[From another list. I don't often fwd, but I thought these comments would be appreciated by those on the list who see only an ever expanding government worldwide.]

Peruvians are a lot like Bolivians but Bolivia is not Peru.

This is an interview with Antonio Estrado, President of the association of "porters" (aka smugglers) of Yacuiba who has, "for 42 years, devoted himself to carrying contraband from Argentina to Bolivia".

Antonio Estrado / Presidente de la asociacisn de bagalleros de Yacuiba

Desde hace 42 aqos se dedica a cargar productos de contrabando desde Argentina hacia Bolivia

http://www.el-deber.net/20031221/economia_10.html

It ends with the following.

-?Ustedes permitirman que vuelva la Aduana y el COA a Pocito Boliviano? Will you allow the customs and the police to return?

- Tendrma que consultar con mi gente. I will have to ask my people.

- ?Pero, ahora quiin manda en la frontera boliviana? But who now controls the Bolivian border?

- Aqum, nosotros los bagalleros. Los militares, policmas y la Aduana no son nada. Mientras el gobierno siga con abusos contra nosotros y no quiera dialogar no dejaremos que entre, aunque tengamos que morir todos. El bagallero esta caracterizado, por todas las autoridades, como lo peor que existe en el Chaco, pero no es asm, es una persona humilde que el znico medio que tiene para subsistir es su cuerpo. Here, we the porters. The military, police and customs are nothing. While the government continues to abuse us and won't talk we will not let them in, otherwise we will all die. The porter is denigrated by all the authorities but that is not right, he is a decent person whose only means of survival is his labor.

One interesting thing about Bolivia is that there is a long tradition of "syndicalism". Thus there are organized coca growers unions, smugglers unions etc. All these organized groups are conceived by Bolivians as part of society and the government is considered just another such more of less coequal group. Thus you often have, say the coca growers or the smugglers negotiating with or going on strike against the government on a more or less equal basis and sometimes getting their way. There is not the expectation of dominance and Lese Majeste by the government which would lead to Waco like confrontations in such situations in the US.