They came back and they are millions

Bolivia, a story of suffering and liberation

The territory of the current Plurinational State of Bolivia formerly called the Republic of Bolivia and in colonial times such as Alto Peru is a region of America where populations descended from ancient cultures lived and inhabit it with strong traditions of collective organization and effective and sustainable use of resources. natural.

The flourishing of this Andean civilization had a dramatic end with the arrival of the Spanish conquerors and later colonizers who, after fierce resistance, managed to seize the territory, the populations and the resources.

After independence, what had previously been Upper Peru was renamed the Republic of Bolivia in homage to the American revolutionary leader from Caracas.

The Creole oligarchy, which was largely mestizo, had very similar behaviors to the Spanish colonial rulers, the indigenous people were considered inferior beings and deprived of the slightest rights, they did not have control of the land and they had to work it for the Creole masters.

The indigenous languages, Quechua and Aymara, were displaced, and of course the mineral wealth only served to enrich the dominant Creole political class in which the indigenous people had no participation.

The situation continued until the end of the 1952 decade, when the nationalist revolution, led by the Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario, took place, and which decreed state control over natural resources and the Bolivian economy. Including the agrarian reform, nationalization of the mines, it also incorporated, for the first time, the indigenous-peasant majority and women into the national political scene,

This was aggravated when Bolivia, like other governments in the region, found itself immersed in a period of strongly repressive military dictatorships aligned with US policies.

At the end of 1990 and due to the growth of coca production due to the expansion of consumption associated with prohibitionism in the US and other countries, the cultivation of this particular plant spread in the Chapare, located in the Tropic of Cochabamba. The workers of the coca plantations organized themselves, formed a strong union, one of whose leaders was Evo Morales.

Evo Morales and other leaders of the Bolivian left founded the Movement for Socialism, which had a strong political impact and which finally in 2006 would achieve power through elections that gave it large majorities of over 50%.

The MAS government changed the paradigm of Bolivian politics.

On the one hand, progress was made in the hierarchization of indigenous peoples, vindication of their languages, their clothes, their religion, and their ceremonies.

The president was one of their own, an Aymara from the highlands.

The MAS government under the leadership of Evo Morales protected the state entities and advanced in their expansion, gas and oil production was nationalized, strong economic growth of 4% per year took place and the quality of life of the population improved poor country in particular indigenous populations.

Creole elites underwent that change. They were not used to indigenous people having rights, holding political positions, officially worshiping Pachamama, and having native languages ​​spoken more and more,

I was looking to return to the previous situation.

They took advantage of an opportunity that arose in the November 2019 elections in which, with the support of the United States, the OAS, the army, and several Latin American right-wing governments they seized the government on November 10, 2019 in a coup that it was repressive, spiteful and bloody.

As soon as the right-wing government took power, the global pandemic broke out, from which Bolivia was not exempt. This pandemic was very poorly managed, generating an explosive social situation that culminated in the recent national elections in which the MAS was imposed by a vast majority, The coup that was bloody and full of repressive episodes against the indigenous and poorest population, added to the de facto government's appalling management at the economic, social and health levels created the conditions for the MAS and its candidates Luis Arce and David Choquehuanca to triumph overwhelmingly.

We hope that both the government and the Bolivian people can succeed in this difficult but successful challenge.