Three out of Four: Still Worrisome

Egypt: Secretary of State Clinton warns of 'perfect storm'

In her comments today, Secretary of State Clinton mentioned that the convergence of four trends are part of a "perfect (political) storm".

Those are:
1) A young population
2) Political repression
3) Economic disparity
4) Dwindling supplies of water & oil

Some may argue whether Bolivia and surrounding countries suffer from political repression. I don't think so.

But the factor of a largely young population, many times with a lack of jobs and upward social mobility is almost a given in much of Latin America.

Economic disparity might be our middle name here. Just take a look at conditions between a good sized city like Cochabamba (500,000+) and the countryside within 20-40 kilometers outside of town. Or "why leave town?" to find disparity. Areas of our cities where in-migration takes place from the rural areas to the "big city" are economically deprived across the region.

In the last year or so Bolivia has had to look straight at dwindling supplies of water and petroleum. The same holds for a large chunk of South America. Climate change? Inadequate resource management? Increasing demand as the population grows? All of the above?

So while we don't see this neighborhood as being a tinderbox like Egypt and other Middle East countries, we would have to agree that three of these four factors are at play here. How will this play out in our neighborhood? Stay tuned....