After the bang of firecrackers could be heard from all around Cochabamba, I decided to search for the source. I came across a mass of organisations affiliated with the Bolivian government descending on Cochabamba in order to show support for the government and to defend the government’s proposed plan for the road through Tipnis national park. The mass concentrated in the Plaza 14 de Septiembre around noon for a series of presentations by leaders and representatives of the MAS party. Here the speakers not only rallied support for the MAS party but also for the road and for the upcoming elections on Sunday.
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| The concentration of people in Plaza 14 de Septiembre |
As always, this was a media exercise in which to show that the government is still backed by the indigenous people of Bolivia. However, what may not be observed by the international media is that the people that descended on Cochabamba were paid to go and that they were indebted to go through their status of affiliation with the government. These are not free organizations but federations, syndicates and cooperatives of state owned industries or industries with a political alliance to the MAS party. All the transport was paid for by the government and tickets were handed out to the marchers for them to prove that they attended the march with consequences if they could not prove their attendance.
Furthermore, pieces of paper were handed out to the marchers with numbers on that represented who the MAS party want them to vote for in Sunday’s judicial elections.
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| Here the Cooperativas mineras de Mizque (a state owned mining operation) call for "the process of change" |
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| District 8 states that they "support the development and the link road" |
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