Just remembered an "American" living in luxury in Bolivia, rancher Ron Larson.
A tremendous Latin America and Caribbean expert poster who was here long enough to make an impressive imprint mentioned she saw this story in an article she found on the internet. The author referred to articles posted at D.U. on this social pervert, and posted a link to the DU articles:
The face of white separatism in Bolivia
Posted on April 27, 2008 | 9 Comments
This is not a new story, and in the context of repressive oligarchy it’s frankly a really old one. What is new, is that this may be the only readable English translation of the report that originally appeared at Bolpress on April 5, 2008. Democratic Underground was all over the story, but had to rely on a Google translation.
There are several interesting aspects to the story. One is that in the version that appeared in the mainstream press, Ronald Larsen claimed that Bolivia’s Vice Minister for agrarian reform showed up at his ranch at 3 in the morning, drunk, and because Larsen didn’t know who he was, he shot out the tire on the Vice Minister’s car to “shut him up.” Of course this fanciful version leaves out a few details, such as the 24 foot trailer he parked on the road (among other things) to block the Vice Minister’s entrance, and the brazen attack on the 80 or so people who accompanied the Vice Minister. Larsen may have to go back to Montana and see if he can figure out how to make a living when he has to pay his “employees” a living wage.
Which brings us to the second interesting aspect. There are reportedly 12 Bolivian families living on Larsen’s pleasure ranch. Depending on the source, they are either indentured servants with no hope of escape, or happy little Bolivian campers. Judging by the nature of a boss who settles arguments at gunpoint, Machetera will leave you to draw your own conclusions. Certainly one has to wonder about what Larsen didn’t want the Vice Minister to see.
His connection with the CIA Peace Corps is naturally a bit foggy. This report associates him rather directly with the Peace Corps, albeit 40 years ago. Other reports claim that his first trip to Bolivia in 1968 was in the company of a former
the Mr. Bolivia beauty pageant in 2004, which speaks volumes about those who are in a position to judge such things.
More:
https://machetera.wordpress.com/2008/04/27/the-face-of-white-separatism-in-bolivia/
This is the DU page to which she linked in her article:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3274980#3274990
Bolivia seeks charges against Montana rancher, son
Some photos in google images of the "rancher" and his son, who was "Mr. Bolivia" one year, little Dunston, who was a fraternity brat in Wyoming, as his dad sent him there to get his good ol' American college experience. Little Dunston and Miss Bolivia, in interviews, insulted and mocked Native American Bolivians, and their President, Evo Morales, to remind everyone that white people are far better than the original citizens.
Little Dunston Larson, "Mr. Bolivia".
American Rancher Resists Land Reform Plans in Bolivia
By Simon Romero
May 9, 2008
CARAPARICITO, Bolivia — From the time Ronald Larsen drove his pickup truck here from his native Montana in 1969 and bought a sprawling cattle ranch for a song, he lived a quiet life in remote southeastern Bolivia, farming corn, herding cattle and amassing vast land holdings.
But now Mr. Larsen, 63, has suddenly been thrust into the public eye in Bolivia, finding himself in the middle of a battle between President Evo Morales, who plans to break up large rural estates, and the wealthy light-skinned elite in eastern Bolivia, which is chafing at Mr. Morales’s land reform project to the point of discussing secession.
After armed standoffs with land-reform officials at his ranch this year, Mr. Larsen made it clear which side he was on, emerging as a figure celebrated in rebellious Santa Cruz Province and loathed by Mr. Morales’s government, which wants to reduce ties to the United States.
“I just spent 40 years in this country working my land in an honest fashion,” said Mr. Larsen, who resembled Clint Eastwood with his weathered features and lanky frame. “They’re taking it away over my dead body.”
Mr. Larsen’s standoffs with the central government, replete with rifles, cowboys and Guaraní Indians, might sound like something out of the Old West. In fact, the battle playing out in the cattle pastures and gas-rich hills of his ranch, amid claims of forced servitude of Guaraní workers in the remote region, exemplifies Bolivia’s wild east.
. . .
At stake is the 37,000-acre Caraparicito ranch, which Mr. Larsen bought in 1969 for $55,000, and other holdings of more than 104,000 acres, the government estimates. Mr. Larsen, who as a protective measure transferred ownership of almost all his land to his three sons, who are Bolivian citizens, declined to say how much land his family owned.
With his reserved demeanor, Mr. Larsen, a descendant of Danish immigrants to the Midwest, made it seem as if it were the most natural thing in the world to have moved to Bolivia in the 1960s, after he got bored working as a department store manager.
“Evo Morales is a symbol of ignorance, having never even finished high school,” Duston Larsen said.
He vehemently asserted that ranch hands and their families were free to come and go, after the Larsens and other ranchers were faced with government claims that ranches in their region held their Guaraní workers in servitude; the government has used the charge to move ahead with land seizures.
More:
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/09/world/americas/09bolivia.html
(It's good to remember, looking at photos which have people with confusing facial expressions, that everything depends upon what is actually happening at the time the photo is taken, which you can recognize looking back at your old childhood photos! It depends upon the relationship between the subject and the one taking the photo.)