Bolivian President Resigns

News from South America too often doesn't resonate in this country, much to our loss. We had Kissinger deeply involved in overthrowing the Allende administration, we talk about cocaine and the narco-terrorists, we hope that Chavez will stumble and free up oil imports from Venezuela, but other than that we (the US/Canada folk) tend to ignore South America except for the tourist spots.

In my own case, I held a summer job in Panama in the summer of '68 and met a fellow student from Bolivia and we became fast friends even through his bad English and my much worse Spanish. Roberto and I lost touch in the intervening decades, but I still remember the laughter.

Well, there is some shaking of the branches of government going on and we better pay attention. Miguel Buitrago of MABB posts on the resignation of President Mesa. He notes the demands of the protesters/strikers in La Paz, in El Alto, in Cochabamba and in Santa Cruz, and notes that Mesa is still quite popular. A.M. Mora y Leon at Publius Pundit has more including a timeline of the current situation. Please read both blogs for a update on the situation

Recently, President Mesa of Bolivia and President Chavez of Venezuela were in a "shouting match" for which Chavez later apologized indicating that he wasn't in "favor" of interefering in the internal affairs of Bolivia. But to be honest, if I were a Bolivian, I'd keep my eye on Chavez none-the-less.

I'm hoping readers will pick up on this information and study up on what is going on in our own hemisphere. We are NOT an island and we can't act like we are.

HT to Instapundit