Bolivia: A Previous Encounter with the Victim and the Problem With the Fashion Society · Global Voices
Mario Duran

El Deber is a Santa Cruz newspaper that has been heavily using blogs as a way to communicate, Jose Andres Sanchez writes about prostituion in Santa Cruz in his blog El Pais de las Maravillas [ES].  According to him, this business makes no distinction in social classes and writes about the news of the murder of a ‘supposed’ pimp and a previous encounter with him for a story:
La noche del martes el ciudadano Jorge Adolfo Perales Sosa, de 49 años, fue asesinado con seis balazos. Dos de esos disparos le perforaron el corazón. Al llegar los policías, descubrieron un catálogo fotográfico con imágenes de jóvenes modelos de la ciudad. Entonces surgió la pregunta: ¿se trata de un proxeneta? ¿es éste uno de los famosos catálogos de los que tanto se habla? Ocurrió durante la noche y los medios televisivos brindaron una amplia cobertura al hecho policial.
A mí la noticia me sorprendió en lo personal y no pude dejar de sentir asombro y a la vez algo parecido a la tristeza. En febrero de este año conocí a Perales Sosa. Fue en el marco de una investigación realizada, acerca de comercio sexual infantil en Santa Cruz de la Sierra. A continuación les dejo un texto mío que mañana saldrá publicado en El Deber. Es una descripción de la manera en la que Perales realizaba sus negocios.
Tuesday night, Jorge Adolfo Perales Sosa (49) was murdered with six bullets.  Two of the bullets entered his heart.  When the police arrived, they discovered a photo catalog with images of young models from the city.  The question emerged: was he a pimp?  Is this one of those famous catalogs that has been talked about?  It happened at night and the the television channels gave broad coverage of this police action.
The news surprised me personally and I could not help but feel surprised, but also saddened.  In February of this year, I met Perales Sosa.  It was during an investigation about child prostitution in Santa Cruz de la Sierra. The following is the rest of a story that will be published in El Deber, in which it described the way Perales went about his business.
The blogger Don Juan de Sarco of Dies, Nox et Omnia [ES] reflects on the purchase of the Petrobras refineries by the Evo Morales government:
Confiamos que ésta empresa no se manejará pólíticamente (ni sindicalmente), y ojalá las decisiones técnicas de los administradores sean escuchadas y respetadas por los políticos (aunque no siempre sean entendidas) y que ésta nacionalización jamás sirva para subvencionar los precios de los carburantes a algunos sectores acostumbrados a exigir todos los servicios a título gratuito.
We hope that this company will not be run politically (or by syndicates) and hopefully the technical decisions made by the administrators will be followed and respected by the politicians (even though they are not always understood) and that this nationalization will never serve to subsidize the price of fuels to benefit some sectors that are used to demand free services.
Desnudate's [ES] Violeta writes about the trend of asking for one's ethnic origins. She also questions the “fashion society” of Santa Cruz and reflects on a recent television program that asked girls, “with what ethnicity do you identify with?”
Y la mejor respuesta: NO SE, obviamente no sabían ni siquiera que es una etnia (en la cara se les notaba), pero para compensar el reportero les pidió unos pasitos de baile, y wuauuu!!…. como saben mover el trasero!, imagino que muchos en algún momento de sus vidas dijeron: “cambio cerebro por un buen trasero que me permita bailar reggaeton, o por unas siliconas, o por una cerveza” y se les cumplió el deseo jaja
The best answer is: I don't know.  Obviously they don't even know what ethnicity is (it noted on their faces), but to compensate the reporter asked for some dance steps and wow!!  How they moved their behinds!  I imagine that at some point in their lives, many said, “I'll exchange my brains for a nice behind that allows me to dance reggaeton or for some silicon or for some beer,” and their wish was granted.