28 CultureShock! Bolivia
FOREIGN RELATIONS AND BOLIVIAN LAW
The majority of people come from Fidel’s Cholo background
but even the affl uent minority, which includes both Cholo and
European origins, is revolted to see him behind bars.
“I was in Congress during the passage of Law 1008,” former
Senator Leopoldo López told me in an exclusive interview,
“and I can assure you that we were all under pressure from
the United States Embassy to pass the law.”
There is a perception within large segments of Bolivian
society, from Calacoto to El Alto, that the Bolivian
government takes orders from the United States and world
monetary institutions.
Most Bolivians, of all classes and persuasions, look at
foreign visitors in a positive light. However, abuses by the
US ‘War on Drugs’ and a US economic policy infl icting an
orthodox neoliberal economic theory that has widened the
gap between rich and poor, lead many Bolivians to resent