History Lesson On The Bus

My guide was Victor. He was Aymara. He told me that Bolivia could not be understood without understanding the origins of the country. If I did not listen to him I would always be on the outside. I thought of the protestors outside my hotel window. My incomprehension as to what their protest was about and so  I listened.

Bolivia has three indigenous races, those of the Amazonias in the South, the Guarani. Those living between the Cordilleras Real and the valleys, the Quechua, and those of the Altiplano, the Aymara. The oldest culture is that of the Aymara, they existed from 3000BC until they were subjugated by a Quechuan invasion from Peru in 1200AD. The Quechuan people took all the knowledge the Aymara had in mathematics, astronomy, science and engineering, and built a new culture, the one we all know about, that of the Incas, which endured until the Spanish arrived in 1542, destroying everything. 

The Spanish had no interest in cultural variations between Indian tribes. The Spanish were interested only in gold, silver, precious metals and jewels. Settlements were stripped of all ornament and the surviving Aymara, Quechua and Guarani were enslaved. Their enslavement lasted until 1952. It was only in 1952 the indigenous people of Bolivia were completely free and allowed access to education. It was only in 1972 Universities in Bolivia were opened to indigenous peoples, and only five years ago, entrance in to the police force and the army was allowed to Aymara, Quechua and Guarani.

Evo Morales is the first indigenous president. The only president in the history of Bolivia to implement policies that have led to dramatic changes in the lives of the Aymara, Quechua and Guarani. On the first day of his presidency Evo Morales suggested his own salary be cut by 50%. His embarrassed deputies could not be seen to earn more than the president so they also took a 50% pay cut. With the money saved Evo Morales caused to be built 50 primary schools in the outlying rural areas of Bolivia including the Altiplano.

There is now no effective opposition in Bolivia. There is economic opposition and obstruction from those in Santa Cruz and the East of the country, the mestizos, ( the descendants of the conquistadores who took indigenous wives) but no other probable likely leader to take power from Evo Morales. 

For 400 years the mestizo upper class have had the upper hand. They are not content with the racing reforms of Evo Morales and seek to obstruct reform, while the Aymara and all other indigenous peoples are rhapsodic that reform is occurring, and frequently urge the government to not desist but speed up the reform programme.Victor obviously worshipped Evo Morales, while I noticed a quiet but polite silence when I tried to raise the subject of his government with my mestizo friends.

History explained always unravels the present. I finally understood the reason for the gunshots and the banners on the street outside my hotel room. Moreover I understood the first words I was presented with as I entered the site of the ancient civilisation of Tiwanaku.