James Bond menaced by red hot Chilean

Motorised protest shakes Quantum of Solace

By Lester Haines • Get more from this author

Posted in Entertainment, 3rd April 2008 12:30 GMT

The mayor of a small Chilean town has expressed his displeasure at the hoisting of the Bolivian flag over his home by mounting a motorised disruption of filming of next Bond outing Quantum of Solace.

Carlos Lopez drove a small saloon car straight onto the set at the railway station in Baquedano, in the process reportedly nearly running over a couple of people, and parked his wheels between the camera "and a vehicle in which Craig and his co-star, Olga Kurylenko, were sitting", according to an Eon Productions spokeswoman.

A police official explained: "He got angry, entered into a private enclosure... caused public disorder and was detained."

Lopez's ire was provoked by the filmmakers' decision to use Baquedano as a stand-in for Bolivia, something which has "inflamed local tensions", as the Telegraph puts it. Since the town was forcibly annexed by Chile from Bolivia in the late 19th century, the subject of its nationality is a touchy one.

As is the local custom, a Chilean newspaper said of the filming: "Chile is Chile. We're not Bolivian Indians. Imperialist British out."

Baquedano's prosecutor is reportedly pondering whether to charge Lopez for his piece of Bond villainry, while cinema audiences will be able to judge for themselves just how plausible a Bolivia Chile makes when Quantum of Solace is released on 31 October. ®

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