Spoof U.S. strike on Bolivia-Iran axis draws ire

An atomic submarine targets Bolivia, the "capital of Iran."

A flotilla of female Bolivian produce vendors comes to the rescue, pounding the yanqui sub with fruits and vegetables.

"I’m the Bolivian Yoko Ono," muses a defiant Bolivian named Catalina, confronting the yanqui invader in the nude while brandishing a "Peace" sign.

That improbable scenario played out this week in the satirical comic strip La Nelly, carried in Clarin, Argentina’s largest newspaper.

Not funny, concluded the outraged Bolivian Embassy in Buenos Aires, which sent a letter assailing the strip’s "racist connotation" and declaring that Bolivian President Evo Morales (who recently opened diplomatic relations with Iran) "is against arms, terrorism, narco-traffic, violence, the use of deadly technology." The letter was posted on the embassy’s website, along with the offending caricature and an article from the Bolivian daily Los Tiempos about the controversy.

Clarin Editor Ricardo Kirschbaum was unapologetic, responding in a column today that the Catalina character is "intelligent, audacious, informed. The contrary of a discriminatory stereotype."

Concluded the editor: "It's a pity that the diplomat … has confused the absurd with reality."

Posted by Patrick J. McDonnell and Andrés D’Alessandro in Buenos Aires