Lefty journalist Franz Chavez took myself, an activist from France and a Bolivian who resided in the southern most state of the country to El Alto - Bolivia upper most city. Its really high up. 3500 kms. Rent is cheaper in El Alto so many of Bolivias poor (indigenous) live there and commute down the thin winding road to La Paz each day. A main road in El Alto took us down the city. The main road has pot holes and either side of this large thoroughfare lay small mechanic shops, some dirt futbol playing feilds, a marchet, small cafes. Buidlings were half constructed of this basic red brick material. Some of the buildings that looked as if work was still being done had tree branchs holding sections of the unfinished sections. Looked scary to work on.
Smaller roads off the main drag were half flooded with water, and mostly comprised of dirt. No car was able to go down there. El Alto is stronghold of MAS and people here know how to fight. The led the largest rally in Bolivia - 2 million people - against the dictatorship Sanchez...I think in 2003. They dont have enough clean water, their public schools need more funding and they need electricity. The Spanish, the US, the World Bank have bled Bolivia - rich in gold, silver, wool - dry. It is only now with the Morales government that the people are beginning to see some of the benefits of their countries natural wealth. This time around...the money is coming from gas.
Bolivia, whose economy has grown since Morales, is still Latin America´s second poorest country - second only to desperate Haiti. Taxes against companies exist here but are hard to enforce. Taxes against rich families are almost non-existant.
Smaller roads off the main drag were half flooded with water, and mostly comprised of dirt. No car was able to go down there. El Alto is stronghold of MAS and people here know how to fight. The led the largest rally in Bolivia - 2 million people - against the dictatorship Sanchez...I think in 2003. They dont have enough clean water, their public schools need more funding and they need electricity. The Spanish, the US, the World Bank have bled Bolivia - rich in gold, silver, wool - dry. It is only now with the Morales government that the people are beginning to see some of the benefits of their countries natural wealth. This time around...the money is coming from gas.
Bolivia, whose economy has grown since Morales, is still Latin America´s second poorest country - second only to desperate Haiti. Taxes against companies exist here but are hard to enforce. Taxes against rich families are almost non-existant.
How the people in El Alto - and in Bolivia´s underresources countryside - will be able to have houses with running water, functional electricity, a properly funded school for their kids will be determined by the success of the struggle unfolding here against the countries oligarchy.
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