Bolivia — the struggle continues: an interview with Domitila Barrios de Chungara

Abstract

Another coup in a country which has known nearly 200 in 155 years of independence might mean nothing. But the coup of 17 July 1980 is probably the most significant in Bolivia's history - as the present regime seeks finally to end the country's fragile democratic structures and place it firmly alongside the regimes of Chile and Argentina. Military rule is being institutionalised on the Chilean model and a new constitution for Bolivia, written by the present junta, is in the offing. Resistance to military rule has a long tradition in Bolivia. In 1953- despite attempts by the military to prevent it - the progressive Movi miento Nacionalista Revolucionario (MNR) was brought to power by a mass mobilisation of peasants and workers. But the MNR moved first towards reformism and then conservatism, paving the way for General Barrientos to be elected vice-president in 1964 and then to take power as leader of a military junta. Military control of the country continued. In 1971, General Hugo Banzer seized power and began one of the longest and most repressive military regimes in the country's history. But in 1978, he was forced to call elections, due to popular resistance and opposition through a hunger strike within the country, and to US pressure and international condemnation of his repressive measures. However, in the last three years, three civilian governments have been elected and each time the military has seized power almost immedia tely. Domitila Barrios de Chungara, leader of the Housewives Committee in the mining centre of Siglo XX and author of Let Me Speak, was at tending the UN Women's Conference in Copenhagen at the time of the latest coup. She immediately began to mobilise international support against the present regime and was consequently branded a traitor and threatened with execution if she returned to her country. Jane McIntosh: Can you tell us something about the current crisis in Bolivia?