Indigenous Peoples Are Under Attack in Bolivia After Evo Morales' Departure

[Judi Lynn]

In this op-ed, a Harvard Medical School student and indigenous activist writes about his deep concern about the violence towards indigenous peoples in Bolivia after president Evo Morales fled the country.

BY VICTOR ANTHONY LOPEZ-CARMEN
DECEMBER 11, 2019

I am a member of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe on my father’s side and am Yaqui on my mother’s. I’ve had a blessed life, but like many Indigenous youth, it was not without hardship. My parents worked hard and fostered a loving family, but we lived paycheck to paycheck. My school and neighborhood struggled with drugs, alcohol, violence, and gang life. Many of my friends ended up in prison or jail.

What kept me strong was intergenerational resilience. It was the stories I heard about my ancestors, and the ceremonies passed down thousands of years. These experiences, among others, inspired me to become a healer and pursue medicine in order to give back to my community.

Now, I am a first-year student at Harvard Medical School and a cochair of the U.N. Global Indigenous Youth Caucus. Through this work, I’ve come to know that our rights are integral to our health, and Indigenous Peoples who work to defend these rights live in persistent danger of rampant resource extraction, politically sanctioned violence, assassination, and criminalization.

That is why I’m so deeply concerned about the recent violence toward Indigenous Peoples in Bolivia.

In October, Evo Morales, an Aymara man and the first Indigenous president of Bolivia, was reelected for a fourth term, sparking accusations of voter fraud and violating constitutional term limits. This led to civil protests and a military-backed ousting of the man better known as Evo. In response to the growing violence, Evo resigned along with his top-ranking cabinet members, and was granted asylum in Mexico.

More:
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/indigenous-people-bolivia-evo-morales