January 30, 2006

Thousands of years ago Jesus’ mother cried out in celebration that God “removed the powerful from their thrones and exalted the humble. He has poured blessings upon the poor...” (Luke 1:52-53)

Dear Friends and loved Ones,

We send our blessings for the New Year, in the name of the Holy One!

It is truly a privilege to be in Bolivia today, the day of the inauguration of the country’s new president, Evo Morales. We were inspired by his inauguration speech and transfixed by his religious investiture yesterday as maximum spiritual leader of the original peoples of Andes. This was held at the ancient Tiwanaku ruins and endorsed by the traditional spiritual leaders. The last time such an event occurred there was over 1,000 years ago, when the Tiwanaku culture was at its height.

The emergence of this young indigenous leader as the new president of Bolivia has filled us and Bolivians with hope for a new day of justice and prosperity for all the people of Bolivia. This event is of the same magnitude and spirit as the victory of Nelson Mandela and the majority peoples in South Africa.

An important plank of the platform of Evo Morales’ campaign for presidency was his promise to nationalize some of the key extractive industries of Bolivia, especially oil and natural gas. Today in his inauguration speech he invited friends of Bolivia to help the country move beyond the simple extraction and sale of its raw materials to the creation of new industry, new jobs for Bolivians, and the generation of wealth to provide for basic needs and infrastructure for the whole country.

Some of the international news media have demonized Evo as a drug dealer, which is false. What he has done has been to defend the livelihood of subsistence farmers who raise coca, the plant from which cocaine is manufactured. Due to Evo’s political efforts, families in the Chapare region are now legally allowed to raise a certain amount of coca. As president, he pledges to step up the war on drug production and trafficking, while at the same time promote further decriminalization of the production of coca, a plant with many valuable medicinal properties that has been used for millennia by a large portion of the population of Andean countries as we use coffee: as a mild stimulant for daily consumption either in tea form or by chewing the dried leaves.

Recent highlights

The visit of sisters and brothers from San Francisco, Newark, St. Louis, and Louisville was educational for all of us and brought encouragement to our Bolivian partners. We traveled around the country visiting the various partner institutions which comprise the UMAVIDA network, including Oruro, Santa Cruz, Potosi, El Alto, and La Paz. We visited mining sites, youth centers, indigenous communities, churches, environmental organizations, and tourist sites.

A workshop presented by UMAVIDA on the Constitutional Assembly was held in Cochabamba last month, and over 200 people attended. Participants were enthusiastic in their praise for the workshop. Jubenal Quispe, local professor and author and adviser to UMVIDA, coordinated the event.

The idea of holding a Constitutional Assembly was born of the dreams and clamor of many grassroots groups to revise the constitution to assure more participation in the government by all sectors of society and to protect natural resources, among other things. The original constitution was drawn up when the Republic was founded on August 6, 1825, at which time the original people of Bolivia were totally excluded from all participation. Even as recently as 50 years ago, indigenous people were not allowed to enter Plaza Murillo, the public square where Parliament, the presidential palace, and the national cathedral are located.

On Sunday in La Paz, with a record-breaking eleven heads of state from around the world, Evo’s inauguration was celebrated in historic San Francisco square, a square built by indigenous slave labor and from which indigenous people were prohibited from entering for hundreds of years.

Over the last couple of years, the clamor has grown to call a one-year session for chosen representatives of the people to study and select new components for a better constitution. One of Morales’ campaign promises, which he has already kept, was to call this Constitutional Assembly in 2006. He has set a date for the election of the representatives, and all sectors of society will be engaged in debating and creating proposals for components of the Constitution. The target date for convening the representatives is August 6, a symbolic date for Bolivians.

UMAVIDA will be leading workshops over the next few months to educate interested folks and elicit their opinions about how the new government should be.

News

This week San Francisco-based Bechtel Corporation withdrew its outrageous lawsuit against Cochabamba for 50 million dollars. Jim Schultz, who blew the whistle on Bechtel writes, “This morning here in Bolivia, the Bechtel Corporation will sign an agreement dropping its $50 million legal case against the people of Cochabamba—for kicking Bechtel out in the 2000 water revolt. Instead of the fortune it demanded, Bechtel will fly home with a token settlement of two shiny Bolivian coins worth a total of thirty cents. One of the biggest, most powerful corporations on Earth has been defeated by an army of concerned citizens all over the world, including many of you.” On behalf of those who died and those who were injured to defend this precious common good, we thank you. With your emails and direct action, you did it! Congratulations!

Bechtel’s surrender is a historic first. In our next update we will send you details. You may wish to check out Jim’s Democracy Center Web page at for continuously updated information.

UMAVIDA has created a Web page. Take a look and practice your Spanish! We hope to have an English version up soon.

Several of us are working on a video about the challenges facing Bolivia today, and about the visit from sisters and brothers from the north (see above). Coming soon to a church near you!

In November, we hosted in our home a youth retreat for about 20 young people of the Independent Presbyterian Church of Bolivia. It was quite exciting, with lots of time for group games-with-a-purpose, sports, crafts, and some discussion on the topic of “leadership.” Having the kids stay overnight in our house, and eating hotdogs and marshmallows around a campfire, was really fun for them. Probably very few got much sleep, but then again, that wasn’t the point!

An article by Jubenal Quispe entitled “Never Again Without Us!”(“Nunca Mas Sin Nosotros”) was published last week in the San Francisco Bay Guardian newspaper. Recently UMAVIDA published four pamphlets by Jubenal as part of its educational work. The pamphlet about the Constitutional Assembly was published in Spanish and English. It is an excellent explanation of what we tried to explain briefly in the opening paragraphs of this letter. If you would like a copy, let us know, and we can arrange to have one sent to you.

The fifth General Assembly of UMAVIDA will be held here in La Paz on February 21-22. Our good friend Lionel Dererencourt from the Presbyterian Hunger Program will be here for that.

The General Assembly will decide how UMAVIDA, with its national and international network, can support the important initiatives of the Morales government as it struggles to overcome 500 years of discrimination, exploitation, and abuse.

We ask your prayers as our colleagues, partners, and friends of the UMAVIDA network prepare for this important event.

The Coordinator of UMAVIDA, the Rev. Luis Perez, has been working diligently on all the legal steps required for the organization to become incorporated under the Bolivian government, and we are almost there—but not quite! Once this is complete, UMAVIDA will grow, as several institutions are waiting to join.

We went to the States for Christmas to spend time with family. It was a welcome interlude. We came back to the investiture and inauguration events and the wonderful celebrations of the first presidential victory for the majority of this country’s peoples. We ask you to pray that the forces working to discredit this democratic achievement understand that democracy is in their best interest and it should be seen as a victory for all.

In mid-February, several members of UMAVIDA and Bolivia’s Presbyterian, Methodist, and Lutheran churches will be attending the ninth General Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Bob will also go while Julie stays in La Paz to tend the home fires. Representing UMAVIDA will be Ely Lopez, who will participate in a workshop on land and water issues, along with other women from Brazil.

Other important topics the Bolivian delegation will be moderating include the areas of common spiritual ground between Christianity and the indigenous cosmologies, ecumenism in a fragmented Latin America, indigenous rights, Christianity and environmentalism, and Christianity and globalization.

Our sisters and brothers in San Francisco passed a resolution in the Presbytery of San Francisco in support of a day of prayer and solidarity with Bolivia, which was held on November 15, 2005. The purpose of this event was to create awareness to the new U.S. military base in Paraguay near the border with Bolivia, which many believe could be used to invade Bolivia under the pretext of “protecting” Bolivia’s oil fields currently being exploited by transnational corporations!

We attended the founding meeting and several follow-up gatherings of the Bolivian Solidarity Network in Cochabamba. This is a network of non-Bolivians working in Bolivia to see how we might be more effective in our efforts to support Bolivian partners. About 40 people from different countries have attended these gatherings, which are hosted by the Democracy Center. It has been fascinating to hear what everyone is doing, to learn of the wonderful work being done by different Bolivian organizations, and to share with like-minded persons of conscience.

Out of brainstorming sessions we have come up with ways to help Bolivian voices be heard around the world and to help Bolivians hear relevant news from around the world, including what is being said about Bolivia.

This is a wonderful new experience for us, and we look forward to collaborating with this new network. Our UMAVIDA colleagues have been intrigued and inspired to hear of this initiative and now have representatives who will attend future meetings. We can already see how this can strengthen and extend UMAVIDA’s connections to many around the country.

Please keep President Evo Morales and his new Cabinet in your prayers, that he may be guided by wisdom in his new role. Several cabinet members are women and men with whom UMAVIDA has worked over the years.

With enthusiasm,

Bob and Julie

The 2006 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 46