The Strident Centrist Blog

Roberto Lovato of New American Media, an alternative outlet that focuses on ethnic issues, writes about the character of the recently elected President of Bolivia in this post at Alternet. Here’s a sample of what Lovato has to say:

I, like the growing number of those nominating himv for the Nobel Peace Prize, believed him when he looked at you and said things like, “We do not have a vengeful mentality” or “We must build a culture of life”; and I also understood why my white Cuban friend, the U.S. State Department, Vargas Llosa and a slew of others criticize Morales with such intensity: fear.

They fear him not only because he is indigenous, not only because he is a leftist in the presidential palace with a massive base of support across the entire insurgent continent; they fear him because his public and private persona, his gentle charisma and ethical approach forces them — and us — to look at the long history of violence and hate buried in our individual and collective subconscious, our top-down notions of political — and personal — modernity. He forces us all to look at the inner Conquistador — and the inner Indio.

We are ill-prepared to deal with someone who can say without blinking, “I think that indigenous people are the moral reserve of humanity.”

There’s also a lively discussion in the comments about the extent to which the fear is justified, if at all.

That’s how much two tons or so of $100 dollar bills together with a few other bills of US currency is worth. It was found stashed in cabinets and assorted luggage in the home of one Zhenli Ye Gon in Mexico City. The Mexican feds claim belongs to a group that makes meth with chemicals imported from Asia, but Ye Gon claims that he was holding the cash pile for Mexico’s ruling National Action Party. You’re no doubt surprised to learn the President Calderon denies it.