash just left the country in its abject poverty. The Morales government's "statist ways" include giving an old age pension to its senior citizens for the first time ever. Get that? EVER.

.........and those eastern Bolivia business interests who seek to create a capitalist mecca.

ROFL! Create a capitalist mecca? OH MY GOD! Don't you mean "create a new Kosovo"? The eastern Bolivians of which you speak have majority control over one city, not a whole region. They are racist, fascist, nazi-worshipping thugs that use indigenous populations as slave labour (that's not my opinion, that's The United Nations' opinion). That your idea of capitalism around Oregon way, John?

Evo already has learned he cannot dictate radical change to his people without widespread and violent opposition.

Evo has learned that to finally reach a level of emancipation for ALL Bolivians, the 10% of people that have hoarded 90% of the pie for generations kick and scream. As for "widespread", you make it sound like all the country hates his reforms. Errr....check every single national vote again, Johnnyboy.

Washington should give him limited support for social reforms, continue to maintain contacts with the opposition and wait for a more moderate, transitional figure in Bolivia to surface as Morales’ successor.

...and why the devil should they do that, Enders? Come on, why not elaborate on why the USA should keep its nose stuck in other country's affairs?

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Enders' journalism and opinions, after "30 years of covering Latin America", show the insight of a fruitfly. And thus, John, you receive this week's coveted award. Enjoy it, dumbass: