The Bolivian ruling party gave a sample of its mobilization power with massive concentrations in the main cities of the country in defense of the wiphala and in rejection of the strike carried out by the opposition on Monday. In that sense, the president Luis Arce He warned “the murderous coup rightist” that if they are not willing to respect the message from the polls, “the people are going to be respected in the streets.”. State officials, peasants, indigenous people and workers related to MAS gathered in different parts of Bolivia to march for the so-called “wiphalazo.” The act of reparation to the flag that represents the native peoples was due to the fact that, in September, A wiphala that had been hoisted by Vice President David Choquehuanca in Santa Cruz, the stronghold of Luis Fernando Camacho, was later removed by sectors related to the governor.
Arce on tour in La Paz, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz
“We have a people that will enforce their vote. If they don’t want to respect the ballot box, let’s make ourselves respected in the streets“said Arce, who regretted that the opposition” has called for the mistreatment of people again, “in reference to the strike on Monday. For the president,” once again it triggers fascism and bullying, because what they could not win at the polls they want to do it through gangster groups and criminal groups“, but the people” again tell them that they will not allow it. “
Maple was the speaker in three of the colorful and noisy rallies called by organizations related to the government in La Paz, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz, thought as a counterpart to the strike arranged the day before by the civic committees of those departments in the hands of the opposition. In La Paz, the event took place in the central Plaza San Francisco, after thousands of militants and supporters gathered in El Alto, on the outskirts of the institutional capital, while in Cochabamba the concentration filled the Plaza San Sebastián.
To the vice president Choquehuanca he had to lead the act in Oruro, where he accompanied the columns on their journey through the central streets of the city, and considered that the people should “feel pride” in their fight to consolidate unity. “We are Aymara, Quechuas, GuaranÃes, Mojeños and Chiquitanos. All Bolivians carry that blood and today we want to express pride in our culture“, expressed Choquehuanca between typical rhythms of the region.
The massive call was repeated in other cities such as Yacuiba, Trinidad, Riberalta or Sucre. The wiphalazo marches were driven by the Central Obrera Boliviana (COB), the Confederación Sindical Única de Trabajadores Campesinos (CSUTCB), the Confederación de Mujeres IndÃgenas IndÃgenas Originales (popularly known as the “Bartolinas”) and the National Council of Ayllus and Markas of the Qullasuyu (Conamaq).
After kicking the crowded streets of La Paz, Edmundo Juan Nogales Arancibia He stressed that almost all the official mobilizations had a greater capacity to convene than those of years ago. “This has to do with the feeling of injury that Luis Fernando Camacho and the Santa Cruz right have generated,” he assured Page 12 this young man who chooses to define himself as a “militant of the change process” and added: “The messages that have been handled in departments such as Oruro and Santa Cruz are no to pactism, no to reconciliation with the rightRather, any peace issue must first be brought to justice and those responsible for the Sacaba, Senkata and Huayllani massacres, and of course the coup d’état, must be prosecuted. “
The day also left as an anecdote an opposition tantrum: the deputy of the Citizen Community (CC), Luisa Nayar, denounced that Arce’s trips to participate in the three events on Tuesday will cost the State about $ 7,200, although it did not generate much attention. And the National Committee for the Defense of Democracy (Conade), which called for the strike on Monday, took advantage of the holiday to announce that on Wednesday it will convene an assembly to evaluate the measure of force and plan another strike, this time for 48 hours.
Nogales Arancibia remarked that The only department in which the right wing managed to carry out a “half” strike on Monday was in Santa Cruz. “In the rest of the country, the points they tried to install were lifted by the MAS militancy and popular sectors that organized themselves to not allow blockade points to be installed. The police maintained a certain level of order and took advantage of the confrontations to disperse the groups. and open the ways, “said who is part of the Community Socialist School, a space for political training.
The reparation to the wiphala
The crowded protest of the MAS and related sectors was called after September 24, when the protocol acts for the 211 years of the “libertarian deed” of Santa Cruz were taking place, Government Minister Eduardo del Castillo took a wiphala out of one of his pockets for Vice President Choquehuanca to hoist it up. It was later withdrawn by assembly members from Creemos, the space led by Governor Camacho, in another gesture of rejection of popular sentiment.
In Santa Cruz land, the cradle of the most reactionary opposition, the high call on Tuesday drew attention. “Santa Cruz is not our main space for mobilization but, given the demographic growth in the department, it is important to have a political presence,” explained Nogales Arancibia, who stressed that the Central Obrera Boliviana (COB) attached great importance to the commercial center of the country. .
Far from ending the controversy surrounding the national symbol, the president of the Pro Santa Cruz Civic Committee, Romulus Calvo, described as “rag without representation” to the wiphala and asked not to be “crows” of those who joined the popular convocation. “A rag does nothing, a rag does not represent us,” said Calvo this Tuesday at a press conference, and he called those who demonstrated in the region “ungrateful people” by asking them respect for the land that gave them their “best days.”
The minister of Health and Sports, Jeyson auza, assured this newspaper that “there is no better time to vindicate this decolonization process that we are carrying out and tell the Bolivian people that our essence as a people is alive, we have more than 500 years of resistance and we can resist many moreWe are not going to allow misplaced people to be offending, whether or not they like a national symbol recognized by our Constitution. “Auza stressed that” our tricolor is not a layer to be used in blockades of a few politicians who want to once again convulse the country. ” for which he demanded respect.
The wiphala is a sacred and ancestral symbol that identifies the community system based on equality, harmony and solidarity of native peoples. Over time it became a powerful emblem of the resistance in Bolivia. That is why, in the streets of the country, this Tuesday the traditional cry of: “The wiphala is fucking respected!”.
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