Hi everyone. I suck.
I had an interview today with Andres Soliz Rada, former minister of hydrocarbons. He was Evo's first minister, but he quit because of conflicts with the office of the vice-president - the VP wanted to water down the nationalization decree; Soliz wanted a full nationalization. Definitely a guy who knows MAS, knows the history of the gas, and probably the most important interview I'll get while I'm here. I interviewed him in a hotel restaurant, which was pretty noisy - people talking, jostling silverware, etc. And then a protest came by, setting off fireworks. I was really annoyed actually, but I thought "man, hopefully my mic will pick up his voice a lot better than the fireworks." But guess what? I forgot to turn my mic on. The only audio I have is what was picked up by the internal mic on my camera. Bullcrap. Mary mother of Jesus I'm mad at myself! This is one of those things that makes me feel like I have no business doing what I'm doing - after all, I study political science and economics, not video production. Well, I'm trying to console myself by thinking that it's going to be subtitled anyways.
I've had several other interviews in the past week; some good, some not so good. Another "I'm a technical fuck-up" interview was this morning, with a guy from PODEMOS who is heading an investigation on the legality of the new gas contracts (which were discussed between MAS and the gas companies behind closed doors). First, I put him where I thought was under the light, but turned out being in front of the light - his face is totally darkened by shadows. And, I forgot to turn the mic on! (no, apparently I'm NOT learning from my mistakes, but since I did it twice in one day I'm extra mad at myself). On the other hand, he didn't have a lot to say of interest, plus his English was so choppy it wouldn't have made for good film (I was told he spoke English, so I didn't bring Martijn, and then in the middle of the interview he told me he hasn't spoken English since his senior year in the States - which was 1979).
But I did have another interview with the head of the PODEMOS deputies, Lourdes Millares, which went really well. Plus, now I actually have at least one woman for my movie! I actually talked mostly politics with her; it's funny to hear PODEMOS, the right-wing party and formerly the major party of Bolivia (before MAS won in a landslide) talk about how "Evo needs to govern with inclusion, he's leaving out the minority!" because - first of all - Evo represents so many Bolivians (he's had 50-80% approval ratings since he took office), and second, the reason MAS won so handily in the last elections is because for generations the ruling elites of Bolivia ran the country on a policy of exclusion, only they didn't exclude just a minority, the excluded more than half the population.
The other interesting thing is that all the parties agreed that something different needed to happen with the gas in Bolivia - they just differed on what exactly, but not actually by much. PODEMOS wanted to "nationalize the benefits," i.e. raise taxes and use the money for health and education. In fact, this is basically what Evo did after he got elected, even though he ran on a platform of "nationalization." Unidad Nacional claimed that what was needed was more value-added activities (like refining) of the hydrocarbons, and greater control over where the gas was sold (right now, the private companies don't like selling gas in the national market because the price is lower). Essentially, they all argue for modest changes in Bolivia's favor. Which is kind of too bad, because it creates less dramatic tension for my film!
I talked with more MAS people, too. One was Rene Choque, who is on the campesino committee. He was kind of a jerk actually: I could tell he thought I was trying to tell him how to run his country or something (isn't it the reporters job to ask tough questions?), and he would never look at me, only at Martijn. All of his answers were sort of vague and non-commital, like "MAS is working for the people!" Kind of Soviet propoganda sounding, actualy. And when we left, he made some sort of joke and everyone laughed. I asked Martijn what he had said and Martijn replied, "I don't know, but I think they're making fun of us."
More or less I've gotten plenty of interviews on the political side, I think (and sorry, it was all in Spanish, so even at the time I didn't get it all, so I can't give a very detailed report). Tomorrow I'm going to try and talk to more people on the street (I talked with a few yesterday, but only three, and they were all late 20's/early 30's, and fairly well off). And then I'm off to Santa Cruz!
Oh yeah, it was National Childrens Day or something today, which means a lot of action at Burger King. And, while I was sitting with Martijn and Nelson next to the Presidential Palace, I saw some cameramen filming some important-looking adults, then they talked to some shoe-shine boys, maybe 6 and 8 years old. You see, the kids had received new shoe-shine boxes and vests. What lucky little guys! Now they don't have to deal with their old, dinged-up boxes while they beg to shine the shoes of rich people for a nickle.
I've had several other interviews in the past week; some good, some not so good. Another "I'm a technical fuck-up" interview was this morning, with a guy from PODEMOS who is heading an investigation on the legality of the new gas contracts (which were discussed between MAS and the gas companies behind closed doors). First, I put him where I thought was under the light, but turned out being in front of the light - his face is totally darkened by shadows. And, I forgot to turn the mic on! (no, apparently I'm NOT learning from my mistakes, but since I did it twice in one day I'm extra mad at myself). On the other hand, he didn't have a lot to say of interest, plus his English was so choppy it wouldn't have made for good film (I was told he spoke English, so I didn't bring Martijn, and then in the middle of the interview he told me he hasn't spoken English since his senior year in the States - which was 1979).
But I did have another interview with the head of the PODEMOS deputies, Lourdes Millares, which went really well. Plus, now I actually have at least one woman for my movie! I actually talked mostly politics with her; it's funny to hear PODEMOS, the right-wing party and formerly the major party of Bolivia (before MAS won in a landslide) talk about how "Evo needs to govern with inclusion, he's leaving out the minority!" because - first of all - Evo represents so many Bolivians (he's had 50-80% approval ratings since he took office), and second, the reason MAS won so handily in the last elections is because for generations the ruling elites of Bolivia ran the country on a policy of exclusion, only they didn't exclude just a minority, the excluded more than half the population.
The other interesting thing is that all the parties agreed that something different needed to happen with the gas in Bolivia - they just differed on what exactly, but not actually by much. PODEMOS wanted to "nationalize the benefits," i.e. raise taxes and use the money for health and education. In fact, this is basically what Evo did after he got elected, even though he ran on a platform of "nationalization." Unidad Nacional claimed that what was needed was more value-added activities (like refining) of the hydrocarbons, and greater control over where the gas was sold (right now, the private companies don't like selling gas in the national market because the price is lower). Essentially, they all argue for modest changes in Bolivia's favor. Which is kind of too bad, because it creates less dramatic tension for my film!
I talked with more MAS people, too. One was Rene Choque, who is on the campesino committee. He was kind of a jerk actually: I could tell he thought I was trying to tell him how to run his country or something (isn't it the reporters job to ask tough questions?), and he would never look at me, only at Martijn. All of his answers were sort of vague and non-commital, like "MAS is working for the people!" Kind of Soviet propoganda sounding, actualy. And when we left, he made some sort of joke and everyone laughed. I asked Martijn what he had said and Martijn replied, "I don't know, but I think they're making fun of us."
More or less I've gotten plenty of interviews on the political side, I think (and sorry, it was all in Spanish, so even at the time I didn't get it all, so I can't give a very detailed report). Tomorrow I'm going to try and talk to more people on the street (I talked with a few yesterday, but only three, and they were all late 20's/early 30's, and fairly well off). And then I'm off to Santa Cruz!
Oh yeah, it was National Childrens Day or something today, which means a lot of action at Burger King. And, while I was sitting with Martijn and Nelson next to the Presidential Palace, I saw some cameramen filming some important-looking adults, then they talked to some shoe-shine boys, maybe 6 and 8 years old. You see, the kids had received new shoe-shine boxes and vests. What lucky little guys! Now they don't have to deal with their old, dinged-up boxes while they beg to shine the shoes of rich people for a nickle.
posted by Devin Malone at 4:41 PM
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