The repression of the march of the retired - Bolivia, January 2003
Emma Bolshia Bravo (Bolivie) and Dr. André Gautier (Suisse)
On
the night of Tuesday 14th until Wednesday 15th of January at 2:30 am in
the morning a brutal operation of both military and police was accomplished
against the retired people that were marching towards La Paz and stayed
overnight in the village of Calamarca. Lacrimogenic gas was used, as well
as punches, kicks and clubs.
The women were bound to the braids of the horses, thus were carried away
and pushed around without any respect whatsoever. They were forced into
a bus which was to take them to Oruro in order to prevent them arriving
together with their vindications in La Paz.
However, on Friday 17th of January, 15 000 retired people arrive in La
Paz supported by the people living there, who were moved by the courage
and endurance of these already elderly people, men as well as women.
The team of ITEI (Institution of Therapy and Investigation of the consequences
of torture and state violence) in La Paz, Bolivia began a series of interviews
with the retired people and their families who marched towards La Paz,
investigating the reason for their marching and the repression they had
experienced. 50 people in total gave their testimony. The work that we
will present to you is the result of interdisciplinary, historical, social
politic and psychosocial work that is part of a vast project of recuperating
the collective memory:
1. At a historical level, analysis of development and the problem of social security in Bolivia in an international context
2. At a social and political level, the significance of state violence of a neo-liberal government that has impositions with the IMF and the World Bank.
3. At a psychosocial level, qualitative elaboration of the testimonies from the people who suffered repression and the authorities responsible.
The comments which accompany the collected testimonies are the result of the use and preservation of the floating attention that comes with listening to the testimonies and the use of the clinical experience in a psychosocial context.
We
would like to present several parts of the Spanish publication of our
book published in February 2004, as well as a DVD about the mentioned
events (both will take up a complete session)
