Conflict in Bolivia

The news out of Bolivia, specifically the eastern provinces of the country, is bad. Civic groups in Santa Cruz have taken over almost all public institutions, including the headquarters for the phone company Entel. You can get a very good summary of the events at the weblog “Pronto.”:http://www.mcentellas.com/archives/2008/09/bolivia_crisis_escalates.html

Bolivia’s president has responded by accusing the U.S. ambassador of fomenting the breakup of Bolivia and “ordered his expulsion”:http://gringotambo.wordpress.com/2008/09/10/us-ambassador-asked-to-leave-bolivia/ from the country. As Miguel points out in the Pronto weblog entry I cited above, if the U.S. ambassador is indeed expelled, it will be the only time a Latin American nation has ever done so.

The Bolivian newspaper La Razon says that American Airlines has “suspended flights to the country.”:http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.la-razon.com%2Fversiones%2F20080911_006392%2Fnota_244_668841.htm&sl=es&tl=en&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 I am trying to get in touch with AA to confirm if this is true. Yoli and the girls were set to fly home Sunday night. I’m not sure what our options will be if AA is no longer flying to and from Bolivia.

I spoke yesterday with Yoli for about an hour on the phone. She had been aware of the Entel takeover, but beyond that didn’t know much of the news. It hadn’t affected her much, beyond a big delay in the arrival of the buses she needed to get from place to place. Most of this seems to have taken place downtown. El Jord{a’}n is between the third and fourth rings, while Yoli’s family live mostly on the eastern side of the city near the river Pira{i’}, all relatively distant from the city center.

Anyway, please pray for this situation.

First, that there would be peace. It appears that much worse violence could be at hand in various parts of the country, and I hope that can be averted.

Second, that Yoli and the girls, our family, and our friends in Bolivia would be protected. And that Yoli and the girls could return home safely and in a timely fashion.

**UPDATE**: American tells me that they cancelled some morning flights, but that the evening flights from tonight through the weekend are still scheduled. I’ll just have to keep checking and make sure that doesn’t change.