Deep unrest threatens Andean leaders

Posted on Sun, Jun. 27, 2004

ANDEAN REGION
Deep unrest threatens Andean leaders

Indigenous groups in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia are experiencing a political awakening that could have profound repercussions for each country's democracy.
BY TYLER BRIDGES AND CARLA D'NAN BASS
tbridges [at] herald.com


ILAVE, Peru - For 23 days and nights, Aymara Indians filled the town square in freezing weather to demand the ouster of a mayor they said had stolen the public's money.

On the 24th day, a mob pulled Mayor Cirilo Robles from a house, dragged him through the streets and finally beat him to death in the square.

Lost in the headlines of that brutal act in Ilave, Peru, was the rare Aymara protest, the latest sign of the growing activism by the large indigenous populations in the Andean nations of Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia. This political awakening threatens the countries' elected presidents and the traditional ruling elites descended from Spanish colonizers.

''They are new elements participating in our democracy,'' Bolivian Foreign Minister Juan Ignacio Siles told The Herald. ``They are demanding space that they didn't have before. That's causing confrontations.''

It was Aymaras and Quechuas in Bolivia who fueled the popular revolt last year that forced the resignation of pro-U.S. President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada. Aymaras lately have been blocking roads leading to the capital, La Paz, in an attempt to topple his replacement, President Carlos Mesa.

Indigenous groups in Ecuador helped overthrow President Jamil Mahuad in 2000 and elect one of the revolt's leaders, former army Col. Lucio Gutiérrez, as president in 2002.

Now they are demanding that Gutiérrez resign, after he broke with them by pursuing free-market economic policies.

In Peru, indigenous groups have yet to play such an important role, although the murder of Ilave's mayor and the continuing street protests there dropped President Alejandro Toledo to his lowest popularity rating ever, a bare 6 percent.

The factors behind the new political activism differ in each country, but a maturation of democracy, 20 to 25 years after military governments handed over power to elected presidents, has played a crucial role.

In each of the three nations, Indians tend to be overwhelmingly poor, underrepresented in the legislatures and opponents of U.S. and Wall Street-backed free-market policies.

But analysts caution that political conditions differ among the three countries and that no single factor explains the Indians' demand for a greater voice.

Eduardo Gamarra, a professor at Florida International University, also cautions against lumping together all indigenous leaders.

In his native Bolivia, for example, Gamarra notes that the country's two main indigenous leaders, Felipe Quispe and Evo Morales, have distinctly different political bases and approaches to democracy.

Quispe, who initiated last year's street protests with support in the La Paz satellite city of El Alto, wants to form an Aymara nation out of the Aymara communities in Bolivia and Peru.

Morales has his base of support among coca growers and backed the street protests only after they gained force.

Quispe, who recently resigned from Congress, won 6 percent of the vote in the 2002 presidential election, compared to 20 percent for Morales, who finished a close second to Sánchez de Lozada.

''Quispe favors an armed insurrection. . . . He knows he can't win the presidency,'' said Alvaro García, a Bolivian sociologist. ``Evo favors a democratic approach. . . . He decided he could gain power only through elections.''

Morales told The Herald he expects that his party, Movement Toward Socialism, will win municipal elections in December and provide a springboard for his election as president in 2007.

Morales said he would gradually end the market-based economic policies and U.S.-financed war against coca growers that Mesa inherited from Sánchez de Lozada and has continued to pursue. ''Globalization has been economic genocide for Indians,'' he said. ``It has only benefited U.S. imperialism.''

Indigenous groups have steadily gained political power in Bolivia and now hold a record one-third of the seats in Congress. But about 55 percent of Bolivians are considered Indian, and none of the 15 cabinet ministers in Mesa's government is considered Indian.

In Ecuador, it appeared that Indians would play a major role in the Gutiérrez government after the indigenous party Pachakutik helped elect him.

But with Indians accounting for about 25 percent of the population, Gutiérrez awarded Pachakutik only four of the 17 Cabinet posts. Those ministers resigned either shortly before or after the alliance dissolved.

Pachakutik's 10 legislators in the 100-member Congress have maintained influence by working with left-leaning and populist parties on some issues. But many analysts say that electing an Indian president will take time.

''Earning the presidency even in two years will still depend entirely on alliances,'' said Kintto Lucas, author of a book on indigenous politics.'

In Peru, President Toledo is a cholo, slang for person with obvious Indian features and some Spanish blood. But with Indians accounting for 45 percent of the population, no strong indigenous movement has developed there. None of the 16 cabinet ministers is Indian.

And only one of the 120 members of Congress is Indian, Paulina Arpasi. She represents Puno, a poor southern state in the high Andes that includes Ilave and is populated by Quechua and Aymara.

Exactly why Robles was beat to death on April 26, with thousands of people looking on, has yet to be sorted out.

What is clear is that the popular uprising before and after his murder -- and a demonstration earlier in the year against high electricity bills -- reflects a political awakening among Indians.

''We're becoming a less racist country,'' said Ricardo Calla, Bolivia's minister of Indian affairs, in comments that could also apply to Ecuador and Peru. ``But the chunk of the population still lives in extreme poverty. The task of the Indian leaders is: Will they be able to better the lives of the people?''