The Bolivian People 51
In the fi rst edition of this book, I divided the space between
people of fame and those who are anonymous. Since that
time, a strange thing has happened: most of those famous
people have been besieged by scandal and calamity, as if their
appearance in this book had been the kiss of death.
That’s a metaphor, except for two cases: a famous football
player I mentioned committed suicide and a populist TV
personality and politician died prematurely of a heart attack
following family scandals. Otherwise, the demise of profi led
personalities was not marked by the ultimate fi nality. A jovial
senator who was kind enough to give me an exclusive hour
in his offi ce was later to fall in disgrace after a truck from his
company had a fl uke accident and its contraband contents
spilled out over the highway. A populist mayor who had
been elected term after term with a resounding majority of
votes was hustled off the political stage after serious charges
of corruption. Two up-and-coming women politicians are
now down and out of the political arena following soap
opera intrigues. I interviewed a prize-winning fi lm director,
and some time after the interview, funding for his next fi lm
dried up.
A high-profi le banker convicted of violations of banking
regulations hosted me in his two-room prison apartment in
the 5-star section of La Paz’s San Pedro Prison hoping that his
published story might help get his sentence reduced. Instead,
he languished in jail with no end of the sentence in sight.
I had planned on profi ling a dynamic young woman
whose youth-oriented TV programme gave high school and
college students a free forum to air their opinions of vital
issues. It seemed to me like the most exciting trend in TV.
But in the absence of commercial sponsors, her show had
to be discontinued. Before you consider that my book was
somehow a jinx for these people, consider the fragility of
Bolivia’s celebrity scene.
The Celebrity Industry
I come from a country where celebrity packaging is one of the
top industries. In Bolivia, it seems that would-be celebrities
become unravelled before they can assure themselves lifetime
