Justice

I interviewed a state prosecutor this morning for a freelance story I'm working on. He couldn't stop raving about the U.S. justice system.
"Even if someone is sentenced to death and they are innocent," he said, "at least he and the public believe the penalty was reached legally. Even now that DNA tests are finding innocents on death row, American people continue to trust your system. It's not about the individual, it's about the system."
A strong law and order man, Oscar Vaca Coria feels impotent in his country, where where mass protests have driven two presidents from office in as many years and where village lynchings often remain uninvestigated. Unlike many of his countrymen though, Coria is not nostalgic for the brutal dictatorships of the 1980s that kept everything nice and tidy.
"We can't have police and military everywhere," he said.
He offered no other solutions.

Recount!

Miss Santa Cruz Carolina Lopz didn't even place, so I'm afraid there are no winners this year. Miss Litoral Desiree Duran will represent Bolivia in the Miss Universe contest. Another contestant from Litoral and a student at the university I teach at, Viviana Mendez, will represent Miss World. And who cares who will represent Bolivia in Miss International? Never heard of it.

An ever gracious Srta. Lopez was quoted in El Deber saying that "it was what God wanted and He decided this is what is best for me." Good to know "He" has enough time to follow the contest as well.

Quien Sera La Ganadora?

Knowing that our readers also must be swept up in Miss Bolivia fever, we at Los Glazers have decided to launch a little contest. Guess the winner before tonight's coronation and you win 10 Bolivianos (prize will be split between multiple winners and is subject to all applicable local taxes). Just click here to see the contestants. Valid entries must be submitted to the comments section before showtime. Buena suerte a todos.

Alfredo Barba!!

Sonya and I were walking back from our local fruteria when we heard the squeal of teenage girls. We looked up and saw several dozens of autograph-seekers swarming a short kid with a baseball hat. A few boys were on the fringes, mocking the girls that had pushed them aside.
I asked one of them who the kid was.
"Alberto Barba," he said. "He's a dancer. Those girls are crazy, no?"
I assumed Barba was someone big and did a little Web research. No citations in the Google universe. I'll assume that like Miss Santa Cruz he is about to become a star.

By contrast, one of the few officially declared presidential candidates, Samuel Doria Medina, just walked into the bar I am sitting in right now. He only got one handshake and it was from a member of his staff.

Let the games begin

I was forced to vamp through my first class this evening. I had pretty much everything written out -- discussion points, introduction of self, introduction of class -- but only five of my 12 students showed. Four of them, they revealed, are taking my workshop because they must to graduate. They revealed that they have no interest in journalism or reporting at all. Most want to be in corporate communications and public relations. Most seemed pretty put off by my plans for the class: Assigning them each a beat and sending them out to find and cover municipal stories.
Apparently, in the past the class had been more of a chalk and talk. Lots of theory, no doing.
"I thought we'd be doing more public relations," a faux redhead said after I coaxed some feedback from my stunned class.
"I hate public relations," I responded. "Good reporters break public relations people."
I was trying to provoke discussion. They smiled at each other, but it ended at that.

Great news!

Our favorite Miss Bolivia contestant, Miss Santa Cruz Carolina Lopez, is well on the way to taking the crown. Late last week, news reports indicated that she had snagged the coveted "Miss Silueta" title. We at Los Glazers wish her continued success.

Wedding Weekend

My boss at UPSA invited Sonya and I to her daughter's wedding in Concepcion, a sleepy town about five hours east of Santa Cruz. The area is known for a set of beautifully restored 18th-Century Jesuit missions. From these sprawling church complexes, the European priests helped civilize the Amazonian Indians by teaching them to read, to embrace Jesus and to play classical music, according to the literature provided there. The Jesuits clashed with Portuguese colonialists who tried to enslave members of their congregations and were eventually expelled from Bolivia. They argued that their flock had become too civilized to serve as slaves (watch "The Mission" to see Robert DeNiro play an anguished Spanish missionary).
The wedding took place in a church built by a Swiss priest -- fitting, the current German bishop who led the ceremony pointed out, because the groom is Swiss as well. The bride's family shipped in tasteful white candles and orchids, a 12-piece orchestra and a an understated wedding cake that Sonya would have picked out herself (except that it wasn't chocolate.) Guests wore stylish suits and dresses.
The reception hall, with bottom-lit white columns of cloth and chocolate buffet -- could have been in New York or L.A. The only reminders that we were in a poor Bolivian town were peering in through the window bars from the outside, watching the first dance and the toasts with smiles as if they were invited guests themselves.