Outrage at 'slavery' in Bolivia

[Judi Lynn]

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.

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

[Judi Lynn]

1. 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 magbana:

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

[Judi Lynn]

2. 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