In a symbolic rejection of US capitalism,
Bolivia announced it will expel the Coca-Cola Company from the country at the end of the Mayan calendar.
This will mark the end of capitalism and usher in a new era of equality,
the Bolivian government says.
“December 21 of 2012 will be the end of egoism and division.
December 21 should be the end of Coca-Cola,”
Bolivian foreign minister David Choquehuanca decreed,
with bombast worthy of a viral marketing campaign.
The coming ‘end’ of the Mayan lunar calendar on December 21 of this year
has sparked widespread doomsaying of an impending apocalypse.
But Choquehuanca argued differently,
claiming it will be the end of days for capitalism,
not the planet.
“The planets will align for the first time in 26,000 years
and this is the end of capitalism and the beginning of communitarianism,”
said Choquehuanca as quoted by Venezuelan newspaper El Periodiquito.
The minister encouraged the people of Bolivia to drink Mocochinche,
a peach-flavored soft drink,
as an alternative to Coca-Cola.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez followed suit,
encouraging his country to ditch the American beverage
for fruit juice produced in Venezuela.
Last year,
Bolivia became the second Latin American country not to have a single McDonald’s.
The fast food giant finally gave up on Bolivia after being unable to turn a profit in the country for over a decade.
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