By Oscar Antezana:

• Good morning, miss. I’m an entrepreneur and I would like someone to help me regarding some training programs that were offered last year.
• Yes, I’ll give you the email or cellphone number so you can get in touch (I called insistently; I imagine that out of fatigue from the ringing they finally answered the phone). They responded and told me to wait at reception.
• Ma’am, how can I help you?
• Good morning, sir. I came to inquire about some training sessions that were given last year; unfortunately I heard about them late and they told me they would offer them again this year. I am producing a natural product in an artisanal way and I have positive testimonials about my product, which I’ve been making for about a year now, but I need guidance and technical training related to distribution channels and marketing for my product.
• No ma’am, right now we are offering training to young people with new topics about technology and its applications.
• Sir, young people have everything they need to know on the internet; in fact, now they don’t even need to think thanks to Artificial Intelligence. Meanwhile, there are women like me who make handicrafts not only in the city, but also in the Chiquitania. Men and women working with their hands and depending daily on their sales to survive. Why don’t institutions like CAINCO promote our culture, handicrafts, gastronomy? Why don’t they look for markets to sell everything artisans produce? Preserving our culture and spreading it should be a task every year; you should think about the most vulnerable and disadvantaged population.

I said goodbye and left the building thinking that the young man who attended me was not going to do absolutely anything about my complaint. I headed to CADEX to request another type of information for my venture.

• Good morning, miss, I’m looking for XYZ.
• No ma’am, he is not here.
• Who can I speak with?
• Wait a moment, I’m going to ask.

The young woman returned after quite a while.

• Ma’am, they tell me you should write a little letter indicating your request for the information you need.

I was furious.

• Miss, you made me wait 15 minutes to tell me to write a little letter. Do you know that I came all the way here (spending my gasoline after standing in line) to make sure I would be attended to, and attended to properly? I’m not a well-known person. If I write that “little letter,” its destination will be the trash can, they’ll respond badly and never, or I’ll have to come back to follow up. I’m not moving from here until someone attends me.

The young woman apologized and went in search of a colleague. Shortly afterward a gentleman came down.

• Ma’am, how can I help you?
• I came to request information about a product I want to buy from legally established companies, and I imagine you must have an updated list.
• I’m sorry, ma’am. Many companies have stopped being part of CADEX and what you request we do not have in our records.
• Look sir, I want to contribute my grain of sand to the economy of Santa Cruz and Bolivia, and the first thing I run into is “write a little letter.” Aren’t we talking about unblocking our gridlocked economy? Aren’t you, as the private sector, the ones who should set the example and lead these changes? You are the first to complain but the first to do nothing!

I couldn’t take it anymore, my cortisol was through the roof. I turned around and left, frustrated and disappointed with our people; and then we want to grow. Who could grow? The big ones, the ones who have contacts? I ask myself: isn’t that a form of influence peddling and therefore corruption?

Thanks to the person, an acquaintance of mine, who told me this real experience that happened 2–3 weeks ago. She asked me not to give more precise information, nor her name, because you never know; they take subtle reprisals and “block” you even more.

Hopefully this serves for something, particularly so that officials of the central and sub-national government, employees of trade associations and others become aware that with very small things they can benefit many people who want to work, not do bureaucracy. Can the reader imagine how many people have had this experience? Not hundreds—thousands—and in all kinds of entities.

I said it before and I repeat it. The country not only has to transform itself productively, but also culturally. We cannot bet that the solution is simply improving our educational system. That is not where the issue lies. The whole society—led by the government and with proactive support from the private sector (companies, trade associations, universities) and all citizens—must organize and carry out a massive, intense and permanent awareness campaign to elevate the values of respect, discipline, hard work, honesty, among others. For 20 years, the MAS (which remains entrenched in the current government) has instilled, through voice and example, prebendalism, cynicism, racism, corruption and other vices. Transforming the country depends on each one of us, rulers and ruled.