>Hi Hilmar,
>
>Have things settled down now that the leader resigned? I get the impression from the news here that things are now calm.

Yes. However, this has already happened in the past: the protests get quited for some reason or another (previously, it hadn't been necessary for a president to resign), but after a few weeks or months, protests start again.

The former president, "Goni" (1), warned that the country's fundamental problems were not solved. I am afraid he is right.

The new president, former vice-president, seems to be an agreeable person, but it is too soon to tell how he will perform as a president - or whether they will let him govern!

>AlexF said that it was his impression that it was really a group of "rabble rousers" who instigated all the violence and so this provides one chance to 'test' my theory a little bit.
>
>Is it your impression that it IS a small group of rabble-rousers that has caused all of the violence or is it something different from that, like possible many many many people simply being fed-up with the status-quo and wanting to do something about it?

That is hard to say - it may be a little of both. Of course, there are enough things to protest about: poverty, corruption (2), too much subservience to the desires of foreign powers, and others. On the other hand, it does seem strange that all these protests come together, all of a sudden.

The original cause of protests seemed to be related to gas exportation. When - after quite a lot of violence - Goni announced that there would be a referendum, the protesters said, now it is too late - we won't stop until the president resigns.

These are a few of my general impressions; but in general, it is hard to tell what is really going on.

>I HOPE it is calmer now

It certainly is; but I am afraid that the fundamental problems are not solved (I don't think the real problem was the fact that Goni was president), and that protests, road-blockings, etc. will resume, eventually.

Greetings,

Hilmar.


(1) Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada

(2) It seems that in some international study, a while ago, Bolivia appeared on the third place, World-wide, in the list of the most corrupt countries. A popular joke says that they paid a bribe to avoid being placed on the first place...