Bolivians also miffed with 007 filming

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Turns out the Bolivian government isn’t that pleased either with the new James Bond flick, Quantum of Solace, which was being filmed in northern Chile.

Some Chileans are already irate because its national territory was supposedly used to represent the turf of long-time rival Bolivia. [See earlier La Plaza post.]

Now, reports the Bolivian daily La Razon, a Bolivian official has written a letter to the film’s producers, citing an alleged “stigmatization of Bolivians’’ in the film. The vice-minister of culture, Pablo Groux, is firstly peeved that Chile was used to represent Bolivia. The two countries haven’t gotten over a 19th century war. But the vice minister was also upset at news that Bolivian drug traffickers are depicted in the film. Bolivia is the world’s third-largest producer of coca-leaf, the raw material in cocaine.

“This stigma shouldn’t characterized Bolivians,’’ wrote Groux, “not even in the fictional context of Bond.’’

-- Patrick J. McDonnell and Andres D’Alessandro in Buenos Aires.