Bolivia's Would-Be President from Pepsi

I was asked not to say anything publicly about the meeting in my office here last July. But now, since the people involved have revealed the whole tale in a long article in the Bolivian magazine Datos, I think I can share my own little story about Bolivia’s would-be President from Pepsi. It is a story that says something about the odd state of Bolivian politics.

The Man With Pointy Shoes

In early July I received an email note from a fellow in NY, a former UN official who had worked here years back. He said he wanted to come by for a chat about Bolivian politics with a friend of his, Edwin Lozano, a New Yorker of Bolivian decent (but who never lived here) who was a senior vice president of Pepsico, the corporate empire that brings us everything from Fritos to Quaker Oats (and of course that dark syrupy stuff that isn’t Coca Cola). I am generally open to chat with anyone so I responded that they ought to come on by.