Ciao!

The Hoepfer guy sounds like a nutcase. "Corrupting the youths"?? Whats so subversive about cafes?
Is there some sort of anti-foreigner sentiment going on in Bolivia?

No, not much anti-foreigner sentiment overall. Not sure what's up w/ Hoepfer. That's the first I heard of this. Although, I noticed now that about half the cafés are still working (apparently, they open later at night).

I got the info from a flyer posted on some of the cafés denouncing Hoepfer. Apparently, he argued that the cafés introduced young people to alcohol & drugs. The standard complaint by most right-wing nutjobs against cafés & café culture. Unfortunately, he had the power to do something about it. I don't think anything like this could happen in La Paz or Santa Cruz.

Keep in mind that the mayorship of Cochabamba has been in the hands of NFR, a right-wing populist party for some time. Not sure if it's a direct link, but it's a link, I'm guessing.

It wasn’t so much the activity inside the cafes, rather the scene outside on the sidewalk. Cochabamba is a city where the youth move on to the next happening place. One neighborhood or street becomes the “hot spot” for youth congregation. The café district experienced a rise and fall in popularity many times in the past three years. However, lately (before I left in September), if you wanted to walk down Calle Espana, you had to literally walk down the street as the sidewalks were overflowing with young people drinking.

Two of my friends (one an American and the other a Bolivian) own one of the cafes in the area. It was shut down because of this crackdown. According to Los Tiempos their café was reopened, but I just found out today that it is still closed and my friend, who is a lawyer by trade, was at the Mayor’s office all day trying to plead their case. Most likely the cafes that were open had to cut through some bureaucratic tape (i.e. pay someone off). I know that my friends’ café respected the rules especially in regards to minors trying to buy alcohol because I was a regular and worked behind the counter on many busy nights. My friend refused to serve those that were obviously underaged and checked the carnets of those that were close. I never saw drugs pass through there and they even closed earlier than the rest of the places.

Shutting down the cafes won’t put a stop to public drinking on weekend nights. Those people will just find another place or area, like they did many times before.

Sure that these closings are political in nature. There have been many of these crackdowns in the past such as on El Prado, Avenida America, La Recoleta and “Las Islas”, all places where places where young people would meet and inevitably drink the night away. Yes, people always ask for increased “seguridad” (safety), but the problem with safety in Cochabamba has less to do with youth drinking or the occasional fistfight, rather it concerns the increase in automobile robberies, armed robberies of service stations, or the emergence of gangs in outlying areas. I think it is just an attempt to trick the people that politicians actually do something. In Cochabamba, everyone seems to talk about all the new and improved plazuelas and rotundas with innovative statutes or fountains. Those are things that people can actually see and convinces people that politicians are doing their jobs. Ordinary citizens cannot physically see changes in bureaucracy or changes in other public services. But you can sure as hell, see Calle Espana empty on a Saturday night.

Eduardo:

I can totally see your point. And you're absolutely right. There's the same problem in La Paz at Plaza Avaroa, where young kids congregate to drink. Same in Santa Cruz, along Equipetrol.

But closing a series of cafés is just window dressing. And, as you say, it won't stop the problem. They'll just go someplace else. Plus kids drinking is a minor thing to worry about, compared to so many other more important crimes.

Corruption plays such a huge roll in Bolivian everyday life. And politicians keep doing window dressing, rather than address the problem — though I recognize that ending corruption in a country ranked as one of the most corrupt in the world is a daunting task. And all the parties, no exception, are part of the problem.