Let the dick waving of imperial vs. Latin American politicos begin! Yesterday both Venezuela and Bolivia ordered the U.S. Ambassadors in their countries “fuera”.
Hugo Chavez accused the U.S. diplomat of conspiring against his government and saying he would also withdraw his own envoy from Washington immediately.
Chavez had been threatening to kick out U.S. diplomats for some time. Seems the straw that broke Hugito’s back was Bolivia’s expulsion of the U.S. Ambassador, accusing him of aiding violent protests that as of last night have claimed eight lives.
Via / The Latin Americanist, personal email
Bolivia’s President Evo Morales gets to keep being president after a referendum today. 
According to the most recent exit polls, a referendum in Santa Cruz, Bolivia has given that largest state autonomy from the central government. While supporters of the effort hit the streets to celebrate a victory, the election was colored by violence between the two sides. President Evo Morales declared the vote a failure.
There was much uproar in Bolivia late last month 
My friend Mariano Amartino over at the Clarin newspaper’s “Blog about Blogs” reports that Bolivia’s first citizen-produced online newspaper has just launched. It’s called 
In an interview yesterday with AP, Bolivian President Evo Morales said that upon losing a recall referendum he is currently proposing as an out of the current crisis in the South American country, he would call immediately for new presidential elections. But what’s good for the goose, as they say, is also good for the 6 out of 9 governors who have rallied against Morales and his proposals that would redesign the government and redistribute land.
Afro-Bolivians tired of a lack of representation in their country have ushered in a new leader: they’ve crowned a king to lead their community and fight for their interests:
Six Bolivian states are going on strike in opposition to the proposed new constitution, a document so controversial that it’s left at least 3 dead in violent protests over the last week. Reports Mexico City’s La Jornada:
Former Bolivian president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada has been named in a lawsuit filed by relatives of Bolivians killed during clashes with security forces in 2003. According to the suit, filed on behalf od the families by the NYC based Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), Sanchez de Lozada ordered a crackdown on protests against his government which killed 67 people and wounded hundreds more. Sanchez de Lozada resigned and left the country soon after the incident, 13 months into his second term as president and has been living in the US in self-imposed exile since. Another lawsuit with the same charges was filed against Carlos Sanchez Berzain, a former interior and defense minister.