The Wizard of Oz
12.19.2003Jimmy Carter was in Bolivia. And he naturally said all the typical nice fuzzy things he's known for. He offered his support in building a more socially inclusive democracy, w/ greater transparency. All good things, of course.
And then he spoke about the sea, arguing that Bolivia had a right to access to the sea. He joined the ranks of Chavez, Lula, and Kofi Annan. Carter's willing to personally help Bolivia, Peru, and Chile come to an agreement on the issue. And so, the very same Bolivians who get irate any time a gringo interferes in national politics, lauded his speech. Carter promised to get the White House (really? not sure Bush is interested, what w/ promoting a free trade agreement w/ Chile and all), the OAS (sounds halfway promising), and the UN (um, no thank you) in deliberating the issue.
So. Will this get Bolivia sovereign access to the sea? No. But it will fuel another 50 years or so of Chile-bashing and scapegoating. Thanks.
Carter's words produced hope in Bolivia. They produced anger in Chile, where the idea of giving up sovereign control over any part of northern Chile is anathema.
Posted by Miguel at 01:06 PM
Comments
There he goes again...
I'm not sure why he wants to get involved with that, since usually he's only interested in monitoring elections and building low-income housing. Can't Bolivia lease port space without having to own it? I should read up on this before I start bothering you with questions.
Great post. And your brother's travel posts have been really cool. Happy Holidays.
--scott
Posted by: J. Scott Barnard at December 20, 2003 01:03 PM
Actually, Bolivia has two tariff-free ports that I know of. One in Chile, and one in Peru. We just don't have "sovereign" control of them (whatever the hell that would mean or do for us).
Posted by: Miguel at December 20, 2003 01:11 PM
"My hope is that Bolivia, Chile, and Peru together will find a way to provide Bolivia with direct access to the sea. When discussions are initiated between your country and the others, The Carter Center and many others will be eager to assist in finding an agreement."
I think what Carter said is important. Bolivia needs to shift the rhetoric to emphasizing discussions, cooperation and compromise. When this replaces demands, talk of theft and hatred towards Chile, only then can we progress.
I admire Carter and do not think that this is typical gringo mettling, unlike ambassador Rocha's mettling. Hopefully something good will come from this.
Full speech: http://www.cartercenter.org/viewdoc.asp?docID=1570&submenu=news
Posted by: eduardo at December 21, 2003 01:15 AM
Yes, I do think Carter's words were better phrased than even Kofi Annan's. But I don't like Carter's meddling nonetheless. If he'd really wanted to deal w/ Bolivia's sea issue, why not decades ago? Why not when he was president? Why now?
The bottom line is that Bolivia will NOT win access to the sea. Not sovereign access. I wish more international statesmen would instead push Bolivians into that realization, and provide other options for development. All Carter's meeting did was prolong the pointless search for a sovereign outlet to the sea.
Posted by: Miguel at December 21, 2003 01:33 PM
I frankly think that carter's interest in dealing with Bolivia's problem is not good will, but economic interest in favor of companies like Repsol YPF. He is simply lobbying to get the best deal for that petroleum corp, and if that causes something like war that won't matter because these kinds of things are commonplace when big money is on stake.
At the end the only winners will be mediators like him and corporations for whom he works, in this case Repsol YPF.
Posted by: Jorge Cassaretto at December 29, 2003 01:09 AM