Locked

Bolivia is one of only two countries in South America without the access to the ocean. Not only however Bolivia is land-locked, but despite its very central location and borders with Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Peru, it also seems to be very inward-looking, sort of mentality-locked.

In mid-May I got stuck for a few hours in Quijarro, Bolivia’s main border town with Brazil. I was unfortunate to get there in the middle of the strike affecting local immigration office and was refused an exit stamp in my passport. No exit stamp by Bolivians means no entry stamp from Brazilians. I was accompanied in my misfortune by two young English lads (hilariously dressed in a style resembling messieurs John Travolta and Samuel L Jackson in the final scenes of Pulp Fiction), who had by then visited most of the countries in the Amazon basin. The guys were not particularly bright, but made an interesting observation – the only two countries they had visited where there was “something seriously wrong” were Venezuela and Bolivia.

I took a liberty of interpreting their observation as a critique towards political system in both countries, which are embodied by populist leaders (Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales) claiming to be political heirs of South America’s greatest independence hero Simon Bolivar. Neither of them believes in market economy and both try to promote home-grown forms of socialist utopia.

Chavez can finance his ideas with money from oil, but Evo is in a much worse position. Although Bolivia apparently has a lot of valuable mineral resources which could contribute to the economic growth of the country, the government’s ideological lack of trust towards foreign investors makes any extraction on large scale quite a difficult task - the country lacks financial resources and know-how to make use of what it has. The other potential source of income for Bolivians could be tourism. It seems to have it all – really high mountains, large part of the country in Amazon basin, picturesque salt flats, lake Titicaca and most importantly – it is really cheap. I have not however noticed any effort from the authorities to invest in touristy areas and make travelling a good experience, like they do quite well in Peru. Backpackers will always come, but they are not the ones who are the most valuable tourists (in money terms).

The Bolivian government promotes co-operatives as the best form of enterprise. This is the case in such industries as mining and transportation. It gives people job security but does not encourage growth neither leads to improvements in standards, efficiency or service levels. Bolivia’s largest border is with the biggest regional economic success story – Brazil, which until recently was run by a very socialist in his youth Luis Inacio "Lula" da Silva. Current Bolivian president Evo Morales used to be a coca grower and local trade union leader, just like Lula. This is where the similarities end - the Brazilian president led his country from one success to another, the Bolivian is not giving his country even the slightest chance.