New York Times on Bolivia; journalism or malicious gossip?

For years we have passed information to the New York Times and other papers. They have ignored it, even when a Bolivian consul offered his house to a NYT journalist and offered to set up an interview with Evo Morales. A press reception in the Bolivian consulate in New York, on 30 June, 2010, was ignored by the NYT, the NY Post and the NY Daily News. A short cab or subway ride away from their offices, or a ten minute walk for any able bodied journalists, was too much to undertake.

Even when Bolivian officials visited this city and spoke at major institutions, such as Colombia University, the journalists here took no note. Morales too spoke, at a convenient midtown location, and they were nowhere to be seen.

Bolivia, twice the size of France, or Texas, with its great diversity ethnically and geographically, has great opportunity for any real journalist. Recently, much of this has been positive, with the great increases in minimum wage, education and living conditions, the creation of more infrastructure and tourism, etc.

But none of this reaches the pages of the New York Times. I seldom get a google alert on my email; but recently it has been a constant stream of alerts about NYT pieces on Bolivia; all hit pieces.

Here is a sampling:
17 Feb  (AP)  "6 Dead of Asphyxiation in Bolivian Protest"
19 Feb  (Editorial Board)  "Three Terms is Enough for Morales"
21 Feb  (AP)  "Ballot Question on Morales Re-election in Trouble"
22 Feb  (Nicholas Casey)  "Polls Show Bolivian Leader Losing Vote"
25 Feb  (Nicholas Casey)  "Morales Concedes Defeat"
27 Feb  (Nicholas Casey)  "Former Lover in Jail"

There is a great irony of all this coming from a town where the former mayor had three terms, and wanted more; Michael Bloomberg. He is a pressman, but there was no such hit campaign against his seeking re-election in the NYT. The public voted for term limits for him and for Morales, as they did with Roosevelt. But somehow the NYT makes this
seem like something terrible is happening in Bolivia, and specifically with Morales' administration, and probes into his personal  life, what with claims of a son who passed away but now there is someone claiming the son is alive and a former girlfriend whom he broke up with. No one is sure what is happening, but busybodies are spending their time consumed with it.

I thought such kind of reporting was in the National Enquirer, along with Elvis sightings and UFOs.

A piece by L. Pierce Caron in the Napa Valley Register appeared on 31 December, 2010 - about a new Bolivian drink. These coca leaf licours are something else, I had them at the consulate in NY - not this exact brand though.

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At this time of the year, you’d expect to find a piece extolling the virtues of this sparkling wine or that Champagne, right?

Well, I’m not gonna do it this year. I found something else that might contribute to the merriment of ringing out the Old Year as the clock strikes midnight. After all, it’s New Year’s Eve.

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by a public relations firm eager to have me sample a liqueur with origins in Bolivia that is being promoted in various U.S. markets. My interest was piqued when she referred to it as “the original and only coca leaf liqueur.”

Well, I had to give that a try, so we arranged for a tasting with a few people in the hospitality trade, including chefs and others from the front-of-the-house and bar teams at a local restaurant.

First of all, the facts. Agwa de is a 60 proof (30 percent alcohol) herbal liqueur made with coca leaves and 32 other herbs and botanicals that adheres fully to the rules and regulations of the authorities both within the EU and U.S., and has been sold in this country, the UK and more than 25 other countries for more than a decade.

Since first showing up in bars and liquor stores a couple of years ago on the Left Coast, Agwa de Bolivia has built a reputation as a mystery liquor that’s intoxicating, yet somehow energizing, too. It’s not the tastiest thing to drink straight, but seems to mix well with almost anything. It’s being hailed as “the new absinthe” by some hipsters, “the new Jägermeister” by party animals and being touted as everything from an alleged booster of sexual prowess to a substitute for illegal drugs.

The coca leaf was an important crop in the Andes of Bolivia. The Andean culture and the coca plant have thrived for centuries. And coca leaves even made an inroad into American culture in the 19th century.

In 1886, John Pemberton, of Atlanta, Ga., introduced a tonic called Coca-Cola which contained cocaine. Cocaine was removed from Coca Cola in 1904; however decocainised coca leaves are still used. Spirits and wines that contained cocaine were finally banned in the United Stages in 1912, with officials noting that cocaine is an extremely dangerous narcotic with significant health hazards.

It’s ironic that this same plant that is used as a curative and everyday stimulant in its homeland is the source of so much abuse and misunderstanding in many parts of the world.

In checking with an Agwa de Bolivia company rep, I was informed that “the finest handpicked wild Bolivian coca leaves are shipped to Amsterdam under armed guard where they are first de-cocainised before being infused with alcohol and 36 other natural herbs and botanicals to enable the maximum effect.”

Based on a 200-year-old recipe, Agwa de Bolivia is handcrafted in Amsterdam.

The company offers any number of drink recipes, including one that neither I nor the assembled tasters wanted to drink — mixing Agwa de Bolivia coca leaf liqueur with an energy drink, such as Red Bull. They call this drink a Short Fuse, served as an Agwa Bomb. A Long Fuse is a tall glass of the liqueur and energy drink with 2 lime wedges on the rocks.

To make an Amsterdam martini, add the liqueur, vodka and lime wedges, squeezed, to a shaker filled with ice. Shake and strain the liquid into a chilled martini glass, garnished with a slice of lime.

For a Chica Bomba, make a mojito with Agwa de Bolivia and add a splash of rum.

Popular with a young bar crowd, the Bolivian Kiss is “the ultimate Agwa ritual — bite the wedge of a lime, down a shot of chilled Agwa de Bolivia, now feel the buzz...”

Locally, all but one of our tasters the other evening picked a very simple drink as the favorite. That one person preferred the Agwa-made mojito to the drink the rest of us preferred.

Our favorite was a glass of crushed ice, squeezing in the juice of a couple of lime wedges and then topping all with a generous pour of Agwa de Bolivia. It was chilled and refreshing, the lime giving the herbal flavor quite a boost on the palate. That’s all there is to it — crushed ice, freshly squeezed lime juice and the coca leaf liqueur. The manufacturer has a name for the drink (one of the words is “madre”), but it’s not a term used in polite company, let alone in print. That’s why we gave you the formula.

Cost of Agwa de Bolivia is somewhere between $30 and $32.

Open House day at the Bolivian Consulate

On Wednesday, 30 June, from 5:30 - 7:30 pm, there will be a reception at the Bolivian Consulate in New York. Interested parties including journalists, playwrights, professors and students are invited to attend, meet diplomats, meet the founders of Amigos de Bolivia, and take away some information packets.
The consulate is located at 211 East 43, Suite 1004, New York, NY, 10017.
Learn about the orchids, birds, mining and other industries, or just sip come Bolivian coffee or coca liquor!
For more information contact Carlos Reyes at carlosreyes99@rocketmail.com

Tale of Two Cities: New York and La Paz on Earth Day, 2010

On Earth Day, 22 April 2010, there was much going on in La Paz and New York. The former had some 15,000 visitors to hear talks on melting glaciers and capitalism, whilst in the latter great crowds tuned in to hear about capitalism and, er, capitalism. POTUS turned up, to the chagrin of the Big Apple's biggest billionaire, who was not informed ahead of time about the visit. The billionaire happens also to be the mayor, so it is protocol to do so, but when you are a novice politician, protocol is often lacking; just look at the pictures of POTUS at a seder without a kippa, or yarmulke as it is better known in New York. The novice, who also happens to be a millionaire, was in NY to address Wall Street, which was worried that he might do something to regulate them, especially after the latest scandal with bankers putting together idiotic deals and then betting against them; the buyers lost a billion, the bankers made a billion. Many millionaires are now ex-millionaires. But the billionaire was not going to let the loss of a mere billion serve as an argument for regulation. His argument ran something along the lines that if you regulate them, NY might lose out - kind of like asking the government not to enforce the law on the mob, as it makes money and without mob money NY might lose out... The Amigos de Bolivia crowd, however, had a better speaker to listen to, even if he wasn't a billionaire or even a millionaire; someone who could talk about credit upgrades, best GDP in the region status, and increased social spending, rather than stock market swindles. The speaker was Luis Alberto Arce Catacora, Minister of Economics and Public Finance. He spoke at Columbia University, flanked by the Bolivian Consul, Marco Medrano, and his aides.
Arce mentioned Bolivia's vast mineral resources - no talk on Bolivian economics would be complete without that - and said one very good thing: that Bolivia was not going to just count on these to get by, but was going to create businesses that would be sustainable for the future; he mentioned eco-tourism, paper mills and agriculture.Of the first, there was not much detailed discussion, Bolivia has always lagged behind on this, whilst Ecuador, Peru and Costa Rica are the leaders in the field. Bolivia has greater biodiversity than any of them, with 1448 species of birds and well over 1200 species of orchids. But this market will have to be tapped; there needs to be more scientific papers and publicity about what is there, with the museums and other institutions working to alongside this industry. Amigos de Bolivia members offered their help on this and we shall see. As to paper, Arce qualified what materials were used by saying that the mills were all for recycling; much room for improvement exists here if new fibres can be sourced, either grown for paper, or, in the case of hemp and banana, the fibres that are generally thrown away can be used. Hemp is the oldest paper fibre in the world, and banana is a relative of Manila hemp, used for making rope, so both are excellent choices and can grow in Bolivia.
As to agriculture, Arce noted there are two kinds of crops: those known in the West, such as maize, rice, sugar, etc., and those endemic to the Andes, such as quinoa and maca; a student added stevia to that list. Then of course there is wine (grown in 6 departamentos, mostly in Tarija), coffee, and coco. Arable land, however, is not abundant in Bolivia, it comprises only 4.5% of the country; by contrast, 56% of India is arable land. Thus agriculture needs to be both diversified and focused on those plants which would make the country competitive.

World attention is turning to Bolivia more and more, so expect to hear more about it. My guess is that the mineral resources will ultimately prove lucrative, but not without struggle, and that in the meantime, and for the future, the best bet is to develop sustainable industries such as Senor Arce mentioned.