Stupid Journalist Tricks

Alright, I don't know much about Bolivian politics, but I doubt this explanation is accurate:

In recent years El Alto has become a focal point of Bolivian politics, in large measure because the metropolis of 800,000 is where city and country meet and mix. El Alto's best-known activists are, like the charismatic De la Cruz, men and women with rural roots. They came of age in El Alto's schools, colleges and neighborhood assemblies.

Thanks to an accident of geography, the most important highways linking La Paz and the interior of Bolivia all pass though El Alto's impoverished, densely populated neighborhoods.

"This is the door to La Paz," said German Mamani Angulo, a resident of El Alto's District 8, on the southern fringe of the city. He stood by a stretch of asphalt leading to open plains of sable grasses. "When we close this door, nothing passes."

Oh sure. Those highways, built through poor slums and destroying people's homes and livelihoods? It was on accident. Meanwhile, I doubt we'll see multi-lane roads built through bulldozed mansions anytime soon.