"Peace Corps suspended our program after a series of violence, takeover of govt buildings by an opposition group, massacre of a confirmed 30 campasinos and an unconfirmed 100 more, expulsion of the US ambassador to Bolivia, and multiple death threats to Peace Corps volunteers and staff members in Bolivia. We were consolidated in Cochabamba for three days starting Sept 12. Mike and I plus 2 other volunteers were picked up early morning of the 12 by a peace corps staff member in a land rover without saying goodbye to anyone in our community. At this point, for security reasons, we had to get out as soon as possible to cross the multiple road blockades on our 12 hour ride to the city. On Sunday the 14, we found out about our evacuation to Lima and half of our 120+ group of volunteers flew out that day. Mike and I were in the second group that flew out Monday. We were held up in the airport for 8 hours due to clearance reasons, the Bolivian govt thought we were trying to steal the military plane we were flying out on. Finally, we were loaded up on a C-130 US/Bolivia airforce plane with our 1 bag of luggage and took the 3.5 hour trip to Lima. As of now, we are working on Closing our Service and returning to the U.S.."
Peace Corps Volunteers Living in Bolivia writes: Our evacuation out of Bolivia
Friday, September 19, 2008
Hello Family and Friends,
[Excerpt]
First, thank you for all you support and prayers throughout our year plus in Bolivia. A few of you know the fate that has fallen upon us so quickly, our evacuation out of Bolivia. Peace Corps suspended our program after a series of violence, takeover of govt buildings by an opposition group, massacre of a confirmed 30 campasinos and an unconfirmed 100 more, expulsion of the US ambassador to Bolivia, and multiple death threats to Peace Corps volunteers and staff members in Bolivia.
We were consolidated in Cochabamba for three days starting Sept 12. Mike and I plus 2 other volunteers were picked up early morning of the 12 by a peace corps staff member in a land rover without saying goodbye to anyone in our community. At this point, for security reasons, we had to get out as soon as possible to cross the multiple road blockades on our 12 hour ride to the city. On Sunday the 14, we found out about our evacuation to Lima and half of our 120+ group of volunteers flew out that day. Mike and I were in the second group that flew out Monday. We were held up in the airport for 8 hours due to clearance reasons, the Bolivian govt thought we were trying to steal the military plane we were flying out on. Finally, we were loaded up on a C-130 US/Bolivia airforce plane with our 1 bag of luggage and took the 3.5 hour trip to Lima. As of now, we are working on Closing our Service and returning to the U.S..
