Fourth of July

First, a little background on the political setting. Evo Morales, Bolivia’s current president, comes from an “indigenous” tribe in Bolivia (what we would call a Native American or American Indian), and a group historically much abused and discriminated against in Bolivia. He also is a left wing zealot counting Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Cuba’s Castro brothers as allies and mentors. The week before Morales had hosted Iran's President Ahmadinejad. Morales also has a habit of expropriating foreign businesses.


As you would expect, relations between the US and Bolivia are a bit chilly. In fact, there is no ambassador, only a “chargé d'affaires” - a step down from an ambassador. (According to Dave, the US and Bolivia have since managed to smooth things over enough that Bolivia would not object to a full ambassador and normal diplomatic relations, but now under current US politics it is unlikely that anyone President Obama would nominate for ambassador would be approved by the Senate. So the countries continue on with a chargé d'affaires and I’m not that sure it makes much difference anyway.)

In short, the 4th of July is not a day President Morales is inclined to take much notice of, but it is the day for the US embassy to remind Bolivia of the United States and our Independence Day. There was, of course, a fancy reception at the ambassador’s residence for governmental officials from the embassy and Bolivia and other countries. Since there is no ambassador, no one currently resides there (strict rules on who can actually live in the house), but it is nonetheless a posh place to host a party. Dave attended. I did not. (Later in week on Saturday the embassy had a party at the ambassador’s residence for embassy workers and family and expats in the area, which I went to). Dave has some pictures on his blog.La Prieta y El Guero

The evening was the event for the general public held at the largest shopping mall in La Paz (how American is that!) Here are Liberty (as in the statute) and Uncle Sam welcoming and signing autographs.

The Yellowbird Apache dancers Dave refers to La Prieta y El Guero also performed. I took some pictures, but none turned out. They did not perform really as a group, but each member performed a traditional dance of their tribe. They were very good, especially the Cheyenne doing the traditional “hoop” dance.

In addition to this performance, the US embassy had arranged for them to perform at several locations through out the country and actually meet with some Bolivian officials. Recognizing that indigenous people is something of a local political issue, the US I suspect was using these dancers as much for diplomatic purposes as cultural entertainment. I’m not sure what the dancers themselves thought of it all, but I think it was a very clever way of putting the US in a different perspective for Bolivians.

Diplomacy and indigenous dancers notwithstanding, it is through rock and roll that the US is really conquering the world, and accordingly just outside the mall the embassy had a Bolivian band covering nothing but US rock (and they were really pretty good). Dave's got some better pictures here:  La Prieta y El Guero It is difficult to overstate the influence worldwide of US rock music. The downside, however, is that the US image abroad may be formed as much by Lady Gaga as by our talented and carefully selected Foreign Service Officers.

The Fourth of July requires a spectacular fireworks display, and that is true in La Paz as well. But this had a bit of diplomatic drama. The best and safest place to launch the fireworks was on a hill just above the mall, which required a permit. The US applied for the permit, which the Bolivian official declined to issue (not surprising, given Morales’ view of the US). So the embassy launched the fireworks without a permit from the middle of the road in front of the mall within a few feet of spectators (something no US city would allow), but which neither the police nor any other official made any effort to stop. In the end we all saw a great fireworks display, and no Bolivian official lost his job for granting the US a permit (I suppose that’s how diplomacy works).