Presidential in Bolivia: when the right seduces indigenous communities
Opinion (with AFP)
El Alto – A new wind blows on El Alto, the city which dominates the PAZ, on the eve of the first round of the presidential election on Sunday, where the right could end two decades of socialism. Perched at more than 4,100 meters above sea level, the city seems dominated by a liner stranded at the top of a nine -story building. Nicknamed “Titanic”, the building is part of a constellation of extravagant residences of Andean style, erected over the past 20 years by the emerging Aymara bourgeoisie. Victor shocks Flores, a self-taught businessman, has invested millions of dollars to join the very closed circle of “choletes” owners, these neo-Andin style buildings whose name mixes “chalet” and “chola”, in reference to indigenous women. Released from misery thanks to trade and real estate, the 46 -year -old man has his ball, a hotel and a three -story cruise ship at the top. He symbolizes for him the Aymara identity. “It’s a bit like us, the Aymaras, rooted in the past but turned to the future,” he breathes. Recognizing the historical role of former President Evo Morales, the first native leader in Bolivia (2006-2019), who enabled greater political inclusion of the Aboriginal majority, he nevertheless says he is ready to adopt “another political line” to get the country out of the serious economic crisis that he is going through. For the first time since 2005, the right could prevail on Sunday, the left -wing candidates being struggling in the polls. Raised by the limit of mandates and targeted by an arrest warrant, Evo Morales, a historic figure of the Bolivian left, could not arise, while the outgoing president, Luis Arce, deeply unpopular, has given up to run for a second term. “Never again” at the heart of this electoral turning point, El Alto, embodies a destiny closely linked to that of the Bolivian left. It is in this city that a bloody repression of a revolt linked to gas exports caused the fall of the right president of the time in 2003, paving the way for the accession of Evo Morales in power three years later. From now on, everywhere on the walls, graffiti relay the promise of the Center right Center Samuel Doria Medina, in the shoulder to the former president on the right Jorge Quiroga, to curb the crisis in “100 dias, carajo!” (100 days, damn!). A sign of the importance of the vote in this traditional bastion of the left, the Hotel and Fast Restoration magnate organized its latest campaign rally there. In the Radio San Gabriel radio studio, broadcast in Aymara language, Arcenio Julio Tancara, a 72 -year -old community leader, expresses his anger on the air in the face of the call of Evo Morales to vote for his sidelining, according to him orchestrated by the government, while he hoped to run for a fourth mandate. “He has always called for strikes and dams”, plague the man wearing a felt hat on a large edge. “At the beginning, we thought it could be necessary, but since we understood that it was not for a cause, but simply for him to resume power,” he said. Santos Citéca, the 38 -year -old host of the station, assures that if some listeners support the left, others now say: “Evo, nor arce”. “If the right wins … The people will rise,” warns Matilde, however, shocks Apaza, 49, manager of an association of indigenous and rural women. Declaring that she did not want to “return to the 20th century”, she assures that the opposition candidates “shake their hands with fervor”, but when they go up in their car disinfect them. In the streets of the city of nearly a million inhabitants, women styled with Melon hats and dressed in colorful skirts sell their goods, while the highest urban cable caves in them, connecting El Alto to La Paz and inaugurated under Evo Morales. Clare Byrne © Agency France-Presse