July 28th

On our second day in Mostar, we visited the headquarters of the Hrvatska Demokratska Zajednica (HDZ), or the Croatian Democratic Union.  This party is a right-wing Croatian party in Bosnia-Herzegovina that represents the conservative Croat minority in the Federation.  Their main issue is the fact that though they are represented in the government, the system doesn’t allow for them to properly select their own officials.  Instead they perceive their Croat leaders as being elected by Bosnian Muslims.  Another goal of theirs is to be as independent in Bosnia-Herzegovina as the Serbs, who have their own defined entity in the country.  They also insisted on using the correct name, Bosnia-Herzegovina, as it includes their region.  It was a strange, crazy visit that we continue to refer to and joke about days later.