The people are heard Part II

Just as there is a lot going on in the world currently such as in Libya, Jordan, Egypt and Wisconsin, there is quite a bit of activity going on here in Bolivia as well. According to the newspaper Los Tiempos, in just this past week the country has lost $5.6 million due to the flooding and social conflicts. The strikes, blockades and flooding have neither allowed the normal flow of products nor food to travel to the market in Bolivian cities nor to neighboring countries as exports. Also, primary materials are not able to be brought to plants to continue production as usual in various industries…it’s just a big chain effect.

Just yesterday the World Food Program distributed 20 tons of food in the tropical region of Cochabamba where the flooding is really bad, and went to 778 families. They say about 9,500 people have been affected so far by the intense rains we’re getting, destroying homes, causing deaths of people and livestock and trapping people either in their own towns or in transport trying to get somewhere else.

As much as I enjoy seeing the hills and mountains green, I am very sad for all the people suffering from such intense rains. It’s really hard to believe, even living in the midst of it, that it’s possible to have such severe drought for much of the year and then BAM we just get rain after rain…the extremity of it is really not a good thing for anybody or the environment. What the reports say about the increase over the more recent years in intense weather patterns, it’s not a joke, at least not here, and it is having very serious consequences.

Switching from the weather issues to the social issues, let’s go back to what happened in December when the diesel and gasoline prices were hiked up for a week when the national government took away those subsidies. “The measure led all other prices to increase exponentially, beyond the purchasing power of the majority of the population. Although increasing food costs followed international trends, many Bolivians remain frustrated that these prices have not returned to previous levels, despite retraction of the temporary fuel hike” (Andean Information Network).

Just a week ago I got a text message from a friend offering to sell me sugar at only 7.50 B’s ($1.08) per kilo. This was exciting because sugar has not been sold for a while now. One day a couple weeks ago I was walking along Lanza, a road in the market section of Cochabamba that always has grains and sugar, but the majority of the tiendas were closed with signs about the injustice and corruption around sugar supply and price manipulations.

“In October 2010, the Morales administration designated the Food Production Support Bureau (EMAPA) as the overseeing organization in control of sugar distribution. In January 2011, rising prices for sugar caused widespread shortages and affected tens of thousands of informal intermediaries who previously made small profits from sales. Organized protestors who opposed the rising price of sugar blocked transportation and flights out of major cities, and large-scale sellers withdrew their sugar stocks from the market in hopes of greater price increases. This deadlock generated several weeks of scarcity for consumers as sugar disappeared temporarily from the market” (Andean Information Network).

Now, the current hot issue that is affecting everyone is the cost of public transportation. The drivers nationwide want to increase the fare from 1.50 B’s to 2 B’s claiming the need to do so because of the food price increases and their needs to support their families. Their income is based on the fares they charge and then take away fuel and maintenance costs. However, the general public is not happy one bit about rise in transportation fares because as a wonderful example of economics at work, transportation costs are a factor in almost all parts of a society and would thereby increase prices of all other products and reduce the buying power of each person, which is already low to begin with.

With only breaks on the weekends, we in Cochabamba, have been without public transportation due to the drivers striking since Wednesday February 16th. Only in Santa Cruz have the people, transportation unions and the government come to an agreement of 1.80 B’s fare. In the rest of the country’s cities the arguing, strikes and blockades continue. Two days ago the transportation union here in Cochabamba agreed to request 1.80 B’s but neither the leaders of the neighborhoods nor the government is in line with this, so starting Monday we will continue to struggle to get about with no public transportation.

So what does this mean for me? It means that everything is up in the air and I know even less now than normally what I will do each day. Reneé and I just barely made it to one of our gardens, which we hadn’t been to in 10 days because of transportation difficulties. Last night I walked an hour to a friend’s house. The other day I walked outside my door to find the street fully congested with parked cars, and I’m talking about a major street in Cochabamba. I couldn’t go to visit someone who is very sick because we couldn’t get to his house. I haven’t gone to the after-school group as often because it takes about 45 min. walk each way and not as many kids are coming when school is in session and some days they cancel it. It takes even longer to do things than it normally does, and I find that in general everything takes longer to do in Bolivia than it did for me when I lived in the United States.

Here is a link to a video and pictures I took on Friday February 18th of a group protesting on one of the streets blocked off by blockades.

https://picasaweb.google.com/nora.pfeiffer/ProtestBlog?authkey=Gv1sRgCM6ika7x6YzmmgE#
As you can see, not violent, but they were chanting very strong messages such as that the police can either be with the people or assassinate them, referring to the police enforcing the set tariff of 1.50 B’s for transportation and not supporting the drivers. Or another one was directed at the government saying how they always talk about being for change and being for the people and they need to stick to that etc.

So, in summation we’ve got intense flooding and droughts, struggling and trapped people, commodity speculations, rising food prices, protests, strikes, blockades with people demanding conflicting needs. “After overcoming many hurdles to achieve constitutional reform and establish important legislative changes, the Morales administration now has to confront the specific demands of different groups who supported those measures and expect concrete returns. MAS (political party of President Morales) must find a balance between compromising with its social movement and union support base, while seeking long-term economic stability” (Andean Information Network).

5 things I’m grateful for today: spending a relaxing evening with a friend; having internet access; nothing was stolen from the Justice and Peace office even though the doors were found open the other morning; a new cell phone that works better; unexpected time to play “soccer” with my neighbor kids, clean my room, sew up holes in my shirts and watch a good movie.