Strategic Culture
The scandal over the «scientific team from the USA» broke out, despite
attempts by the U.S. Embassy in Bolivia to kill it off. In June 2012, a
team of team of specialists numbering 50 people came to the country,
ostensibly to study the adverse effects of high altitude on humans and
their capacity for rapid recovery of their fighting ability. To avoid
attracting attention, the Americans used tourist visas and passed
through border control in small groups. One group of these specialists
went to the Yungas area, and another group to the slopes of Mount
Chacaltaya. «Tourist» trails have been laid in the border areas with
Peru and Chile.
The expedition’s activities in the country continued for a few months.
Only after a series of articles in the U.S. media did the Bolivian
authorities begin an investigation. Vice President Alvaro Garcia stated
that the actions of the U.S. «scholars» in the country were in serious
doubt. Initially, they assured that they were exploring issues of human
adaptation to high altitude. Then it was announced that the experiments
were being carried out in the interests of the U.S. / NATO troops in
Afghanistan. Wow, more than ten years into the war against the Taliban,
with the deadlines for withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan
approaching, the Pentagon suddenly remembered the «problem of high
altitude «! Of course, after these confused explanations appeared, the
assumption was made that not all those from the U.S. were scientists.
