Altiplano blockades June 2001
OVERVIEW: On June 27, 2001 a violent confrontation between military forces and indigenous and peasant workers in Bolivia’s Altiplano region resulted in the deaths of two civilians. The fatalities occurred during military led efforts to break up roadblocks established by protestors (Ramirez 2012). These incidents marked an escalation of a multi-month-long clash between the government and indigenous communities in the provinces of Los Andes, Omasuyos, Mano Kápac, Camacho, and Fraz Tamayo in the Aymara region (Aguilar 2014).
The June 2001 Altiplano blockade resulted from rising tension between the government and indigenous communities over issues of self-determination and autonomy. This tension manifested as community opposition to water laws (Law 2029), land surveying and tilting laws (INRA law), and state led coca eradication efforts. The Aymara, the indigenous community who drove these protest efforts, sought de facto autonomy and government recognition of their land rights (Aguilar 2014).
Prior to June, 2001, the Confederación Sindical Unica de Trabajadores Campesinos de Bolivia (CSUTCB), the major peasant and coca grower labor organization in Bolivia, organized similar blockade efforts in September and October of 2000. While the CSUTCB was a major coordinator of protests in the Altiplano, mobilization efforts often occurred independently, with each union, indigenous community, and association leading separate efforts with distinct demands (Aguilar 2014).
While underlying conflict remained in Altiplano following the 2000 blockade, it intensified on June 1, 2001 after an altercation between coca growers in the Yungas and the Fuerzas Tarea Conjunta (FTC), Bolivia’s coca eradication forces. Military forces were quickly forced out of the Yungas. This event and other initial protests were spurred by demands for greater pay, the end of government coca eradication efforts, and promised funds for El Alto. The June 1 incident spurred CSUTCB to hold an emergency meeting with other labor organizations and unions on June 18, 2001 where a decision to launch a new road blockade and agricultural production strike was decreed. CSUTCB cited the military action in the coca cultivation region of the Yungas as in violation of the fifty-point CSUTCB-government agreement reached in October of 2000 (Ramirez 2012). The coordination of conventional and major labor unions and organizations resulted in a coalition known as the Interunion Pact - representing diverse communities and employees with distinct demands on local and national levels (Aguilar 2014).
The June Altiplano blockade ended with an agreement reached between the government and CSUTCB on August 22, 2001.
ACCOUNT: The official CSUTCB-led blockade, known as the “Plan Pulga” (Flea Plan), began on Thursday, June 21, 2001, in the town of Achacachi, the center of indigenous mobilization efforts in the Omasuyos province. Initial blockade efforts quickly spread through northern Altiplano, disrupting transportation. By Friday, June 22, critical roads connecting El Alto to Achacachi and El Alto to Copacabana were blocked (Ramirez 2012). Peasant and indigenous protestors engaged in coordinated, small group attacks during the night, obstructing roads while minimizing direct confrontation with military-police forces (Los Tiempos 2001b).
By Monday, June 25, the government had deployed tanks to urban areas in La Paz. Tuesday, June 26, marked the first day of violence as military forces cleared blockades in El Alto. Julia Tina, a community member in El Alto, recounts suffering a blow to the ribs from the butt of a military officer’s rifle during these operations (Ramirez 2012).
The two civilian deaths occurred on Wednesday, June 27. The first death resulted from military intervention in Qhilla Qhilla in response to protestors obstructing the road (Ramirez 2012). According to Isidro Asquicho, a community member present during the confrontation, about 150 peasants were resting roughly 700 meters from the road in Qhilla Qhilla following efforts to block the road to Laja. At roughly 12:00pm, military units opened fire on the peasants, striking and killing Severo Mamani. While reports vary, it is believed El Regimiento Lanza 5 de Caballería was responsible for Mamani’s death (Los Tiempos 2001a). Minister of Defense Oscar Vargas Lorenzzeti claimed the soldiers had been forced to discharge their weapons after being surrounded by a mob of peasant protestors (Agencia de Noticias Fides - Bolivia, n.d.). One the same day, on the road to Laja in Patamanta, Isabel Quispe, a peasant not participating in the blockade, was shot by state forces. She was transported to the Hospital de Clinicás in La Paz and succumbed to her injuries two days later (Los Tiempos 2001c).
DEATHS: Severo Mamani, a peasant worker, 60 years old, belonging to the Punamaya community. Killed by a bullet from a FAL-7.6 rifle to the chest, perforating his lung. He died instantly on the side of the road in Quella Quella (Ramirez 2012).
Isabel Quispe, a peasant, 35 years old, from Villa Iquiaca in La Paz. Killed by a bullet to the abdomen causing liver, intestine, and spleen damage. She underwent two surgeries in the Hospital de Clinicás and succumbed to her injuries on Friday June 29, at roughly 10:00am (Los Tiempos 2001c).
AFTERMATH: Following the death of Mamani and Quispe, outrage and tension in the Altiplano region reached new heights. The Minister of Government Guillermo Fortún blamed Felipe Quispe, head of the CSUTCB, and his supporters for these deaths, further inflaming anger amongst indigenous and peasant protestors.
Shortly following the death of Mamani, the Vice President of the Bolivian Episcopal Conference, Jesus Juaréz, was beaten by four peasants. This attack was attributed to Felipe Quispe who had reportedly called for the death of peasants to be repaid with death (“Iglesia Pagó Golpes; Asoma El Diálogo” 2001).
The blockade continued with the government deploying more tanks and military personnel to the Aymara region. On Wednesday, July 11, the the conflict culminated in a a 48-hour ultimatum issued by the government, ordering protesters to end the blockade or face immediate military intervention, beginning with the town of Achacachi. Protestors refused to yield, marching to Achacachi and other strategic locations in the Altiplano region, including Qalachaka and La Paz, in preparation for conflict with military forces (Ramirez 2012). Hostility reached levels not realized during the 2000 uprising with “Civil War” serving as a new slogan for protestors (Aguilar 2014). Bolivian media reported 25,000 peasants to have marched to Achacachi while the government claimed 300 participants. CSUTCB claimed there to be over 30,000. The deadline on Friday, July 12, at 2:30pm passed without violence between the two sides.
A 10-day truce between the government and peasant protestors was reached on July 21. Ultimately on August 22, a seventy-point agreement was signed with the government conceding on issues related to social security, human rights, the INRA law, coca production, education, and much more (Ramirez 2012).
Very little was implemented from this agreement by the government, serving as a catalyst for indigenous and peasant mobilization efforts in 2003 during the Gas War (Aguilar 2014).
INVESTIGATION: By the end of 2001, investigations into the deaths of Severo Mamani and Isabel Quispe were still pending (“Bolivia: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor 2001” 2002).