The [Long] Truth

It took me a few minutes after laying down to realize that the gunshot-like sounds I had grown so accustomed to were becoming more frequent. In La Paz, protestors shoot off firecrackers multiple times each day. They are harmless. In this moment I was in Sucre for a big conference I had planned, taking a nap in the hotel because the entire thing had been cancelled. That’s right, everything I had worked on for the past two months was thrown in the garbage and I was now stranded with a bunch of scared Canadians in Sucre, Bolivia (apparently they were not used to the noise I so easily ignored).

It’s been a stressful couple of months as my supervisor and I planned a series of trainings by IJM Canada team members in La Paz as well as in Sucre. Event planning in Bolivia is very different than the states due to their firm belief in formal, personalized invitations. This meant my team and I wrote over 500 letters to law enforcement, judges, lawyers, government authorities, law students, and other post graduate professionals across Bolivia. What was more frustrating about this process was that because Bolivia doesn’t have local postal services, I often spent days running around La Paz going to each invited individual’s place of work to drop off their letter. Here’s how it works: each letter is printed twice and signed (by hand) by our director for formality, then I went to the location and presented both letters and verbally invited the professional before either they or their receptionist stamped and signed both copies of the letter which I then took back to my boss as evidence that I delivered every letter and that it was received. The next day, we called to follow up and ask for a formal RSVP. I never thought I’d miss the ability to send snail mail so much.

Besides being the mailman, my main task became communicating with the Canadian team and translating all of their documents. We had a judge, administrative staff member, prosecutor, and police officer all ready to give presentations on best practices for cases of sexual violence against infants, children, adolescents, and women from their respective positions.

I was excited to finally meet and talk with the Canadian team in person. During our travel from La Paz to Sucre I got to hear about the team’s past work in Bolivia. They expressed their awe at how underdeveloped the justice system here is, sharing stories of watching judges file papers in unorganized piles that would never be sorted through, knowing how easily cases are suspended just because someone (defendant, judge, survivor etc) didn’t want to show up, and the fact that impartiality wasn’t ever taught to the Bolivian professionals. I picked their brains on how they each chose their career paths, got involved in anti-violence efforts, and sought their wisdom as I shared a bit of my story. They all laughed when I pointed out that this internship turned everybody into lawyers because they had gotten to know IJM interns over the years and could confirm that nearly all of them had, in fact, proceeded to law school.

As we drove from the airport in Sucre to the hotel, however, the political situation in Bolivia started to present itself more evidently. If you haven’t kept up with South American politics, here is the shortest run down I can offer: approximately fifteen years ago, Evo Morales became president. Then, right before his second term in office ended, he had Bolivia vote to eliminate term limits so that he could run again. Bolivia voted no, but he took it to the senate and convinced them that it was a human rights violation to be limited to only serving two terms and had the constitution changed. This meant he illegally took a third term in office and Sunday, October 20th 2019 was his chance to run for a fourth term. As the results were coming in, he was shown in the lead with a slim margin over the next candidate with 83% of the votes counted. In Bolivia, you need a 10% margin to win or it goes to a runoff election between the top two candidates. All of a sudden, the official results stopped being reported and when they did reappear 24 hours later, Evo miraculously had the 10% lead necessary and announced himself as president. Besides this, on election day, I got text after text forwarded to me of stories of friends seeing their ballots medled with or being turned away from voting even though they had all of the proper documentation.

Fast forward back to my ride to the hotel with the Canadians, and we hit the blockades that had been taking over the country since election day. These could look like anything from string tied across the street to people sitting in couches in the street to cars parked perpendicularly so that you couldn’t pass. It was the people’s way of disrupting day to day life in a non violent manner to show their frustration. In the evenings, they took them down. Our driver couldn’t get us to the hotel because of the blockades so he helped us carry our bags the remaining 8 blocks as we completed the trek on foot. After we got settled, we headed to the school where we spent hours setting up the event for the next day. We were expecting about 100 attendees on day one and were walking through the day mentally, making sure everything was set up perfectly.

Blockades:

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Right as we were about to leave, satisfied with the work we had done, the vice president of the university came running into the building and explained to my supervisor that he wouldn’t be able to open the doors for us the following day. Unfortunately, it would look very bad and contradictory to the people’s movement if they didn’t comply with the strikes that were continuing and hosting an event about the Bolivian justice system could be seen as a threat to the government. He apologized profusely and added that he didn’t think turn out would be strong considering the blockades and transportation issues.

While technically only Monday’s training had been cancelled, we lost hope that the other locations would want to host us either. My supervisor and I especially tried to remain calm as we watched all of our hard work get brushed to the side.

We were stuck in Sucre until late Tuesday evening and the Canadians couldn’t leave until Wednesday due to many of the roads still being blocked off and flights being delayed or cancelled due to the strikes. During the entirety of our trip, only one evening did we hear the firecrackers the Canadians liked to call “dynamite” and we never saw any marches or protests. Those of us on the IJM Bolivia team had to try not to laugh or roll our eyes at the Canadian’s concern since marches are a daily occurrence for us. They have gotten much larger and more frequent since the elections, and at night you can always find masses chanting and singing in front of lines of police, but the military hasn’t gotten involved and that’s what my coworkers say is the real mark of when to be concerned.

“Don’t worry Nikita, this is normal in Bolivia. Until the military gets involved, you’re fine. It’s not uncommon for us to have to walk to work for weeks because of blockades or protests, but we keep living life.”

-My supervisor

(I go by Nicole due to another Alyssa P in the office (surprisingly not the first time in my life this has happened), and La Paz loves the diminutive so everything gets an -ito or -ita ending, hence “Nikita.” The expats like to call me Nic and the frisbee team either Nicki or Nico)

My coworkers are right. Some of you know how over the course of college I got more interested in social movements in the States but to witness Bolivian social movements has been a completely different experience. That could be its own blog post, and this has already gotten way too long, but here’s what you need to know:

• I am safe
• I will continue to be safe
• There are many different analyses and predictions of what will happen as protests continue in Bolivia and I am exercising extreme caution
• My coworkers, regional IJM staff, and international IJM staff are keeping tabs on the situation
• I got to try Sucre’s famous chocolate (it is amazing)
• I learned a lot from my conversations with the IJM Canada team even though it was disappointing our events were cancelled
• I pet a dog the other day and it was a very good boy
• The main picture at the top of this post with the fire is in front of a university in La Paz that the people have made their base. The sign says “Respect the Democracy.” Apparently, because it is a public university, the police cannot enter so the protestors feel safer there. The fires that are scattered around La Paz are both a part of the blockades and used to keep people warm and have not been used to set anything of value on fire or as a means of violence (I literally watched them light a trash bag as kindling – not the safest, I know).
• IJM is not a political organization or politically affiliated so don’t blame them for this post, it’s all me

Thank you for enduring the incredibly long post! It feels abrupt to end here but the excitement continues and I will update you as I can. Hopefully shorter pieces will come in the future! Until then, enjoy pictures of the IJM interns hanging out with pigeons (yes they are on our heads).

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I am beyond appreciative of all your love and support as I continue this journey. Due to the lack of a post office, still not having internet at my apartment, changing my phone number etc., I know my communication has been lacking. Many of you still have thank you notes coming and I haven’t been able to go through any emails yet. Feel free to reach out through this site, WhatsApp (old phone number), Facebook messenger, or Snapchat if you need me. I’ve so valued the communication from you and appreciate your patience as I continue to be infrequent with my responses. <3