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Populism For a Price
New policies promoted by Bolivian President Evo Morales emphasize clinics and education. About two-thirds of the nation's 9 million people are poor.
(By Peter S. Goodman -- The Washington Post)
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"Parents are tempted to keep kids home to help," Quenta said.
The recent Latin American rejection of Washington oversight hasn't affected the World Bank as much as it has the IMF. Where the IMF lends to countries in distress and imposes broad requirements related to economic management, the World Bank tends to lend money for individual projects like building highways and dams and financing education and health care. World Bank officials say they have maintained their role in part by changing with the times, letting countries determine their own priorities.
"The idea that the bank was a monopolistic, omniscient, autocratic institution comes from history," said Marcelo Giugale, a former director for Andean countries. "That bank doesn't exist anymore." He praised Bolivia for "putting forward its own policies."
As Venezuelan cash pours into Bolivia, Morales hands out much of it himself. Eschewing business attire for jeans and the colorfully woven ponchos of his Aymara tribe, he flies to remote outposts -- sometimes on a Venezuelan helicopter -- to satisfy requests.
The three-hour drive from La Paz to Oruro, a mining area where the president recently handed out checks, provided a montage of the poverty that grips Bolivia.
At a quarry carved into reddish-brown flats, men hoisted boulders by hand. A woman lugged a fuel canister down a lonely stretch of road.
Jacinto Calle raises cattle outside Caracollo, a smudge of a town where dogs root through trash. In his 63 years, Calle had never seen a doctor. But when an infection spread across his leg recently, he rode his bicycle three miles to a hospital built last year with gas royalties. The doctors were Cuban, a gift from President Fidel Castro. His leg is healing.
In Oruro, three dozen mayors from surrounding towns jockeyed to get into city hall to ask Morales for a piece of his aid program -- Evo Delivers. The president sat at a table taking notes by hand, a Venezuelan embassy official at his side.
A man in a leather jacket asked for a $65,000 clean water project but offered no files.
"If you have a copy of the contract, give it to me," Morales said. "Otherwise go and sit down."
A woman in a poncho requested $52,000 for a swimming pool. She had no cost breakdown. Morales sent her away.
"I can't believe that so many heads of government can be so irresponsible," he said, fretting openly about corruption. "People are showing up with these big entourages. If you have more than one head of government -- your brother, your cousin -- get rid of one!"
A nervous quiet settled over the room. Morales sighed like a disappointed parent.
"Before, you couldn't find any money," he said. "Now, there's money, but you don't come prepared."
