The following link is from an article that was written by Julio H. Linares C. and published by Los Tiempos, 10/12/11. Linares lists all the unrestricted, unplanned, highly questioned disbursements current Bolivian president has made since he assumed office and in special under this week’s “extraordinary” circumstances. Yes, too close to the so-called Judicial “elections” and the TIPNIS protest-walk that is very close to arrive in La Paz city.
1. Last week, a bonus to public employees, an “incentive” to over 50,000 public servants. A total cost of 50 million Bolivianos; exchange rate is Bs6.86 to one American dollar.
2. Teachers for public schools, nationwide, are beginning to receive (started this week in Tarija) around 109,000 laptops are being handed in even in places where there is no electricity. Cost: 350 million Bolivianos.
3. This week, the children’s bonus (Juancito Pinto) will start to get paid to around 1.8 million children. Cost: 500 million Bolivianos.
4. Six days prior to announcing raise in fuel prices (December 2010), the Indigenous Fund was opened using oil tax revenues to provide funding directly to “pre-selected” indigenous institutions. Conamaq (who is now supporting the TIPNIS against the will of this government); the “Barolinas” (a women’s group aligned to current political party in government) and other organizations were going to manage around 1.3 billion Bolivianos.
5. Ever since this president assumed office, over two billion Bolivianos were handed in to mayors, communities, unions, and social organizations without going through proper fiscal channels. [president would arrive to a locality, give out a check without any budget, project or any other type of control; back when Venezuela had a stronger economy (high oil prices) most of those monies came from the source, although it was never clear whether those were grant or loan]
El Dia newspaper reported yesterday that giving away laptops was a sign of prebendaries by current government to public school teachers. Only five days from the judicial “elections” the distribution of those laptops with the image of current president printed, was criticized separately by a union leader, a congress/assembly woman and a political analyst.
A government with old, now-impractical development ideas of mid XX century; and eager for total control of power (executive, legislative and judicial) has created new and at times just “renamed” old subsidies and bonuses. Yet, Bolivia has fallen from 2nd place in South America regarding natural gas export potential to 8th; no new important investments to boost our mining or industrial sector have failed to occur; and unemployment, underemployment continue to happen because there is no sound economic policies.
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