
During the military dictatorship of Luis García Meza that ruled Bolivia in the early 1980s, his right-hand man and Minister of the Interior Luis Arce Gómez had a bit of advice for dissidents thinking about speaking out against the government. He told them “to walk around with their written will under their arms.” Wilfredo Jordán posts an audio clip [es] (in Spanish) of Arce Gómez saying these words.
So began a reign of terror that saw an estimated 1,000 killed at the hands of the brutal government. Two of the high profile murders were Spanish Jesuit priest Luis Espinal [es] and Congressman Marcelo Quiroga Santa Cruz, who was abducted, tortured, and subsequently killed. His body has never been found.
The García Meza government was heavily involved with drug trafficking, and Arce Gómez was considered to be the main link. He was often dubbed the “Minister of Cocaine.” Richard Sánchez of La Mala Palabra [es] highlights some of these actions, such as taxes on the coca leaf sold to narcotraffickers and the business of air taxis to transport the drugs. As a result Arce Gómez was extradited to the United States to serve his sentence. After completing his time, he was returned to Bolivia on July 9, where he would be sent to the maximum prison in La Paz to serve out the sentence without pardon handed down by the Bolivian courts.
Many bloggers were quite young during this dark time in Bolivian history. However, some older people were surprised to see how much Arce Gómez had aged. José Vasquez of Vasquez Press [es] writes:
Algunos compatriotas han sido conmovidos por la apariencia del ex dictador, al que en la televisión se lo ve como un anciano que apenas camina con bastón o en silla de ruedas, que padece varias enfermedades (próstata, diabetes y que tuvo derrame cerebral).
Many Bolivians hope that his return will mean that there will finally be answers to the some of the questions asked long ago [es]. The family of Quiroga Santa Cruz is hoping that finally his remains will be located.
The poor state of health that former military officer is in has some speculating that he may ask for a more lenient sentence, in exchange for perhaps, information on the disappearance of Quiroga Santa Cruz and others. However, Vasquez does not see why the Bolivian justice system should be humane with him, when the dictatorship did not show any “humanitarian behavior” to others.

On Sunday July 12th, people in the Republic of the Congo voted in an election which opposition leaders boycotted over allegations it would be neither free nor fair. Denis Sassou N’Guesso, who has ruled the Congo for about 25 years as head of state, is seeking another seven year term in power.
Despite protests from the opposition, election observers said the voting was peaceful, and that voter turnout was low. According to the main opposition, “90 per cent” of the country’s electorate did not go to the polls. Outgoing President Denis Sassou N’Guesso and his Rassemblement de la majorité présidentielle (RMP) is widely tipped to win the elections as the country’s electoral commission prepares to announce the results anytime from Monday evening.
A BBC correspondent reportedly witnessed “money being handed out at a polling station in the south of the capital, to people who later said they had been asked to vote for Mr Sassou-Nguesso.”
One election observer, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Agence France Presse, “There are more observers than voters.”
At the French news site France 24, a few commenters from Congo have expressed their opinions on the election. Below is a selection of a few of them:
Maloumbi on voter intimidation:
Dans certain villages et districts, les populations ont vote sassou nguesso suite aux intimidations. mon frere Jean Ibinga dans le district de Nyanga a reçu 1.000.000 Cfa de la part de membre de RMP pour convaincre aux vielles personne d'aller vote moyenant une somme de 2500 cfa. Les elections ne ce sont pas passees d'une maniere convenable et certains prefets, deputes ont intimider la population de voter leur maitre Sassou. Pour moi c'est une election qui avait ete deja jouee a l'avance. Je demande a la communaute internationale d'anuler les elections du 12 juillet et oblige a sassou de faire un gouvernement national pouvant debattre les affaires du pays sinon il y'aurait une guerre dans le futur. l'opposition actuellement se prepare pour une eventuelle guerre.
Yoka from Pointe Noire on the low turnout:
je suis congolais et je réside à pointe noire (capitale économique du congo et deuxième ville du pays). Je peux vous dire que les bureaux de vote sont restés vide du matin jusqu' au soir . les habitants de pointe noire sont fatigués, des promesses de mr sassou, alors que de cette ville qu' est tiré le pétrole qui constitue la première richesse du pays. Plus de 95% des congolais n' ont pas voté. c' est une réalité que le régime brutal et absurde de brazza doit reconnaitre. Du coup son régime est illégitime. les congolais du nord, du sud, de l' est et de l' ouest ont dit NON à sassou.
An anonymous commenter from Kinshasa, in the other Congo, wondered:
Peut on frauder avec seulement 15% d'électeurs qui, si nous suivons les différentes interventions, ne seraient que les partisans du Candidat Sassou, les autres ayant opté pour le boycot de l'éléction?
L'Africaniste:
Oui tout n'est parfait ! Oui Sasou garde le pouvoir , Oui , il n'a pas fait du congo un paradis ! Mais qu'a fait l'opposition ? Quel projet ou proposition l'opposition congolaise a t' elle soumis au peuple ? rien sauf le boycott ! qui n'est rien d'autre qu'une ouverture à Sassou pour gagner . Alors merci messieurs les opposants d'avoir aider Sassou à gagner sans difficultés . Arrêtez des bruits pour rien sauf pour distraire le peuple !
brazza-brazza on the peaceful election:
Élection bidon, mais nous avons la paix. La paix des miséreux.
Comme Bongo, Sassou sera au pouvoir pour plus de deux générations. C'est normal; nous avons la paix. La paix des soumis.
Sassou pille le Congo. Mais nous avons la paix. La paix des affamés.
Nous vivons dans le caca. Mais nous avons la paix. La paix a plus de valeur que la dignité.
Vous a l'étranger vous ne savez pas ce que la paix vaut.
Je suis d'accord avec vous que la paix permet a Sassou de piller. Et alors? C'est normal qu'il nous pille. Il es africain et il est dictateur qui fait des élections bidon pour rester dictateur.
At the Libération website Yanice 18 brought up Obama's recent speech in Ghana:
A peine hier, Obama a tenu un très bon discours sur la bonne gouvernance et la démocratie, aujourd'hui un autre autocrate africain se prépare à renouveler son bail au pouvoir pour 7 ans encore malgré ses déboires judiciaires relatifs à ses biens immobiliers en France. A voir la longévité au pouvoir, 25 ans, de ce président tout laisse à penser qu'Obama a prêché dans le désert.
And Saboun added:
Ré-election de Sassou Nguesso, aucune surprise. Je ne sais pas si vous avez remarqué, Obama n'a évoqué aucun pays d'Afrique francophone dans son discours, pure coincidence? J'en doute.
U.S. President Barack Obama gave a speech in Ghana which could be considered as his Africa policy speech. Cameroonians at home and in the diaspora have been reacting to the words pronounced by the American leader with African roots via the blogosphere.
The speech was published in its entirety on Up Station Mount Club which is fledgling one-stop-shop of Anglophone Cameroonian blogging. The comments give the impressions of a people appreciative of the bright speech but wary of rhetoric.
Augustine S, a Cameroonian based in Canada seems pleased with the speech's direct attack on corruption and bad governance but wants more:
Speech well delivered. It was above expectations. He struck on corruption and good governance, what i wanted to hear. African leaders are stifling the progress of their own nations. I wish his administration goes a long way to exposing corrupt African leaders, punish them by freezing their assets and issuing traveling bans on them and their families. Obama is the kind of leader we need in this world.
Still on the issue of tackling corruption and embezzlement by African leaders Oyez has some advice to western leaders like Obama:
Just two more things are required, and it will go a long way:
1) Deny African rulers, their families and their lieutenants the right to foreign bank accounts and foreign property of any kind.
2) Deny African rulers any kind of medical care outside of Africa.Those are the only two things we ask the West to do, and we will take care of the rest.
A comment left by Nnokko Johnson brings the Obama speech to Cameroon's door-steps by reminding the country's President, Paul Biya, who has been in power since 1982 and in 2008 oversaw the amendment of the constitution to cancel limitation of presidential terms:
Africa doesn't need strongmen, it needs strong institutions.
MR Biya please take note of this phrase and learn,we dont want u out,but we need strong institutions,please please…
However, reading from many of the comments posted one may come out with the view that Cameroonians see Obama's speech as “good talking” that cannot solve their problems. Emmanuel says:
Home run. Talk, talk, talk, all of it old crap, and ghoulish, to boot.
It does take two to tango. And, Africans are silly to listen to lectures on corruption from the leader of the hegemon of financial, moral and political corruption; it took two to tango with the slave trade, colonialism, and now the era of “partnership.”
Look, this talk of “partnership” is a lie. Only subststantive, not notional equals, can enter into partnerships.
The same rhetoric… I wonder when people stop believing and start acting… We don't need speeches on hope and pledges -they serve to anesthetize the population, that their problems shall be solved -they should hope for the solutions. When the financial crisis hit the US, the President said something similar about the responsibility of Americans to take the charge…Well contri pipo, most Americans are not even in control of their financial lives, lest responsible for the financial collapse, which were created by a greedy clique of bankers….
Well, Obama's speeches are well-written by an impressive staff to do a formidable job. What else do we expect from him? Speeches from his heart about the realities of our current world?
The trend of thought seems to be that, it is for Africans to solve their own problems. As Reex says,
…let us Africans work out our solutions. We may afterward invite Obama to share roasted corn and groundnuts at the fire side and discuss the politics on the ground - neither Ivy League stuff nor the usual double-talk demonstrated by the Western World, those speeches could be reserved to later occasions, when every hungry stomach in Africa has been filled!
A comment from a visitor called Isat is less diplomatic:
What we should really keep as a reminder are these words:”Africa's future is up to Africans.”
And take note: Obama is not African. His grand-father who cooked for the Brits and his father were Africans. He is American and his country's interests rule supreme - no matter how many songs we sing in his praise.
Man wey yi get ear make yi hear.[In Cameroonian pidgin this means: A word to a wise is sufficient]
The Up Station Mountain Club, collective blog also carries a post - Barack Obama in Africa: “Beyond Yes We Can”, yes we must, from Cameroonian blogger Aloysius Agendia in which he exhorts Africans to make a change:
Yes, Africa can revolt against current misleading leadership and their shady deals that have impoverished the continent. Beyond the yes, we can, yes, we must implement the said changes to move forward
This blog also gives a rythmic flavour to this visit as the video of a Cameroonian musician hailing Barack Obama on his election is posted there. The song was released by Tata Kingue just before Obama's inauguration in January 2009 and Gef's Outlook had done a small translation at the time.
Barack Obama Cameroon Song

Congolese blogger Alex Engwete posts a French translation of Obama's address to the Ghanaian parliament, given this Saturday during his first-ever visit as President. Two readers respond, each unimpressed by Obama's speech.
Wavre thinks Obama's failure to recognize America's past misdeeds in Africa or Africa's contribution to the West's success places his speech just a little above Sarkozy's infamous Dakar address. Bony believes that many of Africa's challenges are cultural, and that the color of Obama's skin does not make him any more equipped to understand them; Obama, like other African-Americans, is more American than he is Black.

Emin Milli, one of two youth and civil society activists severly beaten and jailed for two months for hooliganism in Baku last week, sent a tweet back on 24th June. Not only was it the last before his arrest, but it was also particularly poignant.
“Qurbansız azadlıq olmaz. Ona görə də bu gün mən və mənim kimi adamlar həbs olunmalıdır.” Əbülfəz Elçibəy, 1974
‘Without sacrifices there isn't any freedom. Therefore, I and people like me have to be arrested.' Abulfaz Elchibey, 1974.
Quoted person is Azerbaijan's ex-President Abulfaz Elchibey who was arrested for his dissident activities during Soviet period. The day of Emin's tweet was Elchibey's 71th anniversary.


Although most activity can be found on Facebook where users continue to update each other on the case of video blogger Adnan Hajizade and youth activist Emin Milli, detained last week and sentenced to two months pre-trial detention, less activity might be visible in the mainstream media, but the situation is changing. Nevertheless, citizen media remains the main source of information.
In a personal post from the heart, Fighting windmills? Take a pill. remembers her friends now sitting in prison on what most consider to be a politically-motivated charges.
I have a new desktop picture - Emin waving Azerbaijani flag in front of the UN building in New York. The flag of the country he has been working and living for, the one he dreams to be liberated of corruption and dishonest politicians, the one he came back from New York for, the one, he and Adnan will spend at least two months of their lives in jail for..
[…]
“Being a dissident is an honor” said one of my Georgian friends, when I told him the whole story. That's pretty much what Emin would say, I thought. And then, imagined what he would do if one of us would get detained.
[…]
They say “You can imprison my body, but not my soul”. Indeed, they can take away Emin and Adnan but the love we have for each other will never fade away, no matter what. The purest, unconditional, can't-buy-for-oil-money love, that makes my friends wait for me to become an aunt and make sure I get home safely, the one that made 50 people sing Azerbaijani anthem in front of the Sabail Court. The kind of love, that encourages people all around the world forget about the fear and fight for the freedom of our friends no matter what.
[…]
United we stand!
Humay, another friend of Hajizade, also posted a personal note on her Facebook page to mark his birthday.
Now pompous words would sound bitter, but it’s true that it was a privilege to know Adnan so closely. He is indeed of a rare kind. In a conformist land as ours is, Adnan lived according to his own truths, defining himself over and over again with frustrations at a time, but never afraid of challenging himself or others. […]
[…]
Adnan, ezizim, you are 26 today. You are celebrating this day behind the bars. Or my guess is you are not celebrating it. But we are celebrating. I am glad that you came into this world and into our lives. I am glad you showed me how much a person can do just by himself. I am glad you proved that one man with beliefs is worth of thousand with interests. I am glad that you dared to dream and took us on a journey too. Please keep on dreaming. I don’t want a requiem for a dream. And please come back. We miss you here.
Meanwhile, Media Helping Media, a non-profit organization which assists journalists and activists in countries such as Azerbaijan, says that blogs and Twitter were crucial in getting word out of Hajizade and Milli's arrest long before the traditional media did.
It took the traditional news wires at least 24 hours to catch up with the coverage of the arrest of two youth movement leaders in Azerbaijan. By that time dozens of blogs had been updated and probably thousands of tweets sent. The news was everywhere; everywhere except on the mainstream media. When the news wires arrived they were reminders of yesterday's news. Probably not too late for the media that feeds off and reproduces the wires, but too late for those who want news as it happens.
[…]
That was all going on during Friday and Saturday. I couldn't find a word about the story on traditional mainstream media.
Almost 24 hours later the wires caught up. First AFP filed a piece ‘Bloggers held on hooliganism charges in Azerbaijan: rights group' and then Reuters ‘Azeri blogger detained, oil major presses case'.
Granted, Reuters added an interesting new angle; that BP, who employed one of the arrested men, was pushing for his release.
Both good pieces again re-tweeted and spread virally and quickly, but 24-hours behind.
Glad I didn't wait for the wires or traditional, mainstream media to catch up. If I had, 24 hours would have been lost and I would have been reading yesterday's news.
Incidentally, as today is Adnan Hajizade's birthday, Global Voices Online readers can leave any messages on either the OL! blog, or one now online to support the detained activists. A Facebook page has been set up in support of Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizada. There is also a petition which can be signed online here.
Taslima Akter at Bangladesh From Our View posts some pictures of the replica of Taj Mahal located 18 miles northeast of the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka.
While discussing the problem of the growing number of internally displaced persons (IDPs), Mosharraf Zaidi at All Things Pakistan comments: “Pakistan is in this mess because this is a state that does not deal with small problems until they become big problems,” and “in the long run, only Pakistan can help Pakistan.”
Elie Smith sums up voters' expectations in the presidential elections in the Republic of Congo: “Most voters today said, their main motivation to vote was to consolidate peace and stability and these two aspects, are the greatest achievements of incumbent President Denis Sassou Nguesso.”
Sokari urges readers to vote for Pambazuka News, the source of authentic voices of Africa’s social activists and analysts : “For the fifth year running, Pambazuka News has been selected as one of 25 finalist nominations in the ‘Top 10 Who Are Changing the World of Internet and Politics’ competition.”
Ohmynews! is now calling for 100,000 supporters to give monthly donation in order to become independent.
Dominica has a new Carib Chief - Repeating Islands reports.