El Gaviero

Bloomberg reports that Bolivian presidential candidate Manfred Reyes Villas’s home was “attacked” last night. (The “attack” appears to be only a few broken windows, according to La Razón.) Reyes Villas’s bodyguards detained two men, alleged to be supporters of MAS, Evo Morales’s party. While home invasions by overzealous activists have happened in the past, this alleged attack smells a little fishy. First, barring any unforeseen cataclysm, Morales will win the Dec. 6 election. Why would the MAS monkey around with any home “attack” on Reyes Villa? It’s not worth it, and it’s unnecessary. It only harms Morales. Following that train of thought, who does benefit from this home “attack” story? One person: Reyes Villas, who might be hoping to drum up a couple thousand pity votes from this story. It looks like this attack is rather a case of vandalism by some stupid thugs, associated with the MAS or not.

And, not to excuse violence in any way, this might be in reaction to Morales’s supporters being beaten at their own campaign rally earlier this month. Violence begets violence, you know.

Update: Unforgivably, I forgot to link to the invasion of Victor Cardenas’s home. My bad.