They Make Us Dangerous

THEY MAKE US DANGEROUS is a firsthand account of events in Bolivia from 1964 to 1980. When teaching as a Dominican nun in a Midwest parish school, Sister Ruth is asked to make a radical change. This eventually leads to doctoral research in Bolivia and the opening of a missionary house in La Paz. When Sister Ruth arrives in La Paz, she encounters shocking poverty but is instantly drawn to this mesmerizing and enchanting country.

The Catholic Church is in the middle of profound changes, self-criticism and deep division within its ranks. Politics in Bolivia will bring deepen the divide between the liberal and conservative clergy. The country is also poised on the brink of radical change because Washington is waging a Cold War and Bolivia is about to become one of its battlefields.

Through revolution and oppression, the new missionaries learn more than they imagined about the daily struggles and the political reality of this South American country. US foreign policy, driven by the interests of transnational corporations corrupts a succession of governments. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have a stranglehold on Bolivias economy and the austerity measures they force on the government translate into more poverty and unrest. But the military boot crushes dissent. Close friends and students become victims. Silence is not an option.

The first part of the memoir follows the sisters as they teach, research, organize and most of all learn. The second part is a personal account of Sister Ruths life under the Banzer dictatorship and Bolivias convulsive return to democratic rule.

The addendum to the book summarizes and updates events in Bolivia since 1980.