Well there’s more going on in the worldwide news that is completely NOT being reported on. It’s almost 1am here but I thought I’d get this out real quick.
If you speak Spanish, watch the clip above. I found it on Youtube while searching for the verbal spat between the king of Spain and Hugo Chavez but the beginning 30 seconds of the clip is much more important and what I want to address here.
I did a Google News search and there’s only a single article in English on the event, which seems to be a wire report from AFP (French media):
LA PAZ (AFP) — Bolivia is to summon the US ambassador to explain why he was photographed next to a criminal, officials here said Wednesday, in a fresh diplomatic spat illustrating the current poor relations between Le Paz and Washington.
Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca said late Tuesday that “we are going to summon him through diplomatic channels to get a better explanation of this matter.”
He did not say when the meeting with US ambassador Philip Goldberg would take place.
The upset derived from a photograph dating from September showing Goldberg standing next to John Jairo Vanegas, a Colombian criminal now serving time in a Bolivian jail for armed robbery.
In the photo, Goldberg was also standing next to Gabriel Dabdoub, a powerful Bolivian businessman who opposes the government of President Evo Morales.
Essentially it’s a picture of the American ambassador to Bolivia grinning standing next to an opposition figure (who is basically a legalized thug) and a known Columbian criminal.
The Spanish-language version of the same article quotes Evo Morales (President of Bolivia) saying it’s an “open conspiracy” against his country:
“Este señor (Vanegas) atracaba, asaltaba, mataba con armamento (…) y quiero comentarles cómo una norteamericana (fue retenida en el aeropuerto de La Paz en julio pasado, ingresando) 500 balas”.
La joven estadounidense, según admitió la embajada de su país, es parienta de un alto jefe militar de la legación de Estados Unidos, pero señaló que esa munición era para entrenamiento de un oficial.
My translation is below. Any mistakes are mine:
This guy (Vanegas) robbed, attacked and killed with a gun… and I want to ask why an American (who was arrested in La Paz airport last July when entering the country) had 500 bullets”.
The young American citizen, according to a statement by his country’s embassy, is the child of a high-ranking American military member of the United States’ delegation and said the ammunition was for the training of an official.
This story isn’t anything new and definitely not shocking. You can see the photo here. Here’s another picture of the gun-toting kid from other times.
Apparently the ambassador said he didn’t know who the guy was. The guy he was with, the pro-American Bolivian opposition guy (Gabriel Daddoub) said he and the American ambassador were at a fair and out of pure friendliness posed for photos with lots of random people that came up to them. Yeah.
Apparently the kid was arrested as part of a larger gang that included ex-Colombian military officers based on an Interpol tip FROM Columbia.
Essentially reading between the lines it looks like this isn’t a major incident in terms of the wrong DONE. But considering the image of the United States abroad, especially everywhere outside of Columbian President Alvaro Uribe’s head (who has been dealing with his own mass protests at home), this is just one more reason to mistrust the American government.
As I said, not a huge deal. Just one more coffin in the nail of the goodwill my country once had.
Pax
