Tit for Tat

A few quick comments on the situation in Bolivia. The first and most obvious topic is the political tit for tat of ambassador expulsions and declarations of non-compliance with the drug policy.

Actually a question. What would have happened if a foreign ambassador to the US met with armed groups who later attacked US government facilities? Suddenly being declared persona no grata seems trivial. It's an important question because we tend to measure our actions in foreign countries by a different standard than the actions of foreign countries in the USA. We tend to forget that a place like Bolivia is a sovereign country with a democratically elected and very popular leader, whether you like him or not.

And in a context that ambassadors past never met with Evo before he was president, one can't just say the ambassador's job is to meet with everyone. Meeting with the opposition leaders is a definite and aggressive act.

Not that I think the Bolivian government played their hand wisely - a whole range of escalating pressures on the US State Department might have achieved the goal of getting the US to back down on its support for the opposition, without as much drama. But it was justified, and Bolivian politics are all about the drama.

btw, I sent a complaint to American Airlines asking why they had taken a political stance on the social unrest and what their position had been in 2003 when Goni was thrown out of office - whether that was also the government's fault. I haven't heard back from them yet.