The March Reaches its destination TODAY

Today marks day 65 of the Indigenous March from the Amazon to La Paz, where the Bolivian government resides (although the capital is actually Sucre) and very worn, tired, affected by the high altitude, but perseverant the march continues to its end today. A lot has happened since I last wrote and part of my hesitation to write updates is that the information changes and I’m afraid to misrepresent what is going on.

As a recap a group of now 2,000 people from an Amazon region of Bolivia are protesting against the government, via a 65 day march, that a highway be built right through the middle of their region which has been designated a national park and protected indigenous territory (TIPNIS), and it is indicated by the grey area on the map below, which is a map of Bolivia.

 

This map is more of a close-up with the proposed route of the highway

 

I received some very interesting feedback from some of you, which I appreciate! One friend compared what is going on to the movie Avatar, in which economic interests to exploit natural resources face a challenge in the community who inhabit the region defending it as having more value than any money it could produce. As a side note I really enjoyed the movie and particularly appreciated the part where the character points out that the life we have is a gift and is energy borrowed that we give back when we die, implying our interdependence and the cycle that is life. I also love the Lion King for similar reasons, but back to the topic…

Another friend noted the similarity in what is going on in TIPNIS with the situation in Alaska regarding the salmon fishery. He says an international mining company wants to grab the minerals in the water shed of Bristol Bay for so called economic stimulus of jobs, and of course creating jobs sounds good in the current state of the US, but as my friend said, we need to be careful not to be overly “self serving and short sighted”.

While the indigenous march and the debate over whether or not building the highway through the territory will bring more positive progress than harmful consequences have been a part daily life here in Cochabamba, the atmosphere changed on September 25. The marchers were approaching an area where a group of colonizers (people who moved to the TIPNIS region generally to plant coca and other crops , and live there currently, but are not originally from there) who are supportive of the President and the highway, were waiting to block the marchers from passing.

There are various reports on what happened but I understand that they were marching and some had stopped to eat, when the police, whose role is to keep the peace (understood as meant to keep the two groups from getting violent with each other), started detaining the marchers with force, using teargas, hitting, kicking etc. (this I saw in video footage). The marchers started running off to escape in the hillsides, but many were detained and put on a bus with tape on their mouths and some handcuffed. The idea was to put them on a plane and take them back to TIPNIS, but in the end other people came to block the runway and somehow they escaped.

 

There was major uproar in the country and internationally over the incident. Several ministers of the government stepped down because of it. Even after this the President Evo Morales still did not want to talk directly with the marchers and has held that position since the beginning, but TODAY he has agreed that he will talk with them! I will let you all know what happens.

In addition to following the TIPNIS situation, I’ve been involved in the radio programs with Franciscans International and I use the plural form because now we’ve started a second radio program. In a joint effort with the Maryknoll Mission Center of Latin America, we have a new program of 30 minutes talking about both social and environmental topics. This past Saturday we talked about decolonization since the 12th of October marks the day Columbus came upon the Americas. We played the following song by Calle 13 on the show and I really like it a lot, expressing Latin American identity in a really artistic and beautiful way. Here are some of the lyrics

Tú no puedes comprar al viento, (You cannot buy the wind)
Tú no puedes comprar al sol (You cannot buy the sun)
Tú no puedes comprar la lluvia, (You cannot buy the rain)
Tú no puedes comprar al calor. (You cannot buy the heat)
Tú no puedes comprar las nubes, (You cannot buy the clouds)
Tú no puedes comprar mi alegría, (You cannot buy my happiness)
Tú no puedes comprar mis dolores. (You cannot buy my pain)

For those of you who are Spanish speakers, I hope you appreciate the song too
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii4YlzvoOZI&feature=related

Monday was October 17th, which is the International Day of the Eradication of Poverty. We talked about this on the radio as well, because the divide between those who have enough and those who don’t is increasing. A study shows that 58% of children in Bolivia are living in poverty and 22% of those in extreme poverty. Talking about Bolivians of all ages, one report says 77% and another 60% of the population is living in poverty, which is measured based on access to basic services, education, health and quality of life. Either way, too many here and in the world.

5 Things I am thankful for today: rest; water; considerate friends; my plants that survive despite my forgetfulness; and a fleece Redskins blanket left behind by past missioners.