DO YOU THINK BUSH'S HEAVY HAND IS PULLING ANY FUNNY BUSINESS IN LATIN AMERICA? LET'S LOOK AT DEVELOPMENTS IN BOLIVIA

Before I attack the Bush Regime for collusion with the forces of the far right in Bolivia, let me also say that Democratic Party hacks who curry favor with the same transnational oligarchies, the sole beneficiaries of the disgraceful Bill Clinton/George Bush trade policies (called "globalization" and, as inappropriately as Bush's horrendous policy package on the environment is called "Clear Skies," "free trade") are in cahoots with the same forces of oppression. In fact, in the specific case of Bolivia, it was reactionary Beltway relic James Carville who did his best to keep progressive Evo Morales out of the presidency.

Evo is the first Bolivian Indian to ever win Bolivia's presidency, despite the fact that the Indians far outnumber the whites there. Evo is a populist beloved by Bolivia's impoverished masses and, of course, hated by Washington insiders.

We don't hear much about Latin American politics in the U.S. media. I've been in South America for a month, so I'm hearing a lot about 'em. Bush and his political allies are widely blamed for stealing the recent Mexican presidential election from Obredor in a way that smelled awfully like a mix of Florida 2000 and Ohio 2004. South Americans are far more aware of the failed Bush-backed coup against Hugo Chavez in Venezuela than are North Americans (who are simply told that Chavez is evil and insane and an enemy of God). No one in the U.S. talks much about progressive, basically anti-Bush candidates winning resounding victories in Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia and even Argentina (not to mention Chavez' landslide reelection last week against a Bush-backed rightist).

I suspect that the American fomenting of civil unrest in Bolivia is going unreported in the U.S. this weekend. It's front page, screaming headlines everywhere in Latin America. Big American corporations are freaking out because Evo is giving voice to the aspirations of Bolivia's poor and disenfranchised. Bush and his local allies are staging demonstrations demanding "autonomy" in areas where the rightist party wins majorities. Santa Cruz is Bolivia's largest city--as well as its whitest and most prosperous. The rightists, led by pro-Bush wingnut Ruben Costas, the local governor, are calling Evo "anti-Bolivia" and are threatening, with Bush Regime backing, civil war.

Few Americans understand why the U.S. has had a bad image in Latin America, an image which had largely been repaired by Clinton and is hurtling to new lows compliments of the world's most hated person, our very own illegitimate president.