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| Jessica Jordan at Trinidad airport. She's becoming awfully familiar with its departure lounge. |
Signing off on last week’s veritable deluge of information, I
alluded to the big event of the weekend, a regional by-election which, like all
elections, caused public meetings, and thus, church, to be cancelled on
polling-day. The election provides an intriguing insight into Bolivian politics
and perceptions of the Beni region within Bolivia.
Four years ago, as the country geared up for its next round of
gubernatorial elections in April 2010, Bolivia’s ruling party, MAS (Movimiento al Socialismo – translation
required? Thought not.) found itself in an increasingly frustrating position.
The party had swept to power under former coca-leaf grower Evo Morales in late
2005 in unprecedented circumstances (the first single party, indeed, to win an
overall majority in Bolivia’s history) with the promise of more representative
government – in other words, greater recognition at state level of the
interests of the country’s indigenous majority, mostly based in the country’s high-altitude
western regions.
As you can no doubt imagine, those who live in the country’s more
plain-like, eastern territories (namely Pando, Santa Cruz and the Beni), and
who come from a very different range of people-groups, were none too enamoured
by such talk. The Beni, in particular, had hardly been a land of milk and honey
pre-Evo anyway; despite being Bolivia’s second-largest municipality, covering
an area just shy of Great Britain’s land-mass, this sparsely-populated region
has nevertheless traditionally been very much the runt of the litter when it
comes to state support. Widespread civil unrest took hold just a year after
Morales’ inauguration, with greater political powers sought by the eastern
regions and separation even mooted.
In 2009, then, Morales had just been convincingly returned to power,
but with nary a dent in the Beni. Indeed, the support for MAS stood at a mere
4% in the region. Something drastic had to be done to ensure the Benianos get with the programme. Enter
Miss Bolivia.
Now, before proceeding, a little cultural context is important here.
Back in the UK we tend to regard beauty pageants with a touch of remorse.
Sexist, objectifying, degrading to women; like Cumbernauld, Kappa trackies and
Anthea Turner, it was fine while it lasted, but we’ve moved on now,
thank-you-very-much. Not so in Bolivia – nor, indeed, in much of Latin America.
Actually, these women hold nothing short of icon status in the eyes of both men
and, particularly, women; their every breath pored over by hordes of
green-eyed, yet wide-eyed, female followers, whose diet of Miss-trivia is
happily resourced by the national media.
All too aware of this, MAS recruited the 2005 victor, Jessica
Jordan, as their candidate for an altogether different contest. Intriguingly, Jordan
claims not only Bolivian but, through her father, English descent (many’s the
time I’ve jokingly complained to a local that I came here to escape English
rule, not be subject to it once again).
Now, no doubt one could argue that the selection of such a candidate
was populist, cynical and an utter insult to the intelligence of the Benianos – but far be it from me to
posit such an opinion in such a public forum (who knows, after all, who could
be reading this?). But it didn’t half work. MAS didn’t get the victory they
sought, but their share of the vote skyrocketed to 40%.
(I’ve often wondered what the protocol would have been in the event
of Jordan winning the ballot. Does the title of ‘governor’ outrank that of
‘Miss’, not least when one has competed internationally under the moniker? Would
her acolytes reply to her every demand with “Yes, Miss” and “No, Miss”?)
Miss Jordan’s conqueror, to the delight of MAS, found himself booted
out of office in mid-2011 on corruption charges; your enemy’s enemy is by no
means your friend here. An interim governor was installed until they finally
got round to announcing a by-election for January 2013. And, in classic
if-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it mode, no prizes for guessing who MAS selected as
their candidate.
Jordan’s victory seemed like a formality from the word ‘go’. She was
backed up by a monstrous campaign budget, while MAS had, in reality, fired the
starting-gun some months previous when they launched a series of La Paz-funded
construction projects, playing the populist string in one case with a major new
sports complex under construction just up the road from where we live.
And yet, their considerable efforts were, to the surprise of many,
thwarted once again. Several of the smaller opposition groups shelved their
candidacy and united under the umbrella of the main challenger, Carmelo Lens, a
lawyer, scholar and local councillor. There was genuine shock – dare I say,
relief? – last Sunday evening as the results came through giving him a 52%
share of the vote to Miss Jessica’s 44% tally. All the king’s horses and all
the king’s men couldn’t buy the Beni.
Alas for Jessica – and, indeed, for her good friend, Evo – the noise
coming out of the Beni remains a more subdued, but ever-discernible “No, Miss.”
Prayer
- For final preparations for the new youth group year, which begins next Saturday.
- For the church music ministry. Craig will be returning to the fold this week after a short break over January. With our furlough year in 2014 on the horizon, this is a key year in terms of training up the band to be better equipped to manage by themselves (the current members have only the most tenuous grasp of musical theory at the moment, for example). Pray for this work.
- Please remember our friend Porfidia Prado in your prayers. She is a primary school teacher of real calibre and is desperate to get involved in the Community class ministry this year -- she would be a great asset. In order to do this, she needs to find other work (the Community classes meet in the afternoons so she's looking for a morning teaching position). The new school year is a week away and, unfortunately, nothing has come up yet.
- Continue to remember our permanent-residency visa application in your prayers.
Praise
- For the safe arrival of volunteer Deborah Holmes from Croydon, south London. In fact, she's been in the country for about a month, staying with friends in Cochabamba, but our friends the Holts picked her up on the way back from a family holiday and she arrived last Saturday. She's here till May -- pray that her time here would be one of blessing and growth.
¡Que Dios les bendiga!
Craig & Amanda
