Ciao!

Sunday, Sunday

It's amazing how busy I've become lately. I'm still wrapping up my dissertation (but oh, so close). It's hard to find, in between wedding planning (which is now mostly done), helping K8 pack, and getting ready for the next semester.

I've set up my course Blackboard pages. Which, if you didn't know, is at least 100% better than the crappy WebCT. So far, I'm very impressed w/ Dickinson's IT department. Their whole web structure is integrated, so I could just log into all the faculty areas, request my courses be added to Blackboard, then start editing them, and even place readings on course reserve. It's just seamless.

Besides that, I've also gotten about three full weeks of lecture notes ready, and I'll probably stop there for now. No sense getting to far ahead of myself. But I think I'm ready to hit the ground running soon after I arrive. Classes start in less than a month, 28 August.

I've also been stealing a few moments to work on my Bolivian politics wiki project. Just a work in progress, but one that I hope will grow in the next year (MABB, Eduardo, et al, I might call on your help down the line).

Also I've been engaged in a Wikipedia edit war over the Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada entry. Some anonymous, unregistered editor(s) kept deleting other peoples' edits, and replacing it w/ unsubstantiated rumors, etc. I cleaned it up over a few days (replacing the new vandalism, etc) and then decided to actually add content. The entry was only about the October 2003 gas war; now it includes information from his political career since 1985. I think I wrote it w/ a neutral POV (point of view), but you're free to check me. It's stuff like this that made me want to start my own Bolivian politics wiki project.

Well, today is Sunday. And I finally got my first paycheck. So I can take K8 out for lunch, buy her a nice birthday present, and maybe even buy myself a watch (I've needed one for some time). This evening we meet her parents for Mozart in the park.

Posted by Miguel at 12:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Constituent assembly update

Technorati tags: Bolivia politics

It's gonna be harder for Evo's MAS to manage a supermajority in the constituent assembly. Concertación Nacional (the alliance of Christian Evangelical churches), Alianza Social (the organization built by Potosí prefect mayor, René Joaquino), and Movimiento Ayra (the leftist party founded by Che-inspired university students) just signed an agreement at the CSUTCB offices. They plan to form a "third bloc" to resist the polarization between MAS & Podemos. The alliance has 13 assembly delegates, but includes social movements that didn't win representation in the 15 July elections, including CSUTCB (the confederation of campesino syndicates), the Sud Yungas cocaleros, the breadmakers' confederation, the confederation of indigenous people (CONNIOB), the self-employed workers' confederation, and the Bartolina Sisa women's federation. Currently, MAS controls 140 votes and needs 170 for a supermajority.

Posted by Miguel at 10:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Bolivian Politics Wiki

Technorati tags: Bolivia politics

I've recently started a Bolivian Politics wiki. It's nowhere near finished, of course. But I plan on slowly updating it over the next several months. At some point, I may open it to other contributors (though mostly limited to people in academia, I think).

In part, I found myself wishing that similar Wikipedia articles were better written and/or edited (there's too much "current events" emphasis). There are also several factual errors I've spotted in some artciles (I try to fix those when I see them), as well as some clear selection bias going on (e.g. the Goni article is devoted almost entirely to the guerra del gas w/o mention of some of his 1993-1997 reforms). Stuff like that. Figured I was better of making my own brief encyclopedia of Bolivian politics.

Anyhow, the site's hosted by Editthis.info, a wiki farm that uses the same wiki engine as Wikipedia. Let me know what you think.

Posted by Miguel at 08:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I got my "Yeehaw!"

Courtesy of K8: a new pair of cowboy boots from Alcala's. Hopefully they'll be good 'n worn in by the time autumn rolls around.

Posted by Miguel at 10:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Annie watch

So far the only stressful thing about the temporary move to Chicago has been Annie. My sweet darling girl's just not fitting in well. The two boys, Watson & Ralph, pick on her. In part, she provokes them by hissing & growling when they're around. But they have claws; she doesn't. Also, she limps.

Posted by Miguel at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Gone & back again

Took a quick trip back to Kalamazoo this Saturday for a wedding. The wedding was a simple & lovely outdoor ceremony & reception at the Kalamazoo Nature Center. I took the opportunity to stay over a night to see some friends, which was great. Lost numerous chess matches, but did quite well w/ Scattergories. I got back to Chicago late Sunday night.

Now it's back to writing, packing, wedding planning, and trying desperately to stay cool in this sweltering heat.

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UPDATE: I finally posted some pictures on my Flickr site. Here's a few.

Posted by Miguel at 05:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Wedding planning update

Just a personal note. The wedding plans are going well so far, w/ most major decisions established. Yes, it can be stressful, but it can also be fun. Yesterday was the menu tasting. Wow! And today's the cake testing.

Posted by Miguel at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

A possible MAS-Podemos convergence?

Technorati tags: Bolivia politics elections

The maneuvering space for MAS w/in the constituent assembly just got a bit tighter. Nearly a week after the election, and the parties that won seats are beginning to state their intentions more clearly, according to this El Deber article. Including a few surprises.

Posted by Miguel at 11:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Final, official seat distributions

Technorati tags: Bolivia politics elections

It's been a doozy, w/ seat distribution projections changing from day to day. But the final tallies were in last night, and today La Razón published the final, official list of delegates elected to the Bolivian constituent assembly. Several of the seat numbers changed from earlier projections.

Posted by Miguel at 11:22 AM | Permalink

Final counts are up

Technorati tags: Bolivia politics elections

The official CNE counts are up, as well as a complete list of representatives elected to the constituent assembly. The "legal" results won't be in for some time (the law specifies they must be officially accepted by parliament), but for all practical purposes, these are the numbers. They're all accessible at the Bolivian National Electoral Court website. Including lists of delegates elected (both by uninominal and departmental districts), votes by department, votes by circunscripción uninominal, and more. Enjoy.

Posted by Miguel at 06:26 PM | Permalink

Post-election thoughts

Technorati tags: Bolivia politics elections

The official final count is still not posted (La Paz is still missing a final count in one district), but w/ 99.9% of the vote in, these results are likely to hold up pretty well. So I thought I'd toss my two cents into the question of whether MAS or the opposition (e.g. Podemos) did better/worse than expected or compared to December 2005.

Posted by Miguel at 01:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

¿A donde vas, doctor?

Technorati tags: Bolivia politics elections

From La Razón: How bad are things in Cuba? Seems that at least 30 of the socialist paradise's doctors — sent on a medical mission — have defected. In Bolivia. That's pretty bad.

Posted by Miguel at 07:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Volare, cantare

Technorati tags: soccer World Cup

The World Cup is over; long live the World Cup! The semi-finals were rather bitter for me, w/ all my favorite teams knocked out by the quarterfinals. But the final match today between Italy & France was fun to watch. I ended the Cup, like I started it, at Wicker Park's Small Bar. It was a mad, packed, loud crew.

Posted by Miguel at 07:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Final (but still unofficial) results

Technorati tags: Bolivia politics elections

MABB beat me to the punch today w/ a post on the near-final count for the constituent assembly. I think his analysis on the Santa Cruz vote, particularly, is correct: MAS didn't so much "win" in Santa Cruz as the anti-MAS vote was splintered (partly in hopes to win more seats, partly because of internal divisions). But the bottom line: It's clear that MAS & its allies will not hold the two-thirds majority needed to control the assembly. MABB also has comments on the high number of blank/null votes that seem convincing.

Posted by Miguel at 06:17 PM | Permalink

Blank & null votes?

Technorati tags: Bolivia politics elections

Just a very brief note on the constituent assembly election. I'm starting to look at near-final results, and what really stands out is the high number of blank & null votes across departments. First, the numbers are much higher than in December 2005 (ranging between 10-20% just for blank votes!). Second, they're high even in departments where they're usually the lowest (e.g. Tarija valid vote was 91.09% & is now 76.32%). I'm not yet sure what this means. Voter turnout is about where it was in December (in the mid-80 percentiles). So I'm still left w/ these high blank & null vote figures. Not sure what to think about that just yet.

Posted by Miguel at 10:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

My quick count (and some interpretations)

Technorati tags: Bolivia politics elections

While vote counting continues, we're close to knowing the likely seat count for the recently elected Bolivian constituent assembly. Several Bolivian papers published projected seat counts on Monday (the day after the election), but those numbers have dramatically changed. So I've gone to the Corte Nacional Electoral website (www.cne.org.bo) myself to look at their data. They've now got 95% of votes counted, w/ final tallies in four of nine departments & most of the "uninominal" districts.

Posted by Miguel at 01:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

The role of minor parties

Technorati tags: Bolivia politics elections

A few people have emailed to ask me about the minor parties that participated in Sunday's constituent assembly election. Specifically, wanting to know something of their political orientation. Also, whether they were allied w/ MAS or not, and whether such an "alliance" was successful.

Posted by Miguel at 10:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Declaration of autonomy

Technorati tags: Bolivia politics elections

Yesterday, on 4 July (which is also the anniversary of the founding of Tarija), prefects of the four Bolivian departments where "Sí" won the autonomy referendum met to reaffirm their commitment to regional autonomy (see El Deber). The prefects of Tarija, Santa Cruz, Beni, and Pando — the so-called media luna departments — declared their readiness to defend their constituents' pro-autonomy votes.

Posted by Miguel at 10:56 AM | Permalink

Tarija count finished

Technorati tags: Bolivia politics elections

The vote counting is finished in the southern, gas-rich department of Tarija. Surprisingly, MAS won a plurality in the department, w/ 40.78% of the vote. The next parties to win seats were: the MNR-FRI alliance led by Mario Cossío (31.33%), Podemos (13.68%), and MIR (6.09%).

Posted by Miguel at 01:32 PM | Permalink

Still counting votes

Technorati tags: Bolivia politics elections

As of this morning's vote count, MAS looks to've won the Bolivian constituent assembly election, but w/ only 45.71% of the vote (based on 47.83% of tables counted). If those results hold — and they might not — it's a substantial 10-point drop from the MAS vote in December. But it'd be in line w/ the MAS vote for uninominal (single-seat district) parliamentary votes in December — which again suggests that Evo's victory in December 2005 was an Evo victory, more than a MAS victory.

Posted by Miguel at 12:40 PM | Permalink

More early results

Technorati tags: Bolivia politics elections

As of 1pm CST (Chicago time), it looks like the departmental seats will be:

Posted by Miguel at 02:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

First early results

Technorati tags: Bolivia politics elections

Early reports are still coming in on the National Electoral Court website. So far, it looks like Evo's MAS is doing roughly about as well as in December 2005. But it's still early. Either way, the most seats MAS could realistically hope to win — regardless of the vote! — is about 60% of the total seants. But that's only if they won in every electoral district & in every department; so far that doesn't look like it's going to happen. MAS will likely have the largest bloc of seats, but it may only win a slim majority (if might not win that). We'll probably know more much later today, or even tomorrow sometime.

On the other hand, La Razón is reporting something else.

Posted by Miguel at 10:18 AM | Permalink

Bolivia's constituent assembly election

Technorati tags: Bolivia politics elections

I've been too busy lately to properly post about the upcoming Bolivian constituent assembly elections. My excuses: I (temporarily) moved to Chicago (in anticipation of a move to Pennsylvania), I've also had to do some teaching & dissertation related work, wedding planning, and, of course, the World Cup. Still, I've kept up w/ the Bolivian news reports of the past two weeks & wanted to post a few words about tomorrow's election.

Posted by Miguel at 07:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Day 22 (and then there were 4)

Technorati tags: soccer World Cup

It's been several days & six matches since I last posted. I've been too busy watching games, recovering from watching games, doing stuff w/ K8 (mostly wedding planning), and preparing to watch more games. But we're down to the semifinals & the last four teams.

Posted by Miguel at 06:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)