President Morales denounced a plan marked with racism that aims to oust him

Corque (Oruro), Sept 05, (ABI).- President Evo Morales Ayma denounced this Wednesday that leaflets were circulating in Santa Cruz and Sucre (Chuquisaca), entitled “Plan to bring down this Indian shit”, which aim to oust him from the position of head of state.

“I have seen leaflets in Santa Cruz, in Sucre that say: ‘Plan to bring down this Indian shit’, that is the plan they have. What autonomy? What capital? There problems is how to not guarantee the process of change, how to not guarantee nationalization” denounced the president, with papers in his hand.

He noted with grief “in all sincerity, I do not want to read this, because, for sure, some compañeras would cry if they heard what they thought of us”.

The head of state pointed out that this was not the first time such manifestations of racist discrimination had been seen, on the contrary he recall that when he was a union leader in the Chapare (Cochabamba) and he bought a mobile phone with contributions from the members, the criticisms started straight away.

“An analyst from Santa Cruz wrote an editorial in one of the newspapers. A naked person covered with a coca leaf (between the legs), fat, with feathers, half chascoso (long haired), with the title ‘Indian rebel’, you read the newspaper and it ends saying: ‘we have to kill this Indian’, imagine the contempt and the discrimination they have towards us” he expressed with sadness.

In this context, president Morales Ayma signaled that this was an ideological, cultural struggle and “these groups that don’t want to lose their privileges and are going to protest”, he said.

Moreover, he recall that on one opportunity, representatives from the US denounced him as a narco-trafficker, a narco-cocalero, they even reached the point of calling him the Andean Bin Laden, and the cocaleros his Taliban.

At the same time, he said that when he was expelled from the national congress on January 22, 2002, by parliamentarians from Nationalist Revolutionary Movement (MNR), Nationalist Democratic Action (ADN) and the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), it allowed the union movement, the indigenous originario movement, to wake up and organize itself.

“They were thinking that, for sure, by expelling me they were going to bury me, they were going to silence us, instead they helped us. My expulsion from the national congress allowed for a major orientation of the Bolivian people and today, thanks to that expulsion by MNR, by ADN, now Social Democratic Power (Podemos), the MIR now called National Unity (UN), we have reached the presidency, we have all woken up” affirmed the president.

In this sense, the head of state commented that now there is a growing consciousness within the Bolivian people, who are prepared to combat discrimination in a democratic and united fashion.

President Morales affirmed that despite the existence of oligarchic groups who are seeking to ensure the failure of the constituent assembly, the indigenous movement would persist in its search for a constitution, where a unitary state is consolidated, where neither discrimination nor exploitation exist, and where everyone lives in equality and justice.

Within this framework, he signaled that the incorporation of a plurinational state within the new constitution represented the recuperation of identity, culture and also natural resources.

”The plurinational state represents the unity, the integrity of the country, and we will continue supporting it in the constituent assembly”.

However, president Morales Ayma declared that it was still difficult to eradicate racism, because even in the city of Sucre, the people who wear polleras [indigenous dress] cannot stay in a hotel.

He said that during one tense occasion in the constituent assembly, the woman president of this forum, Silvia Lazarte, was insulted and called an “ignorant chola”.

“We should not be scared, I am visiting all the country, and I feel it in any place I go, that no one can stop this process of change” emphasized the president.

Translated from ABI