Day of the Bolivian
"Ex-President"
By Greg
Altman
Monday May 6th, the day that ¨Día de Trabajo¨ was
observed in Bolivia. Arriving in Santa Cruz on Sunday morning after a
21-hour rodeo train ride from the Brazilian border, this ´feria´ meant a
second day where everything was shut. Trying not to let this get in
the way of the errands I had to deal with before traveling onward, I was
returning from a quest to find out where and when the small ¨micro¨ buses
departed for Samaipata, when I noticed the World War II era fighter planes
circling around the center of the city. The confluence of sound from
the 4 old prop planes captivated me as I watched them swing around and
around. Kinda cool, but a rather strange way to celebrate a Labor Day
I figured.
As I got to my residence near the city´s center plaza,
a continual stream of people was heading away from the square. They seamed
in a hurry, so I grabbed my cameras from my room and joined the flow.
Something was surely going on, but whomever I asked just pointed ahead and
kept going. I skirted along the road, which I soon realized was going
parallel to a procession of some sort one block over. When the crowds
looked manageable I walked up to the street with all the action, to see a
trio of police chopper motorcycles leading another trio of drummers,
followed by a brass band of men in uniform. Behind them was a legion of
perhaps a hundred or more soldiers in regal (reminiscent of the British red
coats) outfits and rifles fitted with bayonets. Things appeared even
stranger when I saw that the Humvee jeep following them (adorned with
red-green-yellow (Bolivian flag colors) streamers and bulls-eyes) was towing
a cart with a coffin.
The puzzlement that this all created was just the sort
of thing that I quite enjoyed in new places, but what to make of it? The
most I could get out of anyone was that it was all for the ¨Ex-President¨.
So, every year on this day they honor a special Ex-President? The same one
always, or does it rotate? Was this the sort of thing that people were
forced to show up to? I was immediately suspicious of any sort of military
tinged holidays.
Well, the only way to find out was to see where the
procession was going. I followed along for another ten blocks before it
wound around a traffic circle, continued another hundred meters, and hung a
right through the large gates of a cemetery. I followed a bunch of people
through a side entrance, and weaved my may through the 4-meter tall rows of
burial buildings (think of the cemeteries in the Garden District of New
Orleans, only bigger). People had climbed up on top of these structures to
get a better view of the procession. I eventually got close to where things
seemed to stop, and asked someone next to me why they did this sort of
remembrance every year. He looked puzzled, and told me that the guy had just
died. I made the same face back at him, and said ¨but this is a
annual holiday, right¨?
Then he laughed, and let me in on what was going on.
General Hugo Banzer Suarez had just died the day before, and by coincidence
was being buried on the same day as ¨ Día de Trabajo¨. This explained all
the military fanfare. The General had been elected president in 1997, and
had leaded the country until August 2001, when he stepped down due to
pulmonary cancer. After 10 months of treatment in a military hospital in the
U.S., he returned home to Santa Cruz to end his life just short of his 76th
birthday. I was told he had done a lot of good for the country, especially
with education and the health system, and was well liked by the people. He
was the leader of the Accion Democratica National political party, and had
started a concerted program against the cultivation of coca and the drug
trade. He apparently had fought a bit too hard on this front, as his
policies had sparked many violent confrontations with coca growers and drug
henchmen. The Vice-President Jorge Quiroga took over, and next month there
are going to be elections to replace him on August 6th, when his yearlong
supplemental term would end.
Well, you learn something new every day, they say. It will be interesting to
see how the U.S. government views the successor, especially given the
current situations in Columbia and Venezuela. I ended up having dinner with
my gracious informant and his wife, and will hopefully be kept updated on
how the people of Bolivia view the upcoming election.
# # #
When Greg
Altman is not in New York or Eastern Long Island, you’ll likely find
him roaming any corner of the world. A self proclaimed Jack-of-all-trades on
the cusp of thirtydom, his experience runs from writing to consulting,
photography, tortilla manufacturing, and organic farming. Currently on
assignment in Brazil, he has been soaking in the sights, sounds, and smells
of Bahia. The quest to
experience and capture magic through the ear or camera lens will continue to
inspire his feet and pen as long as world cultures remain alive.
Email: gregaltman@yahoo.com (Greg Altman) |
