Bolivia - November 2019

Testimonies of the crimes against the working class and poor peasants of Senkata

Interviews with workers, poor peasants and neighbors from the District 8 in Senkata, El Alto, Courtesy of the Huanuni National Broadcaster.

November 29 Interview with Mario Segundo, Executive official of the Departmental Federation of Factory Workers of La Paz, for Huanuni National Broadcaster and Mine worker Channel 2. Huanuni National Broadcaster: Good morning, comrade. Mario Segundo: Good morning to all the comrades, miners and factory workers alike, and to all the people in Bolivia. HNB: What is the situation in the District 8 of Senkata like today? What’s happening there today? MS: Thank you very much for the interview. I’m very worried, both as a worker and as a union representative from La Paz. We have convened in El Alto, in the zone of Senkata, where there has been a massacre, as covered by the (presidential) decree 4078 (which guaranteed the impunity of the repressive forces, TN), the military and the police have shot the Alteña population. That's why we are demanding justice, because there is of course an intellectual author of this massacre, which has left mourning relatives, widowed wives and orphaned children. Our demand is -including me as a citizen of El Alto and in the name of my fellow workers-: we are joining the demands of the comrades affected, and we are telling the authorities to admit their responsibility. This is a dictatorship, a (government put by) a coup d'etat. We Bolivians want to live peacefully, the Alteños as well as the inhabitants of any other city. We have the right to demand it.  We have asked the authorities, and we have also shown the corresponding documents, so that they listen to us. At present there are also here Human Rights organizations of our Argentinean siblings, because this has to be clarified. On the other hand, the media in general, except for you that want to spread the truth, are telling lies. They say "they are killing each other", "they are vandals", "rascals"... Although we aren't; this is the true Bolivian people, a humble people. What we are doing now, is a crime in the eyes of a right winger. We will never agree to this right wing government. That's why our demand is for respect for our human condition, for the Bolivian people. HNB: It is said that there were two factory workers dead due to the strong repression exerted. As union leaders, what are you going to do regarding this? MS: Yes. Unfortunately we have two comrades deceased. One of them did not take part of the actions that were going on at all. This comrade was coming out of his workplace, Polar company, at the end of his shift, to go home, but he was shot. Another of our comrades was murdered in the same way, in the same place. He was shot, too. Therefore we are going to work together with our advisers and the international law bodies and with the Human Rights organizations that are now heading. As a worker and leader of the Union of Factory Workers of the La Paz Department we are going to start the proceedings for searching and finding the intellectual authors, who have to accept their responsibility. HNB: Do you know the names of the comrade factory workers that have been murdered? MS: Yes, from the Polar company, the comrade that was shot to death is Pedro Quisbert Mamani, 37; the other comrade worker is from Delizia company, his name is Devi Posto Cusi, 34, also shot to death. HNB: So you are with their relatives, starting to take actions, aren't you? MS: We are here as union leaders, talking with the relatives of our comrades and the rest of the mourners, and we are joining the mourners of the murdered comrades, who are now in a chapel in El Alto. We, all the Bolivian people, have to organize ourselves. We don't accept the return of the right.

 

November 29 Interview with Noemi Jimenez, Pedro’s wife, a Polar worker murdered in El Alto. Huanuni National Broadcaster: We are in the District 8, in the Senkata zone of El Alto, with the comrade wife of a murdered factory worker. How are you, comrade, what can you tell us now? Noemi Jimenez: Good morning. What happened to my husband is pretty unfair, he was not with any political side; he was coming home from his workplace, and we were just talking through the cell phone some time before this disgrace happened and he told me not worry, as he was very near home. He came to this corner in Senkata to buy a special type of bread he was very fond of, the police killed him. I feel very hopeless. I demand justice for him, he was only returning from his workplace, and he suffered this disgrace. Now they say that the policemen are not the culprits; that they were not who did this…, which causes much rage and impotence, to see how they lie so shamelessly. We know, because if it had been the civilians who engaged into a shootout, there would have also been dead policemen, but not even one of them has died. I want to give also the word to Pedro's mother. HNB: Comrades, we are here to allow every worker be able to know the truth. How are you now? Pedro's mother: I am completely upset, I had three children, now I have only two. I demand justice for my son and I want also justice for my grandchildren. Who are they going to grow up with? His children don’t have a Dad anymore and one more (child) is to be born soon; but they have no justice already. It is not fair what they have done to my son who was just buying some little loaves of bread for his children. He was killed in this corner, not in the gas fields. Here in the lower zone nothing was happening, except for a food fair, and then they killed him. We want justice, please. HNB: We have been with the comrade factory workers that have come here when they heard about this situation. How are they taking these events? Noemi: They are feeling very sorry, as my husband was very much appreciated. They have cried a lot, as we have cried, because he was a friend of theirs, a good workmate. I am completely grateful because they have not left me alone for a moment. I thank all the workmates of the Polar factory, a blanket factory. HNB: It's necessary to go on fighting for justice. Noemi: Yes, we demand justice, please.

 

November 29 Interview with Amador Machaca, a worker in Polar factory, where Pedro Quisbert, a comrade murdered in Senkata, used to work. Huanuni National Broadcaster: How do you see the situation regarding what happened to Quisbert? Amador Machaca: First of all I want to denounce the National press and all the media, because this situation is a heartrending one, they have perpetrated a slaughter against us here in Senkata. Unfortunately comrade Pedro has lost his life, they have destroyed us; they have destroyed a factory worker’s family and orphaned two children plus another one that will be born in two weeks. We demand justice from the bottom our hearts. We cannot trust the national press. We only trust the international press and the broadcasters here. We want to demand president Añez for an annuity for all and everyone of the affected (for these crimes), because this comrade was raising up his children, he was their breadwinner. Who is going to support them from now on? That's why we ask for an annuity and for a complete investigation to determine who the culprits are, and whoever they are they must pay for this. We, as factory workers ask fervently, through the Factory Workers Federation and the Bolivian Central Union (COB), for your help to seek justice for our comrade Pedro, who was a member and also was some time ago a leader of the Union of Polar Factory Workers. He was our standard-bearer, I was the Secretary of Relations and we got along very well. He is a comrade that will be very much missed in the looms which we make the blankets with. We ask fervently, all of us Bolivian families that are mourning, we ask this Ms. Añez to stop mistreating us. We are very hurt because she has issued a decree allowing (the repressive forces) to shoot cold blood, and after having killed people, she gets rid of this decree! This must not remain unpunished. Why did she have to issue a decree to kill us? I say to the journalists and to the comrades of Huanuni National Broadcaster, please help us to get justice, because we are very worried, because tomorrow, who is going to support Pedro's wife and children? Today we are here as relatives, as friends, as comrades, but tomorrow there will be nobody to take charge of the children. That's why we ask for a compensation for all the fallen ones, including the missing comrades, as there are some here. Therefore we are asking for an annuity, but we are also asking for a thorough investigation. HNB: You have mentioned the Factory Workers Federation and the COB. What actions are they taking just now? AM: We are speaking of the Factory Workers Federation of La Paz. They're present here with their executive Mario Segundo. He is demanding the investigation, also with the adviser, Ms. Casas Carrasco and we are to go until the further consequences. We are not going to leave stone unturned. They are two comrades who have been murdered, there was also the comrade from Delizia factory, and he also (as comrade Pedro) was not in the clashes. Nobody may be given the right to kill; here, if you kill a puppy, you are condemned to four or five years. However, they issue a decree such as the 4078 one to kill cold blood. That is what hurts us as a Federation. Through comrade Mario, he has promised, when we were in the burial, to make justice in a dignified way over the murder of our comrade factory workers.

 

November 29 Interview with Marlen Loza, wife of a comrade wounded in the vicious repression in the District 8 of Senkata, El Alto. Huanuni National Broadcaster: How is tour partner now? Marlen Loza: My husband is still in hospital, he has not undergone surgery yet. They are not complying with what they had signed. The government should have to take responsibility for what happened, because what they carried out that day was a massacre, because they shot the people from helicopters, with tanks, snipers and soldiers. They say there are no injuries caused by live bullets, but please, go to the hospitals and you will see that there is live ammo which injured and killed. Why is not the national media showing this? We don't see the national media making people see what actually happened; we don't see it searching if what the government says about not having shot live ammo is true. My husband, as most of the wounded, needs an Rx of his jaws and his leg. Through Caritas they say both Rx cost 14,000 Bolivianos and that is too much money for me. Moreover, nobody is helping us, we are even suffering discrimination in the hospital, because at first they would not receive us, they told us we were members of the MAS (Morales' party, TN), that we were guilty Bolivia was in bad shape. This entire situation is very painful for us, because we move around on foot, sometimes we do not have any food; nobody is helping us. They say they have signed an agreement, but we haven't seen anything, not even a cent, up to this moment. HNB: Which are the demands of the wounded comrades? ML: We want them to take responsibility and help us; most of the wounded need Rx of shoulders, legs, feet, head, jaw, etc. Most of us have met each other in the hospital and talked about what we need, and we need what I listed above. Even if some of the wounded have a health insurance, it does not cover the medicines, much less the Rx studies. We are waiting for the surgery and for help with the Rx or the medicines, most of it we cannot afford. HNB: Do you want to say anything else, comrade? ML: That this Minister Murillo stop lying, that he stops being high-handed, that he stops raving, it looks like he has a psychological problem. He is saying we had armament, ammunition; that people were paid… The money he shows into the "backpacks" surely is his, as well as the ammo. He has to have stolen them, as he uses always to do, because he was showing backpacks full of money, weapons, even grenades. He has even showed backpacks of boys with Down Syndrome and this boy has been detained and tortured and is still in jail since the 11th of November, because in that moment a policeman died and they just detained anybody. They have detained all kinds of people up to the moment; the police came, they tortured them savagely, some have their eardrums perforated, there are rape cases too. They are known cases, but they are not denounced for fear of Minister Murillo. But everybody here in El Alto can see everything, we have photos and all kinds of evidence against those that say "there were no live ammo", when actually there was only live ammo. They have taken indigenous people with a humble appearance and condition; several policemen obliged the indigenous people to kneel and ask for forgiveness "for coming to the city"; then they were obliged to promise they would never come again. In spite of bearing such a humiliation, they were detained, and we don't know what is happening to those people that have been raped. Some plainclothes have taken a 14 years old boy from the hospital, they didn't want to say their names. His mother could claim her son one day later. How Many more cases are there which the media in the country are not speaking about? Are these media bought or they are silent because of fear? Here they accuse us of being Masistas, but we can see that we are the most humble, lower social classes, that we had no armament, only our mouths and hands to defend ourselves. We can see that we were attacked as in a war, with the armament left by the former government of Evo. This was what the murderous military and policemen used, which they have made to buy for themselves for 100,000 USD. Now they show the police as if they are doing their proper work detaining some criminals. That has never happened; they never detain thieves, murderers, ever. Now that Evo’s gone, they show the media that the police are detaining criminals.  For us, no matter how much the media wants to put us in our heads and show to the public something else, they will not be able to succeed in their lies, because this government is murderous and they are only achieving an end, which is to take out the fuel, so they have come to us to slaughter and kill in District 8. All this is bathed in blood. We know well that the army did it; they have not even, as they say, brought fuel to the people, because there is still a shortage in the city. They have only taken fuel to the military to continue slaughtering, and murdering us.

 

November 29 From the Dutch Hospital in El Alto, the National Mining Broadcaster of Huanuni’s interview with Felix Calle, who was injured in the Senkata massacre. National Broadcaster of Huanuni: Tell us what happeened. Felix Calle: My mother had to go to Senkata and, as she is in a bad condition because she can't move her arm properly, I went behind her. At approximately 4:30 pm I went to the bridge and we were watching the events with my mother. She told me to leave and I ignored her. I stayed a little longer and told her to go ahead with my little sister. About 15 minutes later I try to move forward, about three steps from the bridge. They were shooting all over Senkata and that's where the pellet hits me, I feel pain and I tried to stand up, but I fell again. A gentleman tried to help me stand up but I couldn't, so a nurse came to help me. There they took me to the hospital and they started injecting antibiotics while they tried to stop my bleeding. In half an hour the ambulance arrived that moved me to Korea (Korea hospital, Ed.N) and there they told me that I had to stay two nights and that they would not be able to take my pellet out because it was in a risky area. HNB: Where was the pellet housed? FC: It is housed near the artery of the leg. I still have it in that place. But after a while, they told me that police were coming to arrest me. That's why I asked for the discharge request and went home. My uncle told me that I had to undergo surgery, so I went to a private hospital. I had a CT scan and it hadn't been a pellet, it had been a bullet that I have housed. At Irene private hospital, they told me that the amount of the operation was 10 thousand Bolivians and I do not have that amount. That's why I came to the Dutch Hospital. Not more than five minutes later four plain-clothed police officers came and asked me very strange questions, they made me cry and they intimidated my mother too. There they told me that I would go to the prison in San Pedro after I recovered. They told me “either you blame your president or go to San Pedro (refers to the San Pedro prison, Ed.N)”. Out of fear and shock I didn't know what to say. Then they asked me for names and numbers, they asked all kinds of questions to me and my mother, especially they even wanted to frame her for having her collarbone operated and she told them she had it done some time ago. The next day my pain calmed down, but they told me that they would not be able to take my bullet out because it was a risky area. They do not have the devices to take out the bullet. That's why I asked the doctor if I should be able to run and continue as before, to what they said yes. Now I have to heal completely. Luckily, the president of the Junta Vecinal (Neighborhood Board) is supporting me a lot. HNB: Anything else you would like to add? FC: Now I want to be cured and that Añez takes care of what they did to me, now I will not be able to stay the same. I ask for justice for the dead of Senkata, because all this is very painful.

 

November 27 Interview with the Principal of the “Paulo Freire” Center for Alternative Education in the city of El Alto in the Senkata area, District 8. Three students belonging to this Center are arrested on false accusations and without evidence. National Radio of Huanuni: There are young people who are detained who belong to your educational unit. What can you tell us about these cases? Genaro Flores, BA: Good evening, my dear journalist and the audience of this prestigious Broadcasting Service that covers us in this difficult situation that Bolivia is going through and particularly what is happening in the city of El Alto. The Paulo Freire Alternative Education Center is located in the city of El Alto, in Senkata, District 8, in which, in these times, we have been in this difficult situation that is happening in our country and particularly in our region. Particularly, as Principal, I can say we are to resume (next) Monday the corresponding curricular activities. However, so far we know that three of our students are detained and that is why they cannot attend our Unit. We are talking about Laura Pongo Igor, John Kevin Calle and Luis Alfredo Quintana Apaza. This is what is known so far, but there are still many students who do not attend, only 75% of them are attending. That is why we are very worried, because we do not know the whereabouts of the other students, so they may be missing or they may be in the same situation as their classmates who have been reported by their relatives as detainees. So, we are very worried about the situation that is being lived, with such inventions and lying accusations, which we are sure is not so, because at all times these kinds of things are framed by the media and also by the police and the prosecution itself. They are performing inhuman acts and that is why we are very sorry, as these students are very responsible and committed to the institution. These boys who have no background are being arrested and mistreated. That is why we agree with the investigation, but it must be done legally and as soon as possible. Because these students are about to lose the semester and can lose the year for something unfair that is happening to them in our country. So, our concern for these boys who one day have decided to enhance themselves and are studying here without any background, with enormous responsibility and punctuality and who are now imprisoned. This is very bad, their relatives are crying and they have no other possibility than, at least, to have this coverage of this radio broadcaster, as very few media make this situation known, even (the situation) of others who are disappeared and we do not know their whereabouts. It is very worrying for us and we hope that very soon they can be released so they can return to the institution to resume the semester and approve and not be harmed in the study. They are the youth of the future; they need to resume their activities. The police and the justice should have that consideration, Human Rights and the right to education must be taken into account, because what is happening is not right at all. They are innocent, of that we are sure. They are at the primary level, talking about the case of John Kevin. Minors cannot be in this situation. Given these unfair events, we call on the authorities in general to take this into account and not allow such an outrage on humanity. This is my point of view for the National Mining Radio. HNB: So you are asking for the freedom of these young people. GF: As we have said, we are about to finish the activities of this semester. That is why we are waiting for them to return, because they do not deserve what is happening to them. They are minors, they are innocents. And, because of the situation that has happened, the police have taken random prisoners, as their relatives and friends have denounced. We are publicly asking for their liberation and so they can resume their studies, because next week we are resuming curricular activities. They are going to be harmed greatly. This is the special request of my authority. They cannot be harmed. This is my request through the National Broadcaster of Huanuni that is giving an excellent coverage as we have heard in all the interviews they have done, while the rest of media, although they are present, they misrepresent the facts and that’s damaging everything. That's why justice is as it is. This is the important product of the lies of the media. RNH: Thank you very much. GF: Thanks are given to you