If you’ve been my friend on facebook more than a couple of
days, you’ve probably seen me mention blockades pretty frequently. They are so different than anything you would
find in the States, and are now such a big part of my life, that I figure it is
time to explain.
Blockades are set up by the people, not government or
police. Sometimes the government
officials of small villages will recommend them or come out in favor of them,
but blockading is a constitutional right of the people. Occasionally the police will break up a
blockade set by only a few people, but most of the time they are just around to
help turn traffic away…or aren’t around at all.
Blockades completely block traffic. In the States, if you wanted to drive from one
city to another, there are approximately a thousand different routes that you
can take. Not true in Bolivia. There is one way. That is all.
So blocking a road means that not a single solitary vehicle can get from
city A to city B. We are absolutely
trapped where we are. If it is a small
blockade, you can take public transportation up to the blockade, walk through
the area that they are blocking (a couple of kilometers), and take a different
form of public transportation on the other side. Once a blockade opens up, you still don’t
want to go out too soon, because all the big trucks that bring food and items
from state to state have had no option other than to park on the side of the
road and wait for it to open again. The
traffic jam is horrendous!
Blockades are generally peaceful. Rocks, piles of dirt, old tires, and/or tree
limbs prevent cars from getting down the road, and then there are just the
people insisting that others go no farther and occasionally holding banners
(these help me as I have no idea why they blockade if there are no banners present).
Occasionally blockades do become violent. Tires of vehicles trying to pass are slashed. Rocks are thrown to break the windows of
vehicles trying to pass. Rocks are
thrown at people on the other side of the issue. Fist fights break out. Just last week in the blockade, rock throwing
sent 20-25 people to the hospital with injuries.
Blockades are an attempt to get the attention of the
government. It isn’t like the USA in
that we have representatives who discuss possible changes in laws that we can call
or write or email and communicate the direction we wish them to take on our
behalf. Here, you just walk through the
plaza like any other day to catch your bus and come across some guy selling
little booklets about the new law that recently passed raising your taxes, or
cutting your benefits, or requiring you to work longer, or taking away school
breakfasts. By the time you hear about
it, it is already a law. So we take to
the streets in protest, because it isn’t a law that the people wanted, until
the government hears us and revokes the law or adds to it to fix it according
to the will of the people. Bolivian
government isn’t here to serve the people.
Bolivians are constantly fighting against their government at every turn.
Sometimes people are forced to blockade. For example, tomorrow a local school wants to
blockade, because two months into the school year they are still not receiving
the school breakfasts that the government is supposed to provide. So all students and parents are required to
be present to make the blockade or they will be fined 100bs (which is a LOT for
a Bolivian).
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