For the past few days I´ve been watching my boss´ family wade through the bureaucratic swamp that is getting an American visa in order to attend their daughter´s wedding in August. Yesterday the family had to interview for their visas and in addition to compiling dozens of official letters, passport photos, and copies of everything, the cost ran into several hundred dollars. The Cornejos were lucky enough to have a straight-forward interviewer and will now be able to attend Rommy and Dave´s wedding and visit the US for the first time. Despite their ultimately positive experience, they told me that many of the families appying, many with identical reasons and documentation, were turned away.
To put this in perspective, Americans entering Bolivia have to buy a $135 visa and are supposed show proof of financial solvency, file an application with a passport photo, bring a letter of invitation, and be vaccinated against yellow fever. In reality only the money and a passport are required and the process is relatively stress-free. Traditionally American travelers are used to a free pass in Latin American countries and working in the shop I hear several tourists complaining about the costs of their Bolivian visas. The "eye for an eye" entrance policy of the Bolivian government poses hard questions about American entrance policies and the role of American money in Bolivia.
It´s a difficult situation politically speaking. One one hand the experience of the Cornejo family was incredibly expensive and filled with seemingly random bureaucratic hoops. The system is designed to make them feel like 2nd-class citizens and if anything, worsens international sentiment toward the US on an individual level. Knowing the difficulties of Bolivians entering the US, Evo´s reciprocal visa policy seems about right. Charge those imperialist Americans!
On the other hand, those Americans who are turned off Bolivia by the visa costs had the potential to pour lots of money into the country. Like it or not, tourism is a major sector of the Bolivian economy and several of the tourist operators I´ve talked to have mentioned a dip in the numbers of previously lucrative Americans. I guess this visa situation is just one example of the myriad problems between the US and Bolivia (the ouster of the American ambassador being another toward to the top of the list) but it seems like Bolivians are losing in the situation regardless. Not only are they unfairly prohibited from visiting the United States, but they are cheated out of American tourist money which, while sometimes harmful, could also do some good here.
Coming Soon: my suitcase full of money
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