The intention of this body of work is to document the relation of the Bolivian State structures with the urban Aymara community of the city of El Alto. I wanted to bear witness of
this violent interaction, and see how this community has been able to negotiate it.
OCTOBER
This is the view from the Rio Seq’ bridge, where the riots of October 2003 all started. An indefinite strike was declared on October the 8th leading to the blockade of all roads connecting to the capital city La Paz. Almost 70 people died in the riots that followed between the army and the people of El Alto. These are the
testimonies of the surviving witnesses.
During the summer of 2006 I explored the places in which these confrontations took place in the Villa Ingenio, Rio Seco, Senkata, Santiago, and Rosas Pampa neighbourhoods, and documented these landscapes, battlegrounds.
No one has been brought to justice for that massacre. The Bolivian government has been unable to officially notify Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, Carlos Sanchez Berzain and Jorge Berindoague of their responsibility to return to Bolivia from the U.S. and participate in the trial. There is an ongoing popular and institutional
campaign to bring them to justice.
IDENTITY
There are an estimated 850,000 people living in El Alto. In the last census 81% of its population identified themselves as indigenous Aymara. It is because of this that El Alto can possibly be considered the largest indigenous urban setting of the American continent. Many of them are now able to sort out their paperwork and personal documents as ID cards, birth certificates, or a registration to vote as they now live closer to some State services.
However, it should be noted that there are almost one million Bolivians
unable to prove their identity, not even with a birth certificate. Bolivia is in fact a country in which that sort of document is a commodity, something that only individuals with easy access to issuing facilities can afford to have.
It is a vernacular photographic practice to this country that, when applying for an ID card, a number is issued and must be produced
before the camera as the picture is being taken by a police officer.
VIGILANTES
Statistically El Alto is one of the most dangerous cities of Bolivia. Policing structures and personnel are scarce in some neighbourhoods or are thought to be very ineffective by the population. In many cases neighbourhood watch teams are spontaneously organized by the people concerned with the safety of their own household or commercial premises.
Whenever there is a team of vigilantes put in place, a human-size dummy is hanged from a street pole as a warning to thieves and gangs. The October 2003 riots had roots in the initial protest of the CSUTCB (National Peasant Federation) demanding the release of Edwin Huampo. This community leader was imprisoned for having participated in the communal decision to judge two thieves.
HUNGER STRIKE
RC was a prospective student of the University of El Alto UPEA on a hunger Strike in the FEJUVE headquarters. She, along with other applicants for the entry course of a teacher training certificate, challenged the Dean's decision not to allow them to re-sit an exam paper.
This is a common method of non-violent resistance in El Alto. In the uprising of October 2003, the hunger strike taking place in the San Gabriel radio station in support of Edwin Huampo was instrumental in consolidating broader support for the general strike and the blockades.
RC was a prospective student of the University of El Alto UPEA on a hunger Strike in the FEJUVE headquarters. She, along with other applicants for the entry course of a teacher training certificate, challenged the Dean's decision not to allow them to re-sit an exam paper.
