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“We have another path, more viable, more honest, more Aymara: Tupaj Katari and Zarate Willka’s path” Interview to Felipe Quispe Huanca carried out at the location of the Bolivian Peasant Workers Union Confederation (CSUTCB), in Miraflores, La Paz, Bolivia, on July 13, 2005.
-Felipe Quispe Huanca
By: Ivan Ignacio Translated by German Alvarez Felipe Quispe Huanca, the Mallku, legendary leader of the Aymara people, and without any doubt the most decided and incorruptible man in the last times. In the year 2000, a carpet of stones that extended all along the Aymara high plateaus until La Paz city elevated him to the glory of power and the fervour of his oppressed people, writing history as the unbreakable leader of an era of change in favour of the first nations. Today, the halo and fame of the fearsome Mallku has nursed several indigenous leaders who now pretend to challenge his supremacy. The newspapers, in the hands of the powerful lords of this country, have put him in the freezer, and if he made mistakes, he is paying for them in solitude. However, the Pachakuti Indigenous Movement (MIP), political instrument that he founded is still effective and with it, he is getting ready to start another of his battles for he has not surrendered, and still holds the charisma and command voice of the indisputable leader. Under these circumstances, we arranged the interview and he didn’t make us wait. The Mallku is a sturdy and strong sixty-year-old indigenous man, who turns 61 on August 22nd. He has a very wide forehead, snub nose, and intelligence that he cultures daily from 5 o’clock in the morning. This denotes that he can provide much more than what you can imagine. He emits an air of respect and fear amongst those around him due to his unpredictable character. His addresses are followed with great expectation because they are filled with live images, not exempted of his particular sense of humour. The course of his political future is still to be decided. It is a fame that accepts no assessors and among his activities he added the foundation of a soccer team called “Pachakuti”. He watches over it like a father and he feels proud of it for in this year it has harvested the first places. ====================== Ivan Ignacio (II). – Brother Felipe Quispe, today July 13 we would like to know your opinion about the current situation. In general, how are the first nations currently living in this territory of Qullasuyu and particularly the brothers of the Aymara nation? Felipe Quispe Huanca (FQH). – Thanks brother. We are still living with this philosophical thought of being an indigenous nation, as we had before. In other words, we want to reinstate the Tawantinsuyu. Thus our programmatic principal for all the indigenous nations is reborn, because this is a long-term project. It is a project that we have outlined since the year 2000. It is true that we have paid with many lives and lot of blood in the demonstrations because the white men, or as we call them, Q’aras, have annihilated us gradually. That is why now the traditional political parties, those that work as political pawns for the transnationals, are getting ready for a general election to be held in the month of December. For sure they will instate one of them as president of that Republic called Bolivia. We cannot stay behind; we cannot be passive spectators looking from the balconies or from the mountains how our executioners get in. We also want to be authors and actors in these coming elections. This way, the Pachakuti Indigenous Movement (MIP) has registered a Legal Entity number, it’s outlining its guidelines, and it’s managing the same parameters of those who manage this country. That is to say, we are legally registered. In this way, we are going to show up with our own candidates, call them delegates or senators, and a candidate for President |
“ … they want to mend that outdated system, that oppresses the indigenous nation. We have another option, a more viable path, more Aymara, more honest, that’s Tupak Katari and Zarate Willka’s path. Then we are going to regain our honour, our land, what corresponds to us . . .”