Upheaval and Survival

Round One is over. No more blockades. No more marches. No more ‘paros’. No more violence – at least not for the near future.

Up to this point we have avoided the political situation as much as possible. However, two things happened this last time that brought everything close to home. First, we were expecting visitors from Canada who were to arrive while the blockade was happening. Second, our own neigbours were active in the blockade and march. Our friends decided to postpone their trip since it was a two month stay. We are still hoping to rearrange it.

The community involvement is more complicated. During other minor blockades the neighbours may or may not have been involved. A fine of 20 bolivianos was levied but it was no big deal if one did not attend. Many times the guys would come to the blockade at roll call and then go back into town or back into the chaco; nothing was said. But this was different. All the indigenous communities were involved and all were united in their cause. They were very upset with the deaths that occurred in the Pando and with the violence and destruction that occurred in Santa Cruz. They were frustrated that the government with an initial 50% approval rating, and then a 67% approval rating, was not able to govern. The fine rose to 150 bolivianos and the men were to be there for a full 48 hours. There were three groups from our community taking turns at the blockade. We are not sure how many people were there but reports were up to 5000 people in Yapacani.

The march consisted on mainly farmers from the Santa Cruz area. We talked to our neighbours and they perceived it as a peaceful march and said that the marchers tried their best not to react to provocation. There were no injuries and no destruction of property. Reports stated that they were heavily armed – with machetes and 22s.

We did not get involved in this blockade because we were a bit scared and didn’t think that it would be safe. In retrospect, both of us are embarrassed by that excuse.

I spent many nights on the computer researching the situation. Sad to say, there was very little mentioned about the campesino march and their frustrations. Although the gas tax was mentioned, there was never any factual information on the division of taxes. Although land reform was mentioned, there was no factual information of this situation either. I became curious. What caused this dissension? Although both problems have long histories, it was difficult to find web sites that spoke without bias. Most tended to be slanted very much to one side of the other, with very little fact. Finally I was able to find a couple of websites that seemed to have more fact than bias. I encourage you to read these if you want to know why the situation is now volatile.

http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/bolivia_land_2008_07.pdf

http://www.coha.org/2007/11/agrarian-revolution/

For the perspective of an American living in Santa Cruz check out http://www.santacruzperspective.blogspot.com/. It will give you good reason to wonder about what is really going on!

What will we do next time? We are not sure but we will not be hiding out in the jungle. W We cannot sit still if we seriously mean that we believe in justice for the oppressed.