Commentary
Inside South America - McClatchy Newspapers
I take the torch
Posted by Tyler Bridges
Wed Jul 23, 3:25 PM ET
I feel like a teenager again where dad has just given me the keys to the car.
In this case, "dad" is McClatchy's web guru, Jim Van Nostrand, who has just set me up to write this blog and gave me a much-needed tutorial. I'ver never written a blog before. Didn't even have the foggiest idea how folks did it!
And to think that I grew up in Palo Alto, four blocks away from where Hewlett and Packard got their start in a garage! Thank God that Jim said he expects me to make errors. I'll make a few, no doubt.
I'm taking over from Jack Chang, who has done a great job.
A few words about myself: I've been living in Caracas since January. Came here after being based for four years in Lima. Before that, I spent seven years covering politics for the Miami Herald in Tallahassee and Miami. And before that, I spent seven years covering Louisiana politics and gambling for The Times-Picayune of New Orleans.
This is actually my second go-round in Caracas. I worked as a reporter for two years here from 1984-86 for The Daily Journal, the English language newspaper. I was just learning Spanish then. And Venezuela was a different country then. Hugo Chavez was an unknown officer.
I have the daunting task now of covering all of South America. I'll be on the road a lot. But I expect that Venezuela and Colombia will get most of my focus.
I certainly welcome any thoughts and suggestions. No guarantees of course that I'll go along with them.
So Jim has said that one of the keys for a good blog is a hyperlink. So in that vein, I should mention that I was planning to head to Bolivia in two weeks to cover the August 10 elections where Bolivians were scheduled to decide whether to recall President Evo Morales and the country's governors. But a judge ruled today that those elections are unconstitutional. Evo's people disagree. Stay tuned to see whether the elections will be held.
