>Well then I can ask you the same thing I ask before. Did you think the same thing about every decision that the Clinton Administration made?

I will try to answer this, for the case of Bolivia.

The intent in Fernando's comments (if I understand correctly) was to talk about common perceptions, in Latin America, about the U.S. Whether that was his intention or not, it is my intention, in this particular message: to comment on what I understand many people here think about the U.S. - not on my own opinions about the U.S.

The average person here in Bolivia doesn't make difference between Republicans and Democrats - I suspect that many of them don't even know that these two parties exist. For the people here, quite frequently, the U.S. are perceived as the big and powerful country, that likes to poke its nose into other countries business, and is mainly concerned about its own interests.

Not much distinction is made, in the popular perception, between Bush, Clinton and Reagan, or between Republicans and Democrats - and I don't think the blame is placed directly on the presidents as such - the negative perception is simply about the U.S. as a country.

Unfortunately, and very unfairly, this negative perception also leads some people to hate U.S. citizens as such - as if every U.S. citizen was responsible for the decisions of the government! This hate also goes, sometimes, against any fair-skinned person, who looks like he might be from the U.S. - like me, dammit (we are from Europe).

It must have been a few months ago, on one of the lasts protests in the center of the city (of Cochabamba; the protest was not specifically against the U.S.). My brother walked on the streat, and passed somewhat too close to some protesters. Someone who saw him shouted "maten a ese gringo de m*** (kill that filthy gringo). My brother continued walking as if he didn't hear anything, and fortunately, nothing more happened.

I believe the situation is similar in most Latin American countries, except possibly for this latter point, about hating any fair-skinned person: for instance, Bolivia has a large indigenous population. Argentina has mostly fair-skinned people (for the same unpleasant reasons as in the U.S.), and Brasil has a large variety of races.