May 24, 2008 violence in Sucre

The May 24, 2008 violence in Sucre, Bolivia, consisted of clashes, hostage-taking, assaults, and public humiliation against primarily indigenous rural leaders and their supporters. The events prevented Bolivian President Evo Morales from making a scheduled visit, during which he was scheduled to preside over the donation of amubulances to rural municipalities of Chuquisaca, the department of which Sucre is the capital.

Prior to the planned visit, the civic movement led by the Inter-Institutional Committee and the Chuquisaca Civic Committee demanded that Morales apologize to the families of three Sucre residents who were killed in November 2007 clashes outside the final meetings of the Bolivian Constituent Assembly. These organizations planned disruptive protests of Morales visit. However, under pressure from the protests, Morales decided on May 24 not to attend the presentation.^[1]

Participants in the civic movement protests then engaged in street clashes with peasants who had come to Sucre to attend the ambulance presentation. During the afternoon, several dozen indigenous peasants were marched by civic movement protesters to Sucre's central square, the Plaza 25 de Mayo. There they were punched, threatened, forced to strip to their underwear and kneel, subjected to racist insults, and publicly humiliated in various ways.^[1]

The incident heightened political and racial tensions in Bolivia, then in the midst of a political conflict between Morales and the CONALDE group of governors. On the second anniversary of the violence, May 24, 2010, the first public draft of Bolivia's Law Against Racism was presented. A large number of officials in the Inter-Institutional Committee and Sucre's municipal government were indicted for conspiring in the violence in April and May 2010.^[2] Former Inter-Institutional Committee president Jaime Barrón, who had recently been elected mayor, was suspended by the City Council and later resigned in the wake of the indictments.^[3]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Informe: Barrón ayudó a grupos de choque y permitió racismo". Cambio. 2010-06-20. http://www.cambio.bo/noticia.php?fecha=2010-06-20&idn=21526. Retrieved 2010-08-05. 
2. ^ The indictment was presented on April 24, but was not formally certified until May. "Savina Cuéllar y 17 dirigentes son acusados". Los Tiempos. 2010-04-25. http://www.lostiempos.com/diario/actualidad/nacional/20100425/savina-cuellar-y-17-dirigentes-son-acusados_67712_124065.html. Retrieved 2011-03-21. 
3. ^ "Sucre: Barrón se va e impulsa elecciones". Los Tiempos. 2010-07-20. http://www.lostiempos.com/diario/actualidad/politica/20100720/sucre-barron-se-va-e-impulsa-elecciones_81269_154120.html. Retrieved 2010-07-21. 

Further reading

• Alex Contreras Baspineiro, "In educated Sucre: 'On your knees, shitty Indians'," 6 June 2010.
• Nick Buxton, "Colonial backlash: Reflections on recent racist violence in Bolivia," 28 May 2008.
• Defensoría del Pueblo (2010-03). Informe Defensorial: 24 de mayo de 2008, Sucre.