Historic victory for Evo

Yesterday was election day in Bolivia. As always, the polls were completely wrong, predicting a small majority for Evo Morales, the left-wing leader of the Movement for Socialism (MAS) over his neo-liberal US educated rival Tuto Quiroga, which would have meant Congress having to choose a President. It is almost certain that Evo has obtained 51%, meaning for the first time in the country´s history, they will have directly elected their leader. It is doubly historic, because he is also Bolivia´s first indigenous leader, of Aymara ascent.

It was very exciting watching the election results come in yesterday evening on TV. The tension had been building up all week what with the alcohol ban for 3 and a half days, lorry loads of soldiers driving around the city and from midnight on saturday no private or public transport permitted for 24 hours. On the plus side, it meant we had the opportunity to cycle unhindered around the city and play football in the street.

The US Administration and many other observers around the world have been watching closely: Evo´s left wing brand of politics is more Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro than Tony Blair and there are some who suggest he will end the coca eradication programme, nationalise gas and oil industries and seize land from the rich. Conspiracy theorists are even predicting a US invasion (see earlier posting about American base on Paraguay-Bolivia border). On the other hand, he make take the more moderate approach of Lula in Brazil (hopefully minus the corruption).

Personally I was very happy with the result: Bolivia has followed US and IMF policies for 20 years with little benefit to the majority of the population, in fact poverty has got worse and therefore I think that a radical change in policy may provide an opportunity to try something else that may improve the lot for the majority. There are however a large minority, mainly from the middle classes, who genuinely fear what Evo´s victory will mean for the country. It was very revealing watching events unfold with my girlfriend´s family as they all voted for his main rival and are very worried. The truth is no one knows what will happen... vamos a ver.

A Christmas message

As of yesterday, my girlfriend is an aunt!
Depuis hier, ma copine est une tante!
¡Desde ayer, mi novia es una tia!

Just a quick message to wish everyone a merry christmas, happy chanukah and best wishes for 2006. We are celebrating a new addition to the Lopez family, Marioly's sister in law gave birth to a baby girl yesterday afternoon. Christmas in this household will not be a quiet affair.

It's a big week, and it is nothing to do with Christmas. On sunday, we have the long awaited presidential elections (see previous postings for more information). It seems really quiet but you would not believe it reading the papers or listening to the warnings issued by the US Embassy. This could be a very historic occasion as Bolivia may have its first indigenous President, Evo Morales, who is the ex-leader of coca movement and winning according to all the polls. However it is much more complicated as he is unlikely to gain 51% required to become president and it is questionable whether Congress will appoint him. The US Embassy has kept unusually quiet about the election possibly learning from last time, when they told people NOT to vote for Evo (lesson for developing nations: democracy is very good.. as long as you do what the American Administration wants), which had the opposite effect and significantly boosted his support. They have still managed to enrage the Bolivian Government by telling their citizens to stock up on food and water and warned of violence.

Elections in Latin America are pretty different from back home. As of midnight on thursday, alcohol was banned for THREE AND A HALF DAYS! As of midnight on saturday, there is essentially a ban on driving for 24 hours so apart from voting, there is very little to do on election day. I will make use of the time to do a bit of cycling, normally it is far to dangerous to venture out on a bike in Cochabamba.

As for 2006, I have a holiday in Chile and will then share my time between Tecnologias en Desarrollo (the Achacachi project by Lake Titicaca), working for another NGO, studying a course in water management and preparing for some visitors. I plan to be home in May which means I will not be back in time to see Arsenal v Real Madrid!

Feliz navidad y bueno año a todos

un beso

Julian

Three out of three

For reasons that I am not going to get into here, I have not been able to do as much fundraising as I originally hoped. However, the good news is that of the three applications that I submitted, I am delighted to say they were all successful. The combined total adding personal sponsorship and sale of DVDs takes the amount raised to a little over ₤11,000. This may not sound that substantial, especially compared to the hundreds of thousands I was able to bring in at Groundwork and Addaction, but it nearly doubles the annual turnover of the charity.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our three funders:

• the Battersea and Wandsworth Trades Union Council, and indirectly my old boss Eamon, who helped secure the donation who are supporting a biogas project with the Milk Producers Association in Punata (see below for more information)
• Greenboard, and in particular Stefano Casalotti, who are supporting a project where young people from La Cumbre community will create what we are pretty sure is Bolivia's first renewable energy powered primary school including biogas, wind power, pedal power, solar power and a solar heating system as well as building a new kitchen
• the British Embassy in La Paz who are supporting a biogas and eco-latrine project in Achacachi by Lake Titicaca. This grant was aided thanks to a chance meeting with a DFID representative in a bar during a visit to La Paz.

Last week I spent two days in Punata where we are working with the Milk Producers Association, which is a kind of Bolivian equivalent to a trade union or co-operative, to demonstrate the benefits of biogas technology to its 1,100 members. Four families were selected from different geographical districts of its membership where we are installing biogas systems which will act as pilot or demonstration projects.

Each family provides manpower in the form of digging the whole where we will install the biodigestor as well as signing an agreement that they will look after the system once installed as well as host visits from the community and external visitors.

There are four stages:

• meet the beneficiaries, assess their suitability and designate the area to install the biogas system, for which they must dig a 10 metre by 1 metre hole
  
• install the biodigestor and fill it up with manure and 3,000 litres of water to start the biodigestion process. It takes between 5 - 15 days before gas is produced. I never realised I was coming to Bolivia to quite literally shovel shit, but it is worth it when we return and see especially the women's and children's reaction when there is gas
  
• once there is gas, a reservoir, pipes and stoves are installed, and the system is ready for use
• monitoring visit and maintenance workshop

Here are some pictures from stages one and two, which took place last week in Punata. There was nearly a diplomatic incident here, as this gentleman has a Man United cap.

And my personal favourite is this one, the burnt out cabin of a truck that has been converted into the family's kitchen. It even has an electric lightbulb.

It's better to travel at night

If it is not the road blockades due to some protest, then you get held up because of road accidents which sadly given the way most Bolivians drive, is a relatively frequent occurance, hence my view that it is better to travel by bus at night, when at least you cannot see what is happening!


This particular road may look like some country lane but it is actually the new main road linking Bolivia's second and third largest cities, Santa Cruz and Cochabamba (approximately 10 hours by bus).

In this particular case, it seems that a lorry went over the side and they were hauling it back up. I am pleased to report that in this instance the driver did not seem to be seriously hurt.

I also spotted a novel way to transport your sheep by taxi, on the roof rack.