Reply #19: The Latin Americans have a common interest in their own autonomy.

[bemildred]

So I would expect them to support each other in that, except the few left-over stooges here and there like in Paraguay. Even Colombia seems to be becoming more independent of US policy and money. Within that, Latin Americans have their own internal distinctions of power, class, nationality, and ethnicity, and their internal politics in that regard have been and will be as you would expect anywhere else.

Mr. Morales is like Mr. Chavez in that he is not from the ruling classes, and he is actively an advocate for the poor, a populist. Evo's situation seems somewhat precarious to me, but he has certain advantages, too, the Bolivian military has so far been unwilling to support extra-constitutional action, and his popular mandate is unquestionable, at least for now. I expect the first thing we will see from the Bushites is some sort of propaganda campaign attacking Evo's legitimacy as a ruler, and attempts at economic subversion.