Who spent the night smoking Cuban cigars and drinking Flor de Caña (the world’s best rum) with an ex-South American President?

Carlos Mesa (President of Bolivia: 17 October 2003 – 6 June 2005).

From what I understand, President Mesa was the Jimmy Carter of Bolivia – an impressively smart historian who was better served as a journalist than an ineffective politician. When I asked him what an idealistic, economic development specialist could do to change the world, he said, “Don’t be idealistic, it gets you nowhere. Concentrate on something small and build it up step by step.”