Little Security for an Ex-Head of State

Black suits, ear pieces, and Men In Black style sunglasses. Okay, maybe the last bit is an over exageration, but I definetly picture CIA style security when I hear that the ex-president of a country will be speaking to the public. Instead, I met the ex-president of Bolivia, Carlos Mesa, in a small auditorium with no visible security to speak of. He seemed alone, and during his two hour speech I found myself wondering why?

My lack of concentration frustrated me; however, I was torn between listening to him speak in Spanish and using the headphones that had a British man with too much spit in his mouth translating to English. Eventually I gave up trying to translate on my own, and put the headphones on to hear the entire message (trying to figure out what neo-constructizism is in Spanish is a challenge).

Sitting in the world renown London School of Econmics and Political Science, where the likes of the Kennedy's have studied, I felt intimidated by the scholars around me. I found out Mesa was a journalist for roughly 25 years before he became president. With a little internet searching before hand, I also found out he was elected as vice-president and took over for the president mid-term. He attempted to resign several times during his term before the Congress accepted his letter of resignation.

In his speech, he addressed several issues, comparing Bolivia to Brazil and Venezuela. Bolivia has one percent of Brazils GDP, and he cited the differences between Chavez's rhetoric and actions as the reason for some of their financial success. He stated that Venezuela needs the U.S. to sell their oil to, so Chavez does a good job of not making the U.S. too mad that they refuse to by his oil.

Indigenous people in Bolivia are not recognized as citizens, and I found out that the racism in Bolivia is unreal. One student in the audience addressed this issue during the Q and A session, and Mesa skirted around the issue. He said racism was still a problem but avoided addressing any potential roads to a solution.

After the speech, we got to meet Mesa in an informal meet and greet where wine and hor de

vours were served. There was a major language barrier, but he seemed pleasant enough; he was more than willing to take pictures with whoever wanted them and engage in both small talk and more in depth conversations with the native Spanish speakers.

So the question remains, was an ex-president of Bolivia just not that concerned with security, or was his security so good they remained unseen unless needed? I will never know, but I will find out if the Prime Minister of New Zealand shares the same sentiment next month when I go see him speak.