http://throssels.zoomshare.com/3.shtml Blah Blah Blog: Blog Sat, 16 Aug 2008 10:31:33 -0500 http://throssels.zoomshare.com/3.shtml/e0b9128a829396e65994bde12dca2a89_48a6f2d5.writeback Sat, 16 Aug 2008 10:31:33 -0500 In all the hubbub here, I almost forget to write about Beth! She is not doing well today. Back into the hospital last night, very ill. Please keep praying for her. It is possible she has a systematic staph infection. . . even with all the surgeries (three in a month) to remove infected areas and lots of antibiotics, she is still quite sick. She is undergoing tests. PRAY! Thank you. . . http://throssels.zoomshare.com/3.shtml/2064d8139c4766a31f1246ec5b89a448_48a6f1b3.writeback Sat, 16 Aug 2008 10:26:43 -0500 Later today, I hope to post photos of Philip's early birthday party. . . way more fun than riots and protests :-) Coming up soon. http://throssels.zoomshare.com/3.shtml/0f2d59449523350c97c38ca40bef4968_48a6f166.writeback Sat, 16 Aug 2008 10:25:26 -0500 It appears that sometime around 4:00AM Friday morning, police removed--at President Morales' orders--disabled protesters who had been in front of the YPFB building for about four weeks. The protesters (along with others in other cities) were demanding the 3,000 bs per year promised to them by Evo Morales during his campaign speeches. There are rumors that when those in Santa Cruz were removed, the police were unnecessarily brutal and/ or did not allow them to collect all their personal belongings when they left (they were camped there). I have not seen evidence of that personally, but that doesn't mean that didn't happen, just that I don't know. The protest moved to the police station, where the disabled, some of their family members, and a group of youth that joined them--kind of like the SC brute squad--attempted to take control of the police station. (In the highlands, they have the Poncho Rojo warriors, and here we have the Unión Juvenil Cruceñista youth union). They were stopped by police in a violent confrontation lasting many hours Friday. Again, I personally didn't see much brutality on the part of the officers. I saw them throwing tear gas canisters, a number of canisters that was reportedly in the thousands. That seems like a lot. But I saw the civilians burning things, throwing stones, hitting officers with sticks and pieces of metal/ etc.. In most of the clips I saw, the police were standing basically still behind their shields, just walking, running, blocking the entrance to the building and throwing tear gas. There were however, wounded on both sides, at least one report of a gunshot wound, and I'd imagine the gas was very damaging, especially to the disabled. There were several arrests made, according to the newspapers, which allegedly infuriated the crowd even more. About 1:40 AM Saturday the police chief offered to hand the department over to civic government leaders, including SC governor, Ruben Costas. (The police chief was allegedly attacked shortly after that by protesters.) Then, word came back that President Morales forbid the handover of the department to Costas, and the offer was retracted. Last I read, The police chief is still in control of the building. Costas and civic leader Branko M. have called the people of Santa Cruz to a peaceful rally at 11:00 (right about now) instead of violence. The Catholic church has been praying for much of the night. We are, of course, avoiding the protests and rallies, and received a call from our security team leader last night to make sure we all knew not to go to that part of town. We are well and very careful. No worries! :-) http://throssels.zoomshare.com/3.shtml/b20ac740d9f360fddc2134afbe9fe01b_48a6f12b.writeback Sat, 16 Aug 2008 10:24:27 -0500 Just an update about my neck. . . .(the missionaries have joked about me being a stiff-necked people like in the Old Testament and Tom being my "pain in the neck" :-) Haha. I am doing MUCH better. Still sore, but not much. Dr. Heather said that it will be ups and downs for the next week or two, maybe, but on the uphill side now. Hooray! We would get our truck back today, except there is a HUGE protest near the shop! Silly things. http://throssels.zoomshare.com/3.shtml/21fa90126f20bc9d1ba083aa4be15b07_48a66822.writeback Sat, 16 Aug 2008 00:39:46 -0500 For about four weeks now, contingents of disabled people throughout the country of Bolivia have been protesting the Bolivian President. In Santa Cruz, they were at the Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) building day after day. They are protesting because the President promised in his campaign speeches to give them each the equivalent of about $1.17 per day and has made little to no effort to do so. (He has been in office nearly three years and has given similar benefits to the elderly and public school children). Well, this week, it turned ugly here in Santa Cruz. Some of the disabled people were getting sick--malnutrition/ anemia, dehydration, elevated blood pressure, etc. from the strike. It appears some have been hunger striking as well. They started doing some extreme things to get attention and were written about in the local newspaper. . . They also said their next move would be to block a major city-to-city highway. The police moved in on them in the middle of the night last night, I believe it was, and removed them by force. They said it was at the orders of President Morales' administration, and for their own good. There was a fight, and details are sketchy, but there are accusations of brutality. Today, the protester group grew, as a group of people with disabilities, along with relatives and others, traveled to the police command station, on the somewhat ritzy side of town. A major confrontation broke out. Fighting between police and the protesters has been going on most of the day, and now, in the middle of the night, there are still approximately 3,000 people reported to be there. Others have rallied around the initial protesters as well--demonstrating in La Paz, Cochabamba and Tarija, at least if not elsewhere. Morales has been quiet, but his VP Garcia Linea issued a statement that they will discuss the matter on Tuesday, but that the disabled are just being used as pawns by the opposition to further their own political agendas. Disabled spokespersons said that this has nothing to do with political parties, but that they want what was promised to them to help them survive. **Update** Just after an announcement that the Chief of Police would be handing over command of the surrounded police department to the local government leader Ruben Costas, he (the chief of police) was attacked and beaten badly by demonstrators. I don't know stats or anything like that. Another note--I only saw clips of the fighting today, and we stayed away from it. So, I don't speak with much authority. But, to be fair, in the clips we saw, the police were mostly standing still or throwing gas canisters. The lowlanders/ disabled people were the ones doing the attacking, burning a policeman's motorcycle, beating the police with sticks, swearing at them, etc... But I only saw minutes of clips from an hours-long riot, which isn't a lot of evidence to go on. a few photos of the struggle: http://picture.belga.be/belgapicture/editorial/all/coverage/593490.html http://throssels.zoomshare.com/3.shtml/8f915d4c45edc6c9baa7535640a2fd03_48a32bf1.writeback Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:46:09 -0500 Did you all see the Good Morning America piece a few days ago about the Chapmans? I obviously couldn't see it on TV here, but caught it online. Here is a link if you want to see it. http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=5524419 To God be the glory. . .even in dark times. http://throssels.zoomshare.com/3.shtml/103e6edd315d749d2711e8b2c0c36012_48a02e01.writeback Mon, 11 Aug 2008 07:18:09 -0500 I kind of doubt that Beth will like that heading much! Anyway, first update is about my teammate Beth. The surgery went well--they removed her vein Saturday and she is in the hospital recovering. Please keep praying for her/ their family. Secondly, the vote is over. Local headlines sum it up as "Evo continues, but five regions tell him 'no'" Evo lost in five of the nine provinces, but not by enough of a margin to stand up against the landslides in other provinces. So, he's still President. The VP and President were together on the ballot, I think, so he's still in, too. As far as the governors go, the majority of people in the lowlands voted that their governors stay. However, one governor in the highlands capital, and another in between highlands and lowlands, were removed from office. Another highland governor may or may not leave. All departing governors are to be replaced by the President's appointees. The socialist party asked President Morales for a "hard hand" of rule. There were a lot of complaints yesterday concerning inappropriate voting--registering ineligible voters/ double voting/ etc.. But no one seems to be talking much about that today. http://throssels.zoomshare.com/3.shtml/5bc1c6ff67f5b7e23746a3e2071780f1_489da54a.writeback Sat, 09 Aug 2008 09:10:18 -0500 Please pray for my friend Beth, having surgery today after being bit by some kind of spider. The bite two weeks or so ago caused a weird reaction that they can't get controlled with heavy antibiotics. Her vein has been damaged and she developed migratory thrombophlebitis. (?) As the infection has moved up from her ankle to her thigh, basically destroying her vein and not stopping, the doctors decided she needs to have surgery to remove the vein. Thanks for your prayers for her today and as she recovers! http://throssels.zoomshare.com/3.shtml/de5cf7b3892af6b6389f95e9aa383885_489c7b14.writeback Fri, 08 Aug 2008 11:57:56 -0500 Well, I guess today's posts took up more than a page! You might have to scroll to "older entries" to see a couple of them. But please do take the time to do that if you have it. We love and miss you all lots! Blessings . . . . http://throssels.zoomshare.com/3.shtml/760c4bf5805ed76c76b6908c27c64017_489c76a6.writeback Fri, 08 Aug 2008 11:39:02 -0500 Things have been touchy here this week; so much fear and anger and uncertainty. And yet, at the same time, there is a nonchalance, too--that turmoil is just a "normal" part of the way Bolivia is right now. A Bolivian woman Monday night told me that she was so sad for how her country is right now. Wednesday was Bolivian Independence Day. Soldiers marching in a parade here were heckled and had obscenities shouted at them, and the Bolivian President, coming to watch a children's soccer championship, was kicked out of the city. That is pretty serious! I would like to think that, in the USA, even when we disagree with our Presidents, we have respect for them as our elected representatives. Maybe not the kind of respect that we want our children to be like them, but the kind of respect and honor that is due an elected leader--even a bad one. But when Evo tried to land here yesterday, he was met with angry people telling him to go home. This happened four times this week! It started on Tuesday, when he went to the province of Tarija. There, a mob kept him from a meeting with the presidents of Argentina and Venezuela, who the people said were hurting the country. Then, Wednesday, his plane sat on the runway here in the province of Santa Cruz for about an hour with the airport surrounded by civic organization members and university students. He didn't get out of the airport. Then, he left for a different province (Beni, I think) where he had plans to campaign for Sunday's vote. In that province, the plane was met by a mob of students and motorcycle taxi drivers who attempted to take the runway. In the third province (Pando, I think), where he also planned to campaign, autonomy activists surrounded the runway as well. He didn't make any of those appointments, because they wouldn't let him. Ouch. In his Independence Day speech, the President said that things are going well in Bolivia. Some people took great offense to that, saying that things are NOT going well. They noted specifically that he didn't mention the violent confrontation the day before that involved thousands of people, led to two deaths by gunshot and a policeman taken hostage. (The thing that surprised Tom and I was that this was miners versus the President. The miners have been some of his biggest allies--but not now.) He also didn't mention the hunger strikes going on in several provinces. Then, there were the disabled people who took over a government office, demanding they receive the money he promised them. Interesting times. . . but President Morales didn't mention that, said that things are going well in Bolivia despite the opposition of "oligarchy" leaders and various factions. No, they didn't need to buy fireworks this year. . . there were plenty of sparks without them! Thankfully, there wasn't much in the way of violence here. Another Bolivian woman told me Wednesday night that her church had been praying very hard there wouldn't be. To that, I say, "Amen!"