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href="https://orinocotribune.com/bolivias-mas-leader-our-advantage-is-not-to-be-afraid-of-death-in-defense-of-the-country/">https://orinocotribune.com/bolivias-mas-leader-our-advantage-is-not-to-be-afraid-of-death-in-defense-of-the-country/</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Bolivia’s MAS Leader: “Our Advantage is
Not to be Afraid of Death in Defense of the Country”</h1>
December 19, 2019</div>
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<p><strong>Rodolfo Machaca is from the Political
Directorate of the Movement to Socialism (MAS). During
his time in Argentina to meet with Evo Morales, he
gave this exclusive interview, assuring that in the
face of next year’s elections, even without a definite
candidate, they have “almost 40% of</strong> the
votes”.</p>
<p>The arrival of Evo Morales to Argentina was accompanied
by a massive arrival of leaders of his party, the
Movement to Socialism (MAS), to meet with him and
outline the policy to face the coup in Bolivia.</p>
<p>Among those who traveled to Buenos Aires for these days
was Rodolfo Machaca from the Political Directorate of
the MAS, former Deputy Minister of Interculturality and
leader of the Single Trade Union Confederation of
Peasant Workers of Bolivia (CSUTCB). In dialogue with
NOTAS, he denounced the dictatorship of Jeanine Añez
which continues to violate human rights, persecuting the
population and delivering the country’s natural
resources to multinationals.</p>
<p>However, he was optimistic about next year’s elections.
He said that the MAS, even without defining a candidate,
already has close to 40% of the voting preference. “We
are being persecuted but there is no longer fear that
they will catch us, stop us, torture us. Because we
carry the blood of Tupac Katari,” he said.</p>
<p><strong>– Although at first from Argentina there was
important coverage of the events that occurred after
the coup d’etat of November 10, has there been a
decrease in the information flow about how the
situation of Human Rights continues within the
framework of Jeanine Añez’s dictatorship?</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>First, in the case of the media, I think this has
been planned very well, with a lot of strategy, so
that television channels and traditional radios do not
broadcast anything. They’ve turned their backs on the
poor.</li>
</ul>
<p>Military and police killings, were covered by them but
never reported. They were complicit in this massacre of
the indigenous brothers. They were complicit in the coup
d’etat that the Americans gave us through the neoliberal
and civic parties.</p>
<p>Except for some radio stations that are from the
original towns that have been persecuted.</p>
<p><strong>– Are those radios still working?</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Some have been silenced, others are working again
but are still harassed and persecuted.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>– And with respect to Human Rights in general?</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Regarding Human Rights, the coup and its ministers
do not care. They are not interested if one dies, if
one is injured, if his family is crying. In cold blood
they want to exterminate us, the indigenous peoples,
that is proven.</li>
</ul>
<p>Thousands have been injured and those injured have not
been treated promptly. And the dead continue to add up.
Nobody says anything about it, families prefer to bury
their loved ones, cry and grieve.</p>
<p>But we are sure that tomorrow, the day after, these
family members are going to protest and bear witness to
how they have been attacked, persecuted and how their
right to life has been silenced.</p>
<p>This is how human rights are in Bolivia. Some human
rights representatives are complicit in the
dictatorship. So we, the peoples, have nothing except
the Ombudsman’s Office.</p>
<p><a
href="https://orinocotribune.com/evo-morales-unfair-illegal-and-unconstitutional-it-doesnt-scare-me-on-the-arrest-warrant-issued-by-bolivias-dictatorship-lawfare/"
target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">RELATED
CONTENT: Evo Morales: “Unfair, Illegal and
Unconstitutional. It Doesn’t Scare me” on the Arrest
Warrant Issued by Bolivia’s Dictatorship (Lawfare)</a></p>
<p><strong>– In addition to repression and persecution,
the dictatorship has attempted to advance against the
conquests achieved during the process of change. What
have been the main actions taken by the de facto
government in this regard?</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>They have taken the attitude of trampling the rules
of the State, the laws. They have violated all
administration procedures. By decree they have passed
the administration of some strategic companies into
private hands. That has its penalty, its sanction.
They have dared to do that.</li>
</ul>
<p>For example, the Bolivian Aviation Administration (BoA)
was handed over to the Amazon company that is a private
company, belonging to them. One of Amazon’s partners is
the former president who escaped to the US, Gonzalo
Sánchez de Losada (years ago).<br>
<span><strong>Another case</strong>: when new consuls
and ambassadors were appointed. These procedures
should be carried out through Parliament, but they did
so directly. So we can continue enumerating. The same
happened with the procedures in the Ministries.</span></p>
<p>Now, the bidding and industrialization of Bolivia’s
lithium that had been planned very carefully by
President Evo Morales, is now in line to be cancelled.
By decree they want to deliver that wealth of ours to
multinational corporations.</p>
<p>The monetary reserves we had, the resources we had,
have been used by them: their salaries, their bonuses.</p>
<p>All this will have fatal consequences for their group
of political parties as well as for the State. They are
delivering up strategic resources. It’s a disaster.</p>
<p><strong>– Are social programs such as the Juancito
Pinto subsidy or Renta Dignidad still valid?</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>They are at risk. If they [the coup] stay longer,
they will surely be dismantled.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>– In a first stage after the coup, there was a
certain disarticulation between the popular movements
and the MAS as a party that was later reversed in the
Extraordinary Cochabamba Assembly where unity was
agreed upon for the elections. How was that proce</strong>ss?</p>
<ul>
<li>Their plan is to make the MAS acronym disappear
(referring to the sign/logo). Neoliberals know that
MAS without a candidate has almost 40% of the vote.
Without campaigning. That is strong. That is why they
now attack the acronym of the party to eliminate us.
But that is not going to happen.</li>
</ul>
<p>And another measure is to prosecute political leaders.
They are looking to decapitate us.</p>
<p>President Evo is already out of the country; the second
man of the party, Gerardo García, has been arrested, is
a political prisoner; and now we are in the hands of the
third head, Juanita Ancieta de las Bartolinas; and then
myself, the fourth man of the party.</p>
<p>Right now it is up to us, but they are seeing how to
prosecute us, how to initiate a trial.</p>
<p>But something more interesting is this: we have lost
our fear. There is no longer a fear of death. They have
killed our brothers, they are already more than 45 dead
in the whole country. But there is no fear.</p>
<p>With courage, we will carry out the elections. We will
defend our political party with blood.</p>
<p>Their disadvantage is that they are afraid of dying.
And our advantage is not to be afraid of death to defend
the country, for defending our indigenous, native,
peasant brothers. For defending our president Evo. With
blood we will defend them.</p>
<p>On the other hand, the stronghold of MAS, of the
political party, is the Pact of Unity: the peasants, the
bartolins, the natives. They [the coup] are taking on
the task of dividing and parallelizing other
confederations to weaken us. But the shot is coming out
of the butt. They can decapitate us but the masses, the
bases, they will not be able to.</p>
<p>The reaction has been formidable. “Keep going,” they
told us. Then with that force we are re-shaping
ourselves. The meeting in Cochabamba was a surprise for
them.</p>
<ul>
<li>T<strong>his historic attitude of the Bolivian
people is notable, since before Evo Morales was
president, to go out and give their life for a
cause. What you said about not being afraid to die
to defend the project, where does that tradition and
that culture of struggle come from?</strong></li>
<li>
<p>Historically we have been trampled and humiliated.
Historically we have been mistreated by these
neoliberal governments. That has made us understand
that if we are subjected, we will cause suffering
for our future generations. And we don’t want that
to happen anymore.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>They slaughtered us in 2003 for being peasants, for
being indigenous, for being humble, of lower class and
native people. Now they want to repeat that, to continue
to dominate us now as then and then laugh at us, sell
our wealth, and party. What they want is to give our
natural resources to multinationals behind our backs.</p>
<p>That will generate the suffering of the generations
that follow us, they will judge us.</p>
<p>That is why we prefer to defend it with our lives, with
blood. We will not let it pass. They worked us with
fright, but we lost our fear. We are being persecuted
but there is no longer fear that they will catch us,
stop us, torture us. Because we carry the blood of Tupac
Katari. We are Aymara. We are Quechua.</p>
<p>Only then, without raising a stick, we will face them.
We come from those revolutionary roots.</p>
<p><strong>– President Evo Morales arrived in Argentina a
few days ago, how important is his presence here both
to face the electoral campaign and to the resistance
to the coup?</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>We are very grateful to the Argentine brothers and
sisters for understanding the historical struggle we
have made. They have accompanied us since before the
indigenous people rose to power, in this case
represented by Evo Morales.</li>
</ul>
<p>They have continued to accompany us. How many times
have they come to Bolivia to support us, to share our
joys, and in recent times, our cries, our sorrows.</p>
<p>For us President Evo represents our blood, our brother.
We can not abandon him. He a reference, a symbol. That
is why everything they have done hurts us a lot.</p>
<p>But we are there and that is why we come here to greet
him, to reach him and to tell him that he is not alone.</p>
<p>Brothers, with your support we are sure that we will
succeed. Evo is struggle, he is strength, he is our
image and our future. There can be many leaders by your
side and many more in the future. But he is like an
elder brother who has brought us to the path of
struggle, we cannot release him or leave him alone.
That’s why our tears but our strength too. That is why
our bravery to face future struggles with blood.</p>
<p>Take care of him, Argentine brothers and Argentine
sisters. Protect my brother, I know he will be fine and
that we will return to take him from here to Bolivia.</p>
<p><a
href="https://notasperiodismopopular.com.ar/2019/12/17/dirigente-mas-bolivia-nuestra-ventaja-no-miedo-muerte-defender-patria/"
target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Source URL:
NOTAS Periodismo Popular</a></p>
<p>Translated by JRE/EF</p>
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