Bolivia: a South American experiment

I rejoice at this good news from Bolivia.

You said: "All of this took place under the authority of successive constitutions blessed and supported by the Catholic church, which was given a legal place of privilege. Freedom of religion was not granted until the end of the 19th century. The Catholic church, meanwhile, accepted slavery, as well as class and race distinctions."

That is an outright LIE! The Catholic Church has NEVER supported or done these things. The BOLIVIAN BISHOPS did these abominable things, commited these sine, NOT the universal church.

You need to tell the truth, or stop claiming you are Catholic.

Socialism is not the dirty word that we make it here in the U. S. Look where unregulated Capitalism has gotten us.

"National health care and retirement funds now have universal coverage of some kind. All pregnant women receive prenatal and postnatal care and health care for their children up to 2 years old."

If this once poorest nation can do it, why can't we?

I believe that countries must try various forms of governments in order to overcome hardships in certain countries. If socialism is the answer, then so be it.

"Latin America has a new laboratory for socialism"

So does North America. It lies between Canada and Mexico.

Pat

Ardel....Did not various popes and theologians support slavery etc?
But you are right, the Church, that is, the People of God, did not necessarily support these evils but the hierarchy did. More power to the People of God.

Nelson's comment reminded me of an incident when I was on the Trans-Siberian Express in the 1970's and one of my fellow travelers from the USA could not accept any personal responsiblity of the bombing in South East Asia. He claimed he had not dropped any bomb. I question if the survivors of those bombs could clearly see that distinction. I suspect the people of Bolivia might not see the difference between the Church and a group of people representing the church that allowed slavery, class disticntions, et cetera. I wonder how Atahualpa saw the Catholic Church. Hopefully we've all come a long way since then.

.. Ardel Nelson
I find it interesting and challenging to ponder your reply in which you imply that the Catholic Bishops are not representing the Catholic Church

The author of this article needs to check his facts. I spent many years as a missionary in Bolivia and, as anyone familiar with Bolivian politics knows, this article is full of errors and half-truths. Bolivian law never forbade indigenous peoples from voting and, in fact, they were always the majority in the provinces of La Paz, Oruro, Sucre, Potosi, and Cochabamba. Bolivian law did, perhaps inadvisedly, forbid voting by illiterates, but there were as many illiterates among the "cambas" of Santa Cruz and Beni as there were among the indigenous peoples. In 1952, the MNR party passed laws permitting illiterate people to vote, whether they were indigenous or not.

Similarly, there was never -- ever -- a time when indigenous people were not permitted in the cities and plazas of Bolivia. Anyone familiar with the history of Bolivia will tell you that indigenous people have always been part of Bolivian urban life, have frequently dominated the commercial class, and have long been the majority in western Bolivia. It is true that they have been underrepresented in the government over the years, but it is also true that their representatives did little to advance their cause and much to enrich themselves.

Finally, the Bolivian bishops have traditionally served the poorest of the poor far more than their contemporaries in other countries, including the United States. The president of the Bolivian Episcopal Conference, Cardinal Julio Terrazas of Santa Cruz, arose from poverty, became a Redemptorist, served as Bishop of Oruro -- one of the poorest dioceses on earth -- and remains one of the staunchest advocates for justice in the Americas. You will not find among the Bolivian bishops a single instance of prelates living in power or enjoying any prestige other than that of serving the Gospel among the very poor. He is not, by the way, an advocate of Evo Morales' brand of socialism, which has naively aligned itself with Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Fidel Castro of Cuba and will, like so many Bolivian political movements of the past, end in the people being plundered by those who promised them the moon.

This article was misleading at best. Why doesn't NCR check its facts before giving space to something like this?

Bolivia isn't the only country where the Church has supported abusive regimes. Over the past hundred years, Spain, Portugal, and a whole litany of nations in the Americas have suffered from totalitarian/dictatorships that were approved by the Church. Unfortunately, it appears that the Church still is more concerned with befriending the powerful rather than fighting for the poor & marginalized.

Any one that thinks this experiment is great go live in Bolivia. We are on the same road it may sound romantic. Believe me when Solicalism/Communism gets here you will be praying for your life! I will fight it and all who think it is wonderful until my dying day. Oh and by the way you need to learn the real history!

Another nail in the memory of The Church of Rome! The Church will fail as it is falling from grace in most of the world! Bolivia!! Congratulations!!

Thank you for giving a good assessment of the situation. May we learn from our mistakes and keep close to the people of God no matter what the cost.

We have just returned from 6 weeks staying with family in Bolivia.

We found the Evo Marales MAS/IDSP government to be genuinely popular with the ordinary people of Bolivia.

We met a poor Aymara women who said she'd go down on her knees to pray for Evo Morales because she'd just received B1000 from the government for her 5 children under a MAS/IDSP programme granting B200 to each child completing a year at school, a programme which encourages and enables parents to keep their children in school rather than having to send them out to work to feed the family. She was going to use the money to buy clothes for her children.

Bolivia has nationalised its oil and natural gas and using the revenue to fund social programmes such as this which benefit the poor. The cost of reticulated gas for cooking and heating is now about a third the cost of previously bottled gas.

The Morales government has increased the minimum wage in Bolvia by 40% over 5 years.

One can call that socialism if one wants to but the reality is that the Bolvian government is implementing Catholic Social Teaching in favour of the poor and the family.

God Bless

According to Bolivian President Evo Morales, only 50 years ago indigenous people were not even allowed in the plaza outside congress.

http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2010/01/bolivia-we-are-here-to-serve-p...

The system of serfdom (pongo) survived in Bolivia until the 1952 MNR revolution.

http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a739391980&db=all

God Bless