Pubdate: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 Source: Washington Post (DC) Copyright: 2000 The Washington Post Company Contact: 1150 15th Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20071 Feedback: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/edit/letters/letterform.htm Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ Author: Howard Kurtz Cited: Narco News: http://www.narconews.com/ Note: A list of links to all the MAP archived items by Peter McFarren is at the end of this item, as well as links to some of the more recent items by others about Bolivia. AP'S MAN IN BOLIVIA RESIGNS OVER LOBBYING ROLE Peter McFarren, the longtime Associated Press correspondent in Bolivia, recently took a step that has nothing to do with his journalistic duties: Lobbying the government. McFarren made a presentation to the Bolivian senate, on behalf of the Bolivian Hydro-Resources Corp., for a $78 million water project. The result, the AP confirmed yesterday, is that McFarren has resigned. McFarren's extracurricular efforts were disclosed by journalist Al Giordano, a former Boston Phoenix writer who recently launched NarcoNews.com. "Imagine if a congressional correspondent for a major Washington daily was found lobbying the U.S. Congress on behalf of a private industry project," he said. "The problem is, U.S. correspondents in Latin America receive very little scrutiny." AP spokesman Jack Stokes said McFarren voluntarily submitted his resignation last week and that it becomes effective Nov. 1. He declined to answer questions about the apparent conflict of interest, saying: "At this point we're still conferring on that. We're not saying anything publicly." McFarren, who was born in Bolivia and holds dual U.S. citizenship, doubles as president of the Quispus Foundation, which has built museums in that country. He was in Venezuela yesterday and did not respond to a message left at his hotel. In an interview with Giordano's Narco News Bulletin, McFarren said he sees no conflict because he is not being paid for his advocacy of the water project. But he acknowledged that the project would "set up a fund for culture, and Quispus would receive the profits." "I've made a point of never writing about anything that I am involved with," McFarren told the Web site. He said his "boss"--the AP correspondent in Chile--was "aware" of his work for the water company. "As a citizen I have a right to do nonprofit and pro bono work," he said. Steve Rendall, a spokesman for the liberal group Fairness and Accuracy in Media, called for AP to launch an internal investigation. He said wire service executives should "do what it says in their code of ethics, which is to report about their own personnel and their own conflicts." The ethics code, written by the AP Managing Editors association, says a news organization should "report matters regarding itself or its personnel with the same vigor and candor as it would other institutions or individuals." Given the nature of his job, McFarren has often reported on the Bolivian government. In an Oct. 1 dispatch from La Paz, he described a breakdown in negotiations between the cabinet and Indian farmers whose protests on behalf of land reform had paralyzed parts of the country and left at least 10 people dead. In his Sept. 14 slide-show presentation to the Bolivian senate, Narco News reports, McFarren said the first phase of the project would pump water to a copper mine in Chile. The Web site says McFarren is "a near mythical player in the highest levels of Bolivian society. It is not unusual for him to be the subject of press coverage himself as he rubs elbows socially with the Divine Caste of La Paz." - -------------------- The following are links to items by McFarren which are in the MAP archives: Bolivia: Former 'King Of Cocaine' Dies URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1032/a11.html Bolivia: Government Concessions May End Bolivian Unrest URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n479/a04.html Bolivia: Bolivian Govt Backs Off Water Hikes URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n478/a05.html Bolivia: Bolivian Leader Announces Measures URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n355/a05.html Bolivia: Bolivia Fires Cabinet Minister URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n341/a08.html Bolivia: Bolivia Weeding Out Its Coca Trade URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n279/a08.html Bolivia: Bolivian Cocaine Farmers Are Going Bananas -- And URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n002/a01.html Bolivia: Bolivia Abandons Coca For Legal Crop URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n1410/a05.html Bolivia: Wire: Bolivia Eradicates Coca Leaf Fields URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v98/n1184/a04.html Bolivia's Youngest Prisoners URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v97/n459/a05.html When dad goes to jail, his toddler goes, too URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v97/n447/a08.html The following is links to a selection of the recent items about Bolivia by other authors: Bolivia: Bolivia Wiping Out Coca, At A Price URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1595/a02.html Bolivia: Wire: Bolivia's Coca Museum Divine Or Diabolical? URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1533/a09.html Bolivia: Bolivia Makes Key Concessions To Indians URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1498/a01.html Bolivia: Bolivia Buckles Again To Protest Movements URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1496/a04.html Bolivia: Bolivia's Indians Win Concessions Coca Farmers URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1494/a04.html Bolivia: Caught In The Eye Of The Leaf Storm URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1536/a12.html Bolivia: Wire: Bolivian Leader Confident Talks Will End URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1474/a07.html Bolivia: Wire: Bolivian Tension Mounts As Roadblock Talks URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1473/a07.html Bolivia: Coca Protest Brings Bolivia To A Halt URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1466/a11.html Bolivia: Wire: Bolivian Teachers Break Rank With Other URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1465/a05.html Bolivia: Wire: Four More Dead in Bolivia Coca Protests URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1444/a12.html Bolivia: Wire: Troops, Coca Leaf Growers Clash In Bolivia URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1418/a10.html Bolivia: Wire: Bolivian Coca Leaf Growers In Vast Protest Over Anti-Drug URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1395/a09.html Bolivia: A Half Cut Battle In A Heartless US War URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1312/a08.html Bolivia: Bolivia Struggling With Price Of Fighting Coca URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n887/a05.html Bolivia: Bolivia Drug Farmers Demand End To Crop Eradication URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n677/a03.html - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake