Outrage at 'slavery' in Bolivia

[Judi Lynn]

Source: BBC

Outrage at 'slavery' in Bolivia
Page last updated at 11:17 GMT, Thursday, 14 May 2009 12:17

A senior UN official recently described as "unacceptable" the alleged forced labour of indigenous people by landowners in Bolivia. The BBC's Andres Schipani reports on the contentious issue of "slavery" from the eastern province of Santa Cruz.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk.nyud.net:8090/media/images/45770000/jpg/_45770288_teresadeisy_226.jpg

Teresa Barrio, pictured with her
granddaughter, calls herself a slave.

Over the past two years, Bolivia's government and several indigenous groups, have been giving a controversial name to Teresa's type of existence - slavery.

They and some international organisations say conditions are still akin to bonded labour, making these peasants the de facto property of rich landowners in one of South America's poorest countries.
Accusations of forced labour have circulated for decades, with little result.

"We are very scandalised by what we've seen … We have seen indigenous people, the original owners of the land, who are now in a situation of landlessness, forced labour, servitude and extreme poverty," Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, head of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, told reporters in La Paz.

~snip~
The system hinges on the creation of debt that people have little chance of paying off. Workers are given cash and food, which is then docked from the average daily wage of $2 (£1.30).

"Some have debts owed by their fathers," Wilson Changaray, a Guarani leader, says in the dusty town of Camiri.



Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8047960.stm

[RandomThoughts]

1. Debts of the father.

An interesting concept, and requires a certain view point to even begin to find any group that supports such a thing. Not to mention, I would bet their fathers were far better then the land owners, and the presumed debt is malicious falsehoods, equal to their slavery. I would bet its even provable.

[Judi Lynn]

2. US citizens' tax dollars have been funneled into strengthening the power these European landowners

hold. DU'ers who've been watching South American news know about this already, but it's information never touched by our own corporate media. From a new post by DU'er magbana in the Latin America forum:

EVA GOLINGER: BOLIVIA-Newly Declassified Docs Show USAID $97 M Funding to Separatist Projects
Posted by magbana

~snip~
Recently declassified documents obtained by investigators Jeremy Bigwood and Eva Golinger reveal that the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has invested more than $97 million in "decentralization" and "regional autonomy" projects and opposition political parties in Bolivia since 2002. The documents, requested under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), evidence that USAID in Bolivia was the "first donor to support departmental governments" and "decentralization programs" in the country, proving that the US agency has been one of the principal funders and fomenters of the separatist projects promoted by regional governments in Eastern Bolivia.

~snip~
In the case of Bolivia, the OTI contracted the US company, Casals & Associates, to coordinate a program based on decentralization and autonomy in the region considered the "media luna" (half-moon), where the hard core opposition to President Evo Morales is based, particularly in the province of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Casals & Associates was also charged with conducting a series of training seminars and workshops to strengthen oppositional political parties that were working against then presidential candidate Evo Morales in 2004 and 2005. After Morales was elected president at the end of 2005, OTI directed the majority of its funding and work to the separatist projects that later produced regional referendums on autonomy in Eastern Bolivia. Their principal idea is to divide Bolivia into two separate republics, one governed by an indigenous majority and the other run by European descendents and mestizos that inhabit the areas rich in natural resources, such as gas and water. After 2007, the OTI, which had an additional budget of $13.3 on top of USAID's general Bolivia program funding, was absorbed into USAID/Bolivia's Democracy Program, which since then has been dedicating resources to consolidating the separatist projects.

USAID's work in Bolivia covers almost all sectors of political and economic life, penetrating Bolivian society and attempting to impose a US political and ideological model. The investment in "decentralization" includes all the support and funding needed to conform "autonomous" regions, from departmental planning to regional economic development, financial management, communications strategies, departmental budget structures, and territorial organization designs - all prepared and implemented by USAID representatives and partners in Bolivia. As part of the program titled "Strengthening Democratic Institutions" (SDI), USAID describes its work to "enrich the dialogue on decentralization; improve management of departmental budgetary resources; and promote regional economic development." Through this program, USAID has even created "territorial organization laboratories" to help regional governments implement their autonomy successfully.

In one document dated November 30, 2007, just months before the separatist referendums held in Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando and Tarija during early 2008, the Democratic Initiatives Program of OTI/USAID worked closely with the Prefects (regional governments) to "develop sub-national, de-concentrated" models of government. In those regions, those promoting such "sub-national, de-concentrated" models, or separatism, have made clear that their objective is to achieve a political, economic and territorial division from the national government of Bolivia, so they can manage and benefit solely from the rich resources in their regions. It's no coincidence that the separatist initiatives are all concentrated in areas rich in gas, water and economic power. The multi-million dollar funding from USAID to the separatist projects in Bolivia has encouraged and supported destabilization activities during the past few years, including extreme violence and racism against Indigenous communities, terrorist acts and even assassination attempts against President Morales.

More:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=405x15211

[Prune Belly]

7. Thanks for the link, Judy Lynn

Fucking white people.......... that's all I can say.

Fucking white people!

[Judi Lynn]

8. I absolutely agree with you. They have beaten down the indigenous people to the point

they were only able to gain the right to walk on the sidewalks by 1952, and that happened after an enormous rebellion, which cost them many lives.

Following their current status in any serious reading, you will find enough to make you so sick. The opposition leaders publicly refer to the landslide-elected President of Bolivia as "that fucking Indian."

Welcome to D.U., Prune Belly. :hi:

[L. Coyote]

3. We freed chattled slaves in Peru in 1970. This is no surprise.

People lived in corrals with the animals they cared for for absentee hacendados!

[Judi Lynn]

5. Thanks for the info., L. Coyote. They're next door neighbors, too. God.

The hatred, contempt, viciousness shown the indigenous people in their OWN homeland is beyond forgiveness.

It all has been deftly swept under the carpet, along with all the other information on the rape, plunder, torture, mass murder of Latin America. It's a triumph when this material is uncovered.

[Judi Lynn]

4. 43 wounded and several disappeared in a racist attack aimed at perpetuating slavery practices

17Apr08
Español

43 wounded and several disappeared in a racist attack aimed at perpetuating slavery practices against Bolivian guarani communities

URGENT ACTION

Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, April 17 2008

THE LIBERATION OF ENSLAVED INDIGENOUS FAMILIES AND THE RESTITUTION OF THEIR ANCESTRAL LANDS

The Inter-Institutional Coordinator for the Defence of Human Rights of Santa Cruz, Bolivia (La Coordinadora Interinstitucional de Defensa de los Derechos Humanos de Santa Cruz – BOLIVIA)and the Bolivian Chapter for Human Rights, Democracy and Development (el Capítulo Boliviano de Derechos Humanos Democracia y Desarrollo), denounce the acts of violence against delegations of the indigenous Guaraní people, the Governmental commission and civil organizations responsible for the process of liberating enslaved indigenous families and for processing and obtaining the regularisation of their ancestral lands in the farming area of Chaco in Santa Cruz.

FACTS

1. On 27th February this year a commission of the Bolivian Government, led by the Deputy Minister for Land, the National Directors and the Directors for Santa Cruz Department of the National Institute for Agrarian Reform (Instituto Nacional de Reforma Agraria - INRA) together with a delegation of the Guaraní people, accompanied by their president, Wilson Changaray, tried to start the process of regularising the indigenous Guarani lands of ALTO PARAPETÍ, located in the province of Cordillera in the Department of Santa Cruz,and were intercepted and attacked by landowners and armed groups as they passed over the estate of "Caraparicito" owned by United States citizen Ronald Larsen. The government delegation was held at the said farm and later taken to the community of Lagunillas, a distance of 50 KM away, where an attempt was made to compel them, by means of the signing of official minutes, to suspend the process of regularisation of the agrarian lands pending a consultation by the Departmental Autonomy of Santa Cruz - scheduled for 4th May by the Prefecture of that Department and outside the National Laws and Constitution.

2. On 4th April, a new commission led by the same Government authorities, and accompanied peacefully by police and members of the Guaraní community, were heading to the indigenous community of Itacuatía, to initiate the regularisation of the lands and were attacked there by farmers and persons contracted by Mr. Larsen with stones and sticks. All the attackers were heavily armed and the police were unable to repel them. The violent actions were particularly directed against the indigenous Guaranis and the police, which resulted in serious injury being inflicted on the Police Captain who accompanied the commission.
3. On 11th April there was a meeting of the Provincial Council of Popular Participation (Consejo Provincial de Participación Popular), a legally established entity of social control, which was used by farm-owners and local authorities in order to force the cessation of the land regularisation process and the process of liberation of the enslaved indigenous communities on the farms. In the course of the meeting, the Minister of Rural, Agricultural, Livestock and Environmental Development, Susana Rivero, and the Vice Minister of Lands, Alejandro Almaraz as well as all the employees of INRA were ordered to be expelled from Cordillera Province, and an indefinite blockade of the roads was also ordered. During the night a group of armed men went to the hotel where the employees were staying and tried to take them by force. Minister Rivero had come to this area to initiate a dialogue in order to enable the process of agrarian regularisation.

4. On 13th April, in the area of Cuevo, several kilometres from Camiri, a delegation of indigenous Guaraní people was intercepted and savagely attacked by a mob at the behest of the farmers of the region, as a result of which 43 were injured and 8 disappeared - three of these were journalists and others were advisers to the Guaranis. It is known that some were taken as hostages and were tied to posts in the public square where they were tortured and subjected to other forms of humiliation. There is also information that the drivers of two vehicles are still there, continue to be victims of ill treatment and fear for their lives.

More:
http://www.derechos.org/nizkor/bolivia/doc/racism.html

[edc]

6. In one form or another,

slavery has always been the labor relations principle of capitalism.

[Judi Lynn]

9. If they pay the people what they actually earn, they won't be wildly wealthier. Can't have that.

What a nightmare for a planet with brutal, domineering ruling classes purporting to be civilized.

[bemildred]

10. Who enforces this crap? A bunch of thugs? A gang? nt

[Judi Lynn]

11. Their tyranny goes back a long time. There was an influx of European-descended

people during Hugo Banzer's time, but clearly they were there well before in that area:

COLONEL HUGO BANZER
President of Bolivia
In 1970, in Bolivia, when then-President Juan Jose Torres nationalized Gulf Oil properties and tin mines owned by US interests, and tried to establish friendly relations with Cuba and the Soviet Union, he was playing with fire. The coup to overthrow Torres, led by US-trained officer and Gulf Oil beneficiary Hugo Banzer, had direct support from Washington. When Banzer's forces had a breakdown in radio communications, US Air Force radio was placed at their disposal. Once in power, Banzer began a reign of terror. Schools were shut down as hotbeds of political subversive activity. Within two years, 2,000 people were arrested and tortured without trial. As in Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil, the native Indians were ordered off their land and deprived of tribal identity. Tens-of-thousands of white South Africans were enticed to immigrate with promises of the land stolen from the Indians, with a goal of creating a white Bolivia. When Catholic clergy tried to aid the Indians, the regime, with CIA help, launched terrorist attacks against them, and this "Banzer Plan" became a model for similar anti-Catholic actions throughout Latin America.

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/US_ThirdWorld/dictators.html

Banzer won for office again in the 1990's, and was ELECTED as President for the first time, and sold Bolivia's water to that Bechtel subsidiary, which raised the water rates so high poor people couldn't afford it, then tried to charge them for any RAINWATER they tried to collect, bringing on the Cochabamba water rebellion, during which time the state military once again started kicking down doors, dragging people off to prison, and brought out a US-trained sharpshooter to start firing into protesters, killing one young unarmed man.

This is a subject which cries out for American researchers since our own corporate media obviously has covered for some filthy covert ops using our tax dollars, and all of it conducted behind our backs, as it would have to be given the immorality of it all. Intelligent decent Americans wouldn't want their tax dollars being used for brutal suppression and vicious racism, torture, murder.

Don't forget Nazi Klaus Barbie went to Bolivia right after his team lost the Second World War, and was involved in the govermnents of both Banzer, and Luis García Meza who ran a cocaine coup. Barbie:

~snip~
For decades here in Bolivia we had an infamous tradition of ruthless dictators. In the early 70s General Hugo Banzer siezed power. He turned to the ex-Nazi Klaus Barbie to help him with the repression. It was not the first time that Barbie, a war criminal wanted by the French and German authorities, had mingled with hardliners. Here in Bolivia he used to do big business with the drug lords. He had his own team of assassins, some from Italy and others from Argentina, called the Grooms of Death. He also sold them weapons.

American intelligence officials helped Barbie to become established in Bolivia as part of their crusade against communism. He acted as a sort of counter-intelligence official. Under the alias of Klaus Altmann he worked primarily as an interrogator and torturer. He also helped in the same way in Peru. He did the same things here as in Germany and France. For him the word communist meant "dead". Many Bolivians died during that dictatorship; one that was prolonged for more than 10 years. Barbie was in charge of the murders of many Bolivian citizens, including priests and members of the opposition.

So some of us felt that we had to do something about it. But in 1980, after General Banzer, an even bloodier dictator, Luis García Meza, rose to power in what was called the narco, or cocaine, coup. Barbie was a key aide then. He was the main ideologue of that coup; he organised absolutely everything. He was even given the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Bolivian armed forces, and was then able to move around with total impunity. Today Bolivians know all about Barbie, but for a long time many even doubted that such a criminal could be here.

http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/?page=editorial&id=719&catID=9

[Chulanowa]

14. The culture

Much the same as the black slaves in America.

A child is raised from birth and told he is a slave, his is property, that he owes the mater in return for food and board, that he's basically livestock.

Now the child may not necessarily believe this. It's hard to think of yourself as akin to a cow when you actually have the ability to do that, after all. But it's part of this guy's culture now. He's been "infected" with the notion that's he's chattel. The fact that all his fellows hold the same notion, and that the masters enforce it rigorously, only reinforces this cultural disease.

A few generations, and you have a slave population that will actively and collectively act against its own interests - such as the frequent examples of American slaves ratting out escape plans of others.

That's what we have here. These people are slaves, in large part, becasue they have been brought up thinking of themselves as slaves, that the debt culture is "just how it is" and still trying their best to "beat the game" even though it's impossible to do so while staying under its rules.

[EFerrari]

15. We do, with our tax money that USAID spreads around

in that area to "represent" US interests. You and I have been funding the white separatists.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=405x15211

[ck4829]

12. I really hope that our government still doesn't consider Morales to be the bad guy here

It's clear that he isn't.

[IrateCitizen]

17. Santa Cruz is the region that threatened secession...

... in response to Morales' election.

The white ruling class of Santa Cruz views him with seething hatred, apoplectic that a person descended from "inferior" indigenous stock could ever rule over them.

[ck4829]

13. Guess who considers this NOT to be slavery

From the article:

"The idea that there is slavery here is absurd … Offering loans and selling food is not a debt trap but a favour because there are few banks and shops in the region," says Eliane Capobianco of the rancher's association Fegasacruz, in the eastern city of Santa Cruz, the opposition heartland.

[IrateCitizen]

18. I believe that similar arguments were used to justify debt peonage...

... in the Jim Crow South after Reconstruction and before Civil Rights.

[Judi Lynn]

16. This is what happens to indigenous people unlucky enough to be caught by the others:

1/5/09
Bolivia: Santa Cruz racist violence caught on camera

http://www.incakolanews.blogspot.com/2009/01/bolivia-santa-cruz-racist-violence.html