That´s a Bomb
Where am I? I´m not in Iraq, not in Gaza, nor South Africa....so why are there BOMBS going off? I´m not joking.This morning, an abandoned package was found inside one of the metro stations very close to my apartment. The police evacuated the building and then detonated the sucker. I saw on tv the news media reporting that the loud noise and slight tremors that were felt had something to do with water pressure and tests or some bologna like that, but an hour later (after the coast was clear) I had to go to that very same station and one of the guards told me on the DL (down low) that it really was a bomb.
Now- why are there bombs in metro stations in Santiago, Chile, South America you might ask? The answers are found in one acronym and a bad four letter word- APEC and BUSH. Both of these are bringing great unrest to Santiago, where popular uprising, protests, and yes, unfortunately violence as well, will be taking place during the next five days.
All around the city there are signs posted declaring "Go home Bush", "Bush is a terrorist", "No a APEC", and inviting everyone to "take to the streets to take back the power". The APEC Economic Leaders Summit (which includes the presidents of all 21 members of APEC) doesn´t even start until Saturday, but the big universities located downtown are already closed for the week and bombs are already going off.
Great.
Personally, I´m not convinced that resorting to violence will help take back the power in any way, but it is definitely a way to be seen and NOT heard.
I hope that the scheduled march goes well and ends peacefully on Friday, especially considering that I live about five blocks from where it is supposed to end. I´ll keep you posted....
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