Bolivia: a year after the massacre, Sacaba remembers …

“Honor and glory to the dead of Senkata and Sacaba!” These were the first words of the speech of emotional possession of the President of Bolivia, Luis Arce, on November 8. Quite a declaration of principles. And a drop of water in the desert for the families of the victims of the two massacres. Thousands of people marched to the city of Sacaba on Sunday, where, a year ago, a joint police-army operation claimed the lives of at least ten protesters. After a mass and after reading the name of each victim, their cause of death was detailed: in all cases, it was due to gunshot wounds in different parts of the body. “For family members, this year has been very difficult because in addition to the violation of the right to life of their loved ones, they have had to face stigma and discrimination because of their origin and culture. Says Ruth Llanos, president of the Association of Relatives of Prisoners. Disappeared (ASOFAMD), in dialogue with PageI12.

According to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), 36 people lost their lives in different parts of the country during the post-coup conflicts against Evo Morales. To date, there is not a single accused and justice is conspicuous by his absence. Anxious to speed up the deadlines, the Legislative Assembly approved at the end of October the opening of a liability case against the interim president Jeanine Áñez and several of her former ministers. In addition, the new Minister of Justice, Iván Lima, said that an IACHR mission will arrive in the country on October 23 to investigate the events.

Hunting in Sacaba

The Sacaba massacre took place on November 15, 2019, although it had started to take shape a few days earlier. On November 13, during a meeting at the Huayllani General Police Station, Cochabamba, the departmental commander Jaime Zurita He warned the head of the farming sector of this department, Jhonny Pardo: “If you enter the city, I will hunt you down.” Supreme Decree 4078 authorized the armed forces to conduct “law and order” operations and exonerated the military from any criminal liability. It was the regime’s approval for its officers to act with impunity.

During the day of November 14, a march led by activists of the Movement for Socialism (MAS) and coca leaf producers from the tropics sought to reach the town of Sacaba. “There were many of us, so we went out in a peaceful march with flags and nothing else, protesting and asking for peace and an end to the mistreatment of women in skirts,” said Juan Carlos Gutierrez, a young man. 23-year-old seriously injured during a dialogue with this newspaper. the demonstration.

The testimonies of the hours before the horror all point in the same direction. “My brother went on a peaceful march from here to the tropics, accompanied by my mother and father. He came to defend democracy and the rights of women in skirts, because bikers and pititas humiliated women. Unfortunately, the de facto government threw a ball against its own people, ”he said. PageI12 Angélica Calle, sister of Omar Calle, one of Sacaba’s deadly victims.

On November 15, demonstrators attempted to enter the city of Cochabamba. However, at Avenida Villazón, on the Huayllani Bridge, a large number of police and members of the armed forces were waiting for them with barricades of tanks, two helicopters and a small plane flying over the square.

In the afternoon, the leaders negotiated the passage of the march with the police and the armed forces. They had been allowed access on condition that they checked their backpacks. Despite the negotiations, the march was still stopped, which generated greater impatience among the demonstrators. During this period the first pushes and struggles took place. “They started to gasify, everyone escaped everywhere. Others did not know what to do. Women were fallingSo I helped a lady to enter a small store in front of the pump. There we go in a lot, ”remembers Gutierrez.

Suddenly the sound and the atmosphere started to change. They were no longer gas, they were guns. “I tried to defend myself so that the tank would not pass, we started to burn tires, to put stones so as not to let it pass. I continued to defend myself for what I could. I decided to go out and I was hit by a bullet. I felt like a needle had hit me. I looked at myself and it was full of blood, the impact was on my testicles. I couldn’t walk anymore and four of them helped me, ”says Gutierrez. With the same anguish as a year ago, the young man affirms: “They shot us without disgust.”

But the disaster did not end there. The police barricade did not allow the passage of ambulances carrying seriously injured people. Several detainees were transferred to the Special Force against Crime (FELCC), where they were received with beatings and shouting: “Fuck masistas, we’re going to kill them.” The balance of police and military repression was at least ten dead and around 124 injured, according to the Ombudsman’s office.

“These soldiers killed my brother in the back with a bullet impact that hit him directly in the heart”Angélica Calle tells the story of Omar, the only male of six siblings. The only thing this woman who speaks slowly but firmly wants is “those murderers who committed suicide to pay”.

“With justice we will win”

The end of the government of facto, but above all, the triumph of Luis Arce in the presidential elections in October renewed the hopes of the Sacabeño families. The brand new Minister of Justice, Ivan Lima, argued that On the 23rd of this month, the head of the IACHR, Joel Hernández García, will arrive in the country, along with five international experts focus on an investigation that will seek to clarify the deaths in Sacaba and Free, four days later. There, protesters blocking a bottled gas factory were brutally suppressed with the same dynamic used in Sacaba: gas and guns.

“There is hope both from the victims and from the organizations that we want to help, to move the trials forward. However, we are aware that these are processes that will take place over several years, ”he warns. Ruth llanos by ASOFAMD. The young Gutierrez, who lived the horror in the first person, is much more expeditious: “I only ask for justice. With justice we will win.”