RETURN to BOLIVIA

The circle, broken and interrupted in 1994, of my experience in the Bolivian region of Chapare got apparently closed in the thin air of 4000 meters of La Paz …

I am deeply grateful to Felipe Cáceres García, Viceministro de Defensa Social, for receiving me with his usual openhearted friendship, hosting me in his Ministry, where I could compile some proposals on the beneficial use of the sacred green Coca, as well as fulfilling a duty of justice in the rehabilitation of my civil rights.

It took me three months, from 22 October 2006 to 14 January 2007, but I finally got in my hands all the documents proving my absolute innocence in the events of 1994, described in another chapter, my transparent radical commitment alongside the peasants of Chapare, in the name of Ethics, Justice and Respect for Life, Cultures and Peoples.

My accusers, enemies of the indigenous communities, expected from me – and made many attempts to get it – any hint of denounce against the executives of the Federation of the Rural Workers of the Tropic of Cochabamba (FETCTC), to catch them as involved in the international drug trafficking and/or in the subversive movements in Latin America.

They especially manifested a morbid interest in my collaboration with Evo Morales Ayma, they believed I was one of the closest people to: if I had fallen into the trap of blackmail and fear – and it hasn’t been easy to bear the pressure – perhaps Morales wouldn’t get to the Presidency of Bolivia …

By then I remained incorruptible, at the cost of any risk, despite heavy threats, sure that in so acting I wouldd gain a niche in the world of Chapare, so far from my very homeland, but where I felt unlimitedly committed to its People.

In July 2006 a spark of hope was kindled when Felipe Cáceres Garcíaphoned me a Government’s invitation to return to Bolivia, perhaps to continue working on the promotion of green Coca, taking advantage of the studies and experiences collected during my stay in Cusco (Peru), after the expulsion from Bolivia.

However I wasn’t received by President Morales, who ignored me most indifferently, as if I were a ghost emerging from a past one doesn’t want to awake, forgetting that me too, as many of them, I had suffered with no discount, because of injustice and repression.

A fleeting and fortuitous meeting, at the official celebrations of the 2006 presidential birthday, was marked by senseless and deep coolness, despite the oppressive warmth of the humid jungle of Chapare. 

I then picked up the unexpressed suggestion to settle the justice done and not create problems to the Government, avoiding any public emphasis and the involvement of the press, that at the time of the expulsion had been very quick by banging me on the front page of newspapers with the most diverse and derogatory titles …

I confirm my gratitude to Felipe Cáceres García for welcoming me along with his family and collaborators, grateful for having found him as the right man, essential and irreplaceable, of the National Government of Bolivia, with his rare ability to untangle conflictive situations, while preserving the values and human relations, with a friendly gesture at the right time …

Revisiting the Bolivian 1994 events I had been involved into, as well as the questionable ways adopted at the presidential level to officially close … the incident, inevitably several questions still stand unanswered  … but I’m sure that, above and outside of human fallibility,  all in Life makes sense and sooner or later the sense will be revealed ….

Maybe … ?who knows? … sometimes … the chapter Bolivia 1994, for me not yet at peace, will get to a common table to be reassembled into the harmony of true justice and solidarity, namely values so strongly felt in the Andean-Amazon world, because it can’t remain only mine the disturbing question: ??? ... and so … ideals, solidarity, the claims and the persecution shared and suffered, the dreams of Peoples and Cultures without borders … they all get so easily lost into the maze of …”the Palace”…???

Listen here to an interview to Felipe Cáceres García, Viceministro de Defensa Social of the National Government of Bolivia.

(Recorded by Emma, on 10th of January 2007 in La Paz, Bolivia).