David Chuquehuanca: “The turbines of the old system are turning off” | Bolivia’s vice president warns that “our Pachamama is on the verge of a global catastrophe”

With the certainty that we are facing a critical moment around the world, David Chuquihuanca Calls for the loss of fear and questioning everything. Bolivia’s vice president warns of this “Western capitalist model of development led us to disaster” This is why youth-led renewal is necessary. Chuquihuanca visited Buenos Aires, where he celebrated the New Year in the Andes, the Amazon, and Chicino 5530, Page 12 He calls the peoples to wake up because “Pachamama is about to suffer a global catastrophe”.

Chuquihuanca was born on May 7, 1961 in the Aymara community of Kota Kota Baja, La Paz Province. He has served as Vice President of Bolivia since November 8, 2020. He was previously the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bolivia between 2006 and 2017, during the three governments of Evo Morales. In those years he proposed turning the Legislative Assembly clockwise as a gesture of decolonization because “If we do not want to violate the laws of nature, our clock must turn south.”.

– Are you satisfied with Former de-facto president Jeanine Anez was sentenced to ten years in prison?

– It is not about satisfaction with the sentence, but about achieving justice. Look, our democracy was cut short after 40 years and in 2019 we witnessed a year of horror, disappointment, oppression and human rights abuse. There was a massacre. Everyone knows this. In our campaign we promised justice. This is the one thing we seek, and which establish justice is not the executive or the legislature. Justice is an independent authority, they are the ones who must take responsibility for the people and with the victims.

A month ago, you said that the Bolivian people are tired of leaders who remain in power forever. What exactly was he referring to?

The world must renew itself. There is global chaos. There is uncertainty, chaos. We need changes, a revolution of ideas. And who should be the heroes? Young people, it is they who have to awaken their creativity and not wait for the old to tell them what to do. These young people must have the ability to read their own reality, and what we have to do is provide tools so that these young people can awaken their rebellion. There is a shortage of leaders in the world and we revolutionaries want changes. We are seeds. We have to plant. If the potatoes are not planted and not regenerated, the potatoes disappear.

– He met during the weekend with President Luis Ars and former President Evo Morales, at a time when the media in his country talk a lot about internal differences.

– It’s good to have differences. If you don’t go against science, you’re not evolving! We are in the function of government, and the political organization that does the job of government is MAS-IPSP, and its head is Evo Morales. Our Acting President is Brother Louis Ars, and I am with him as Vice President. We are government organizations. In these encounters we meet, it will not be the first and it will not be the last. We are representatives, we can do a lot for our people and all issues must be discussed.

– Recently, during your visit to Spain, you asserted that democracy from a Western perspective “destroyed itself”. Should we go to a higher instance?

– You don’t have to be afraid of anything. A culture of fear and hate comes with colonialism. We have our own organizational form where no one is accepted for submission. In a democracy, minorities are subject to the majority. There is a word to conquer, and to subjugate one’s neighbor does not mean to live well, as to steal does not mean to live well, and to lie does not mean to live well. And what we seek is to live well, we seek harmony. Our battle is against oppression, not only between humans, but also with Mother Earth. We have to question words like democracy, and we don’t have to repeat ourselves as if we were parrots. Why can’t we explain ourselves from where we are? It’s time to question everything. Until development we allow ourselves to impose.

– How can this form of development be changed?

It is better if we make our decisions unanimously. Unanimity is not what I want, unanimity is not what a sister wants, unanimity is not what the neighbor wants, unanimity is not what the person below wants. Consensus is what we all want. It’s knowing how to find the center, axis, and Taipei. It is knowing how to find the pivot that puts a community, community or organization in motion. We need to move. There should be a process of self-examination. There must be a revolution of ideas. The turbines of the old system are shutting down, this capitalist western model of development has led to disaster.

– Regarding what he proposes, during his tenure as chancellor he has suggested changing the clockwise direction located in the Capitol. What is the basis for making this decision?

The planet is divided into south and north by the equator. We are in the south. In the south the shadow goes to this side, and in the north it goes to the other side. Sailors know this: when they cross the equator, they change direction. And since we are in the south and do not want to violate the laws of nature, our clock must run towards the south. Many things brought us from the North. At Christmas we put our little trees with snow, as if we were in the North. Even Santa Claus brought us. But children in Bolivia say that since Santa Claus is not ours, they don’t let him in the house, that’s why he wants to jump out the chimney! (laughs) We have ikiku, which is the energy of abundance and good living. We have our own economic classes, but they are not taught in universities. Europe did not bring us civilization, it brought us barbarism. That is why in Bolivia we are talking about the process of decolonization. We have to go back again, because we are not anymore. We are from the south!

– What feelings did you generate? Gustavo Petro’s victory in Colombia And what could that mean for the region?

– We were all happy. Some of us celebrated more than Colombians did. Hopefully things will change in Colombia. And Pietro has permission to vote so that all the evils that the Colombian people have suffered can be overcome. But this result is also a strength for our region. We want our sovereignty to be respected. We want to decide ourselves and not the forces outside the continents. We need to build integration. If we go alone to other multilateral places, we will not be able to express our thoughts. But if we go together and sit on an equal footing, for example with the European Union, they will not only listen to us, but also respect us.

What balance do you achieve from the past? top of the americas? Bolivia was one of the countries that refused to attend in solidarity with it Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

– The Summit of the Americas is in crisis like the Organization of American States. Ask our young people, they are no longer interested. The truth is that we don’t all have to think the same way. When two people think alike, they say one does not think. No country has the capacity to tackle global problems on its own, no matter how developed it is. We need each other. We need to discuss how we can prevent wealth from being concentrated in the hands of a few. Make them realize that Pachamama is about to suffer a global catastrophe. And if there is this global catastrophe, we all leave, poor and rich too.