Bolivia's racism

Bolivia's new anti racism law is now in force and to back up its message the government put together a spot to explain what it does (and what it doesn't do). Contrary to the northern handwringing that went on about the issue, it doesn't reduce freedom of expression or human rights or anything of the sort. What it does is stop hate-filled insulting racism from filling the airwaves in Bolivia.

Here's the advert in question so you can judge for yourself. It's in Spanish (natch) but below I've translated the examples used in the spot of the typical type of tripe spewed (and these aren't some sort of exception, either...this stuff is heard all the time).

It's a little tough to accurately translate such filth, but the sentiment is accurate in each translation:.

Arturo Mendivil: "...against these Goddam Colla* sons of bitches.."

*'Colla' is an insulting slang word used by Bolivian whites against indigenous nationals

Jorge Melgar: "...I hate that Goddam race.."

Carlos Valverde: "Officially, I wipe my balls on this law."

Arturo Mendivil: "The Colla badly born and tied to stone llamas" (believe me, there's a lot of cultural baggage in that one and it's really sickeningly racist)

But then it gets better. The abovementioned moron Jorge Melgar is now trying to penalize the government of Bolivia as racist! He wants to take them to court for using his words in their advert and says that he's the one being discriminated against....I shit thee not, dear reader. Here's the Red Erbol report:

La Paz, 14 Dec (Erbol): Professor Jorge Melgar Quette, who used to state that "we have to kill that Indian shit" in reference to President Evo Morales, announced that he will file suit against the government for racism and discrimination for using his image in a video for a TV announcement regarding the new "Law against racism and all forms of discrimination." Continues here

So, wanting to kill a president because he's a brown skinned person is an example of free speech, but using the words against you when pointing at incitement and the use of bigoted language is a criminal act. These are the people that ran Bolivia before Evo arrived in town. These are the people that The US backed via its ambassador Goldberg in the 2008 attempt on Evo's government. And you wonder why the US isn't popular round Bolivia way any longer....

Peru's racism

This is "el Negro Mama", a character from Peru's most
popular primetime comedy show

And this is Jorge Benavides, the man who
created and plays El Negro Mama.

Dan Collyns' of the Beeb writes a good and extensive note on the deep-seated racism in Peru. It's tempting to paste the whole report up because it's quality stuff, but we're going to respect origins, just put up one small extract and encourage you to click through and read it all in situ:

Racial stereotypes are reinforced on a daily basis in the media. Tabloid newspapers use crude sexual innuendo to describe a black congresswoman in a way they would not dare refer to a white member of parliament.

They compare a black footballer to a gorilla when he loses his temper on the pitch.

And on prime-time Saturday night television, the country's most popular comedy programme abounds with racial stereotypes with which the audience are so familiar they scarcely question what they are watching.

Go here to read more.

Racism and sexism in Latin America? Shocked ah wuz...SHOCKED ah tellz ya

The Inter American Development Bank (IADB) has just released a study on salary gaps between the sexes and between different ethic groupings in LatAm and you can read the English language synopsis here (or the Spanish language one here, if you prefer). The conclusion is yet another dose of 'No shit Sherlock'. Yup, whiteys make more money than those brown coloured people and men make more than women. But the best part of the survey (though admittedly I haven't studied their methodology) is that the samples are adjusted for education levels, too. This means you're really looking at like-for-like people and there's no escaping the racism and sexism that's part of LatAm society's fabric.

Here's the IADB chart for the salary difference between the sexes.

Here's the IADB chart for the racial differences.

No difference on this chart should be allowed, really, but I'd put my personal tolerance limit at 10%. This means that there are far too many states lined up on the wall of shame over these issues. But the funniest one is that of Brazil, so proud of the fact that there is no racism or sexism in its society. This study calls bullshit on that canard once and for all. The only part of "no racism" that is true is "no talk about racism, please". The only sexism stems from "she complains and we'll fire her".

Finally, you'll also note that Bolivian women earn more than Bolivian men. If you've ever been to the country you'll know why; those Bolivian women are a real hard-working bunch of people that just get their just desserts.

Pleeease John Enders..PLEEEASE

Will you please

Abiding in Bolivia has the lowdown on Freshman-Discovers-Bolivia-Parte-Dos and why this idiot disguised as a journalist is such a vast embarrassment......so I had to join him in the final photocredit.

Institutionalized Racism in Peru: The Case of Hilaria Supa

Any of you out there speak a 2nd language? I do, and as a matter of fact even if I say so myself my autodidact Spanish, after all these years, isn't bad at all. However I'm the first to recognize that when it comes down to writing in Spanish I still make a whole heap of grammatical errors. This is pretty normal stuff, I'd guess, for the majority of second-language speakers that haven't rigorously studied the language in question.

However, it doesn't make me the object of ridicule. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the case of national congresswoman, indigenous rights defender and all round impressive person Hilaria Supa. This week Supa has been subjected to a humiliating and disgusting racist attack by a Peruvian national daily newspaper. Here's the offending front page of El Correo (truly offending)....


....that throws sarcastic remarks at Supa because after the El Correo photographer took a candid shot of the notes she was making in parliament the newspaper took gleeful delight in pointing out all her spelling and grammatical errors as written. Among the barbs in the cowardly and un-bylined report, Correo told her to go take spelling lessons, said she wasn't fit to be a congresswoman and compared her unfavourably to an eight year old girl.

So let's make this perfectly clear from now on: El Correo is a right wing rag that has a long history of racist attacks, but this one is worse than most. And be 100% crystal clear that this front page would never have happened if this congresswoman representing Cusco wasn't indigenous, whatever El Correo and its readership might say otherwise. No matter that Spanish is Supa's second language, in the screwed up racist world of the white criollo Peru establishment the woman is dumb if she can't write clean Spanish script (she speaks Spanish perfectly, by the way). Also, check out the extract from her wikipedia page to get an idea of the quality of this person. This is just the English language page I'm pasting here, the Spanish one being far more detailed:

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Hilaria Supa Huamán (born in the community of Wayllaqocha, Anta, Cusco region, in 1957), is a human rights activist, an active member of several indigenous women organizations and a Peruvian politician. She is currently a Congresswoman representing Cusco for the period 2006-2011, and belongs to the Union for Peru party.

Hilaria Supa was raised by the parents of her mother, Helena Huamán, who were peasants in a hacienda.

In her childhood she saw the hacendado mistreat her grandfather and violate women, which had a crucial impact on her life. Her grandfather, who fought for peasants' rights, was murdered in 1965. She had to go to Arequipa, and when she returned she found that her grandmother had also died.

Her partner, the father of her children, died in an accident when she was 22.

Afterwards she worked as a house maid in Cusco, Arequipa, and Lima.

In the 1960s she became involved in organizing regular meals for children, together with other women. She became leader of the Micaela Bastidas Committee in Anta, Cusco and took part in the fights for land rights, which finally resulted in the agricultural reform under Juan Velasco Alvarado.

In 1991 she became organization secretary of the new founded Women's Federation of Anta (Federación de Mujeres de Anta FEMCA), where she was responsible for alphabetization, traditional medicine and pesticide issues.

Hilaria Supa has taken part in numerous international women's meetings, where she has actively used and promoted her native Quechua language. She has been resolutely lobbying against sterilization of women, accusing the former health minister under Alberto Fujimori, Alejandro Aguinaga, of carrying out a population policy resulting in enforced sterilization of 363.000 Peruvian women.

She was elected to the Peruvian Congress in 2006, where she was the first parliamentarian in Peruvian history to take the oath in an indigenous language, Quechua, followed by her fellow congresswoman María Sumire, for which both were sharply criticized by Martha Hildebrandt and some other members of congress.

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That, I'm sure you'll agree, is one remarkable woman. Did you see that last line, by the way? Worth reflecting on the racism that's institutionalized at even the highest, lawmaking level in Peru because if they do it in congress everyone else will think they can get away with it. Read it again, as it says that Supa was criticized for taking her oath in Quechua by white-skinned Lima politicos, even though it's her first language (and will mean more to her and the people of Cusco she represents) and even though Quechua is one of the two official languages of Peru.

Stomach-churning racism happens all the time in Peru. This is the country where indigenous get jeered at for proudly wearing their traditional garb. This is the country where doormen at swanky clubs and restaurants will not let dark-skinned people in because they don't want to "lower the tone". Even well-meaning people are profoundly racist. More than once on trips to Lima I've found myself talking about my 100% indigenous blood wife and our two kids and heard the question, "But are they white like you?". I shit thee not.

But my favourite recent story that highlights just how discriminatory Peru really is concerns letting maids into restaurants at lunchtime. In Lima it's typical for the middle class family to have a (often indigenous blood) nanny to help out with the young kids, but recently there have been protests from some quarters about how the maids are not let into restaurants with the rest of the family. So rather than order restaurants etc to serve one and all whatever their position, the Peruvian gov't made it illegal for maids to be seen in public wearing their in-house uniforms. Y'see, in the warped view of Peru's legislature, if these people are suddenly invisible they're not so likely to clutter up the place. Who gives a damn if you're wearing a uniform or not!!??!!? What kind of mad government thinks you can hide racism behind a set of clothes?

Fortunately, there are pockets of enlightened people in the country trying to do something about the all-pervading racist attitudes in Peru, for example the blog Choledad Privada (great blog name by the way...smart play on words) is a beacon of sanity and there are others of the same ilk. But to repeat, if racism is part of daily life and indigenous heroes such as Sula are attacked in the most disgusting ways by Peru's mainstream media and government, the intelligent Peruvian is swimming against a very strong tide.

Deserved hat tips to Sheput and Reportaje al Peru, two Peruvian bloggers that care enough to shout "racist Correo" at the tops of their voices. Kudos.

Bolivia: The masks slip in Santa Cruz

Take a wild guess as to which one of these people is a
racist TV and radio presenter in Santa Cruz?

In one of the worst articles to be written on Evo Morales in the last year (and my stars, there's some competition), some damnfool named Eliza Barclay managed to make Morales into Mugabe (she passed on Mandela...wonder why?) and tried to get chattering classes in NE USA nodding in sage agreement over another of her carefully chosen quotes;

"Instead of governing for a whole country, he is governing only for the indigenous class and has brought racism with him."

Now, Barclay's fetid hit-piece has already been thoroughly and correctly lashed by Abiding in Bolivia and other people that actually know the difference between a decent journalism and plain stupidity, but now it's time to gently explain to Barclay what real Bolivian racism is, what it sounds like and where it comes from. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Carlos Valverde Barberí (above), mainstay of Santa Cruz politics, TV and radio personality (his verbal vomit gets spewed out via friendly Santa Cruz media) founder of the now infamous Unión Juvenil Cruceñista (UJC) nazi youth thugs and all round piece of shit.

The issue is a commentary on the handing over of 38,000 hectares of land on March 14th that previously belonged to rich white landowners (Larsen, Branko, all the other boys) to indigenous Guarani people. This came about via the newly minted constitution that allows people to own a maximum of 5,000ha going forward, so Branko, his pals and his multizillion hectare soybean business has hit a bit of a bump in the road, all things told. But on to Carlos Velaverde's comments as featured on Radio Patria Nueva, Santa Cruz, today. Eliza, have a pen and paper handy to make notes for your next report, yeah? He said of the handover;

"We have to shoot those that have recently occupied our land. They have to be killed because they are individuals that subjugate. They have to be killed because we are not all the same. This is a subjugation of Santa Cruz. It's incredible that Cambas (Santa Cruz residents) don't agree with us because the indigenous don't have anything to do with us here."

This is the mindset of the people that were presented by Simon Romero in the NYT last year as the anti-Evo heroic resistance movement. These are the people Eliza Barclay decided to ignore when she wrote a 1,500 word expansion on her own prejudices. However, now that the rubber is hitting the road and the real reason behind all this "Autonomy Now!" claptrap is being exposed, namely that those in charge knew all along they'd lose their precious land, the masks have slipped and the vicious underbelly is being exposed for all to see. Ten years ago the racist slavedrivers had their vast tracts of very profitable lands and a virtual unpaid labourforce to work it for them. Now they're losing both and they don't like it...my oh my, dontcha feel sad for 'em?

But remember what the racist apologist media tell you. It's Evo who is the racist that insists on dragging Bolivia back into the 17th century, not the people that for generations have taken all, have given nothing and are now getting their comeuppance. Eliza Barclay is just the latest in a long line of racist apologymongers who don't have the first clue about Bolivia, and thus to her we present the IKN coveted weekly award. Enjoy it, dumbass:

The language of hate in Bolivia

Evo: born to be Blingeed

One of the common complaints from Evo Morales supporters is of media bias inside Bolivia. This complaint is made by the rank-and-file and the President himself (an Evo mouthful recently got media types so miffed they refused to cover Presidential affairs for a period). So it does beg the question as to whether Evo has a point or whether he's being overly sensitive about the normal cut-and-thrust of political doings.



So as IKN is the kind of place that tries to treat its readers as thinking, reasoning dudettes and dudes,

YOU BE THE JUDGE!

Here are a few examples of the type of news editorial spoken on the air at the very popular local Radio Oriental, Santa Cruz. The speaker was Luis Arturo Mendivil, who is a local rich, landed lawyer and is also the owner of the radio station in question. This translation comes to you via Reporters Without Borders and the headsup was given to your humble correspondent by this post in the blog Ten Percent (a site friend linked on the right). My thanks to both sites.



Finally, please note the glossary of terms at the bottom that explains such local expressions and terms as "colla", "stone llama freak" etc. Let's see if you can see a hint of bias, hatred, calls to violence, or racism in the texts that follow, but just to help you along a tad I've picked out a few choice phrases in bold type.

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First editorial, 11 April 2008:

“How much longer are we going to put up with the attacks of these evil colla sons of bitches? I am not one of those sissies who hide behind a false ‘Bolivianism.’ As a result of the criminal Upper Peru centralism, the pacos have invaded us with the aim of robbing us, murdering us, extorting things from us and plunging us into all-out violent crime. All these damned collas who laugh while destroying the productive home, while the other idiots do not react. Worst of all, we are just giving in to our murderers and vultures. You are better off dealing with a criminal, because you can always convince a criminal. But dealing with colla pacos who come in order to hate us, who come ready to hate us, can we put up with this much longer?

Let’s form our own police force, yes, let’s have a Santa Cruz police force so that these evil collas stop attacking us, extorting things from us and murdering us. When you see a colla, you see a murderer, a criminal, a piece of offal. That’s what you have when you see a paco. How can you talk about public safety with pacos around? There are 10 or 15 of them hidden at a street corner? Why? To rob us, to extort things from us. If I die tomorrow, I will no longer be there to denounce this gigantic mafia we have. Because there is no such thing as a paco with dignity, a paco with any kind of worth, a paco who wants to work. Why don’t we react? You will see what they do to us on 1 May. The pacos who have come to Santa Cruz are not here for law and order, they have come in order to kill, rob and commit crimes. They are here to stick it to us in the backside. Good night and have a good meal [sic].”

Second editorial, 11 June 2008:

“I am not proud of being a Bolivian, as the collas would say. I am proud of being a camba, of being a Santa Cruz man to the core. I want to be an Amazonian. I want to take advantage of this piece of Latin America without having to keep the company of these ignorant brutes, these animals in human form. I will never stop calling them that, these drugged, alcoholic maniacs who yesterday or the day before tried to demonstrate their ferocity in La Paz like poor animals. When a human being takes the form of a two-legged animal, when a human being loses his rationality, when we listen to these brutes and imbeciles who govern us, each day we lose a bit, or a lot of what we aspire to become.

I was listening to this imbecile, this ignorant cretin who represents us on the international stage, I was listening to him say he was not satisfied with the ambassador’s statement but would consult lawyers. Obviously, it is a man with knowledge of international law who can maintain relations between peoples, and not this stupid donkey, this animal, this stone llama freak. We must develop every possible mechanism to oppose this proposed referendum which makes no sense, which is just a sexual infatuation between the government and Tuto Quiroga [former president and current head of Podemos, the main opposition party, who is regarded as traitor by the most radical supporters of autonomy]. We won’t let ourselves be screwed by these sell-outs. They are all in the same corner as this crazy government that wants to make us submit to a socialist-model economy that has failed all over the world.

We must forge a broad social pact to preserve and extend our autonomy, as these imbeciles are trying to make it fail and to lead us into chaos. I am becoming steadily more convinced that those who govern us want our blood. My concern, and I appeal to our leaders about this, is that these stone llama freaks should stop thinking they can impose their vision of government on us. The referendum will lead us to a dangerous extreme.

This populism without content, vision or ideological basis that rules us is a source of uncertainty. We are beginning to feel the effects of the blockades, including inflation. The departmental prefect made proposals today. The response he will get tomorrow will be insults and blockades. We think the prefect’s proposal must be improved. Santa Cruz cannot and must not lower its guard towards this government. The war continues and the collas won’t stop until they see blood flow. They won’t stop until they have destroyed the pro-autonomy process. They won’t be happy until they have eliminated our system of production. That is why we must halt this cholo mentality in Bolivia.”

Third editorial, 18 June 2008

“We are above all Santa Cruz supporters, fanatically camba and nothing, absolutely nothing, can make me proud of being Bolivian. I want to pay tribute to these men and women who put their lives at risk in order to ensure that our rights are respected. The cholo, thieving, drug-trafficking bourgeoisie of Upper Peru, nowadays with Chávez’s trollops in their wake and manipulated from the upper levels of Illimani, know no limits in their hate for the people of Santa Cruz. It is a good thing we have a strong Unión Juvenil Cruceñista [an extreme right-wing group based in Santa Cruz that supports autonomy; implicated in attacks on state media].

We need a strong youth to deal with the blockades and take charge of defending the people everywhere, and not these damned collas who are just a bunch of nonentities, delinquents and perverts. The guy running the government is a pervert too, he is incapable of doing the job. The Unión Juvenil Cruceñista is attacked, insulted and vilified here. Damn you, those of you who think that our youth here is shit. Our youth is full of nobility, unlike that race of collas who just want to suck the state’s tit, who just want cocaine, who just want to rob. That’s the difference between the camba and the colla. We are sick of hearing this gang of scruffy collas, these stone llama freaks, who want to get rid of the Unión Juvenil Cruceñista. They cannot do anything without insulting us, these sons of bitches, who do anything to discredit the Unión Juvenil Cruceñista.

Any of these sick colla bastards can insult the Santa Cruz youth. I ask myself: where are the media, which are always ready to denounce a scandal? What does the press say? Where the human rights people. Where are these lousy collas? Where is the ombudsman? They all need to say something. When the collas come out with their machine guns, organise ambushes, kill, rob and spread terror and blood, is this a work of art that must be applauded? We are going to defend everything to do with Santa Cruz.

"Colla" or "cholo": inhabitant of the highlands of western Bolivia. Most “collas” belong to the Aymara or Quechua indigenous groups. “Upper Peru” was Bolivia’s name when the region was under Spanish colonial rule. Present-day Peru was called “Lower Peru.”

"Camba": traditionally, the peasant of the eastern lowlands. Nowadays it is used for all the inhabitants of eastern Bolivia, especially Santa Cruz.

"Paco": a common and somewhat vulgar term in Bolivia for a policeman of the lowest rank. As he is paid so little, it is always assumed he will try to extort money from the public.

"Stone llama freaks": Partly because the complexion of many Aymaras and Quechuas has a coppery tone, racists often claim that they look like llamas (the Andean domestic animal) or look as if they were made of stone, or both at the same time.

Lime Slime's Brazil: "We really are a racial democracy...really!"

GUEST BLOG GUEST BLOG GUEST BLOG GUEST BLOG GUEST BLOG GUEST BLOG

Yes indeed, our now-becoming-regular Brazilian expert guestblogger Lime Slime is back with another dispatch about The-Biggest-Country-In-The-World-Except-The-USA-Only-Cos-They-Added-Alaska-And-That's-Cheating. No more silliness from Otto, let's hand it over to Lime Slime.

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We Really Are a Racial Democracy....Really!

Favela residents? Errr...no

Many Brazilians, especially rich ones, have long clung to the myth of "democracia racial," or "racial democracy," a term coined in the 1930s by the academic Gilberto Freyre in an attempt to explain why there was less overt racism in Brazil compared to the United States. His idea, which has since been discredited, pointed out factors that make Brazil's racial situation different.

A couple of obvious examples: After the end of slavery, Brazil never had laws imposing segregation and many Portuguese colonialists raised the children they had with African slaves as their own, and as part of the family, instead of sending them to the fields, like, say, Thomas Jefferson. As a result, nearly all of Brazil's oldest families, the five century variety, have black ancestry. Former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso often said that he had a "foot in the kitchen," a slang way of saying some macho great-grandfather in his family shagged the help.

The mixing also happened among the poor. President Lula, from the dustbowl northeast, is listed as pardo on his birth registry, meaning any mixture of black, european and native. A third of Brazilians consider themselves pardo. So, sounds hunky dory, right? Wrong. Brazil has a large black population, a third to half of the population, depending on how you count, and blacks are disproportionately poor, suffering from the lowest levels of health, education and income. So what happens when say, you live in a favela in the hills above the port of Santos, Latin America's largest, and you want to hang out at the beach? Well, you have to pay to sit on the sand!!! That's right. Sitting on the beach will set you back 100 reais ($40), according to this article in newspaper Estado.

Brazilians love to think of the beach as a great equalizing factor in their stratified society, because
beachfronts are the only lands in Brazil that can't be sold and which belong to the public. But it only goes so far. If you are poor, aren't dressed well, stylish, primped, pretty, or tuned out with a rock hard bod, you aren't welcome on a beach frequented by rich people with silicon implants in their asses. The people who own stalls providing beachgoers with beer, chairs, umbrellas, and snacks while they lush out in the sun say they charge the minimum consumption fee to keep out the "farofeiros," or "trashy types." Even Estado, while trying to fight the good fight, shows its inherently conservative side by framing the issue as one of classism, but not, gasp, racism. Doing so would offend the myth of racial democracy that rich, conservatives who read Estado believe.

So, please don't believe the hype that Brazil is the world center of smiling, happy people who all feel the love. Racism, and to a lesser extent classism, define Brazil, and though the government has taken steps recently to deal with inequalities, even going so far as to set aside slots in public universities for students who consider themselves black, it still has a long way to go.

Bolivia: Santa Cruz racist violence caught on camera

This video is not for family viewing. Do not click and watch if you find any of the following too upsetting;

1) young white males beating up old indigenous women in broad daylight

2) foul language in written English (as seen in the subtitles translation)

3) undiluted hatred shown by white people towards indigenous people, solely based on skin colour

4) the spectacle of gangs of whites beating up individual indigenous men because they dared to be in "their town".

5) etc

This one goes out to all the medialuna apologists. Watch and learn about the people you support.

Bees 1, Racists 0

In Bolivia this morning there's an event going on that that's sweetly symbolic. Plan 3,000 is the working class enclave that's home to many Evo supporters in otherwise hostile Santa Cruz. The people there are sick of the way white racist scum continue to try and lord it over them and so they're fighting back...with honey.

Eduardo Loayza is director of Radio Integración (yeah you got it, Radio Integration) and from 8am to 3pm today, November 30th 2008, anyone who turns up at the door of the radio station will be "vaccinated against racism" with a spoonful of honey. Here follows the words of Loayza, because his words are better than mine on this subject (translation; Otto guilty as charged):

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"(This is a) symbolic act that is also interesting and curious. For the first time there is a vaccination with a spoonful of honey against racism in Santa Cruz and it is taking place in Plan 3,000. This dosage will protect people from all racist discourse, from all violent attitudes, it will sweeten the soul and the spirit, the person will live longer and will respect others.

We have lived through very difficult times in September when institutions were violently assaulted. Every day the media brought us more violence. Messages charged with hate poison our families and our children, every day they poison the soul. We want to say "enough!" to all this. It is a rejection in a different way; not answering (violence with) violence, but trying to reply with sweetness. This is why we are going to use honey as the antidote to sweeten the spirit and soul of many people."

Each person will receive a certificate of vaccination that says, amongst other things, "vaccinate once a year. With this vaccine you will respect others and their opinions. You will obtain spiritual peace and live longer. With this vaccine you are protected from the "civics and unionists" (ottonote; main racist organizations in Santa Cruz) and from any racist or discriminatory discourse."

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Otto sez: Eduardo Loayza totally but totally rules. Yay, yay and three times YAY for the dude. Make love not war.

Business as usual in Santa Cruz: Hatred, Attempted Linchings, Racism, Media Bias

Salvador Ric

How would you treat an ex-Minister of your country if you saw him eating in a restaurant? If you agreed with his politics, you might say hello. If you didn't care either way or disgreed with him, you'd probably just let him be. If you hated him and all he stood for, you might even mumble something in his direction.

In Santa Cruz, fascist capital of South America, they call in the heavy mob and try to linch them. Here comes Otto's translation of this report from Spain's respected "El Economista".

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Radical right wing groups from the Unión Juvenil Cruceñista (UJC), the attack arm of the Civil Committee of the Bolivia region of Santa Cruz, attacked an ex-minister of the gov't of President Evo Morales, who this Sunday reported his agressors' intention to kill him.

"What they wanted was to kill me; the reason they gave was that I was carrying a gun. I have never in my life carried a weapon," said businessman Salvador Ric, who was Minister of Services and Public Works during the first year of the Morales mandate, between 2006 and 2007.

According to the ex-Minister the youth group's actions, which has in the past sacked and set fire to public offices, taken over toll booths, airports and attacked indigenous rural dwellers, was supported by the Civil Committee of Santa Cruz, the region whose elite are opposed to Morales.

The moment I left (the restaurant), Carlos Soruco, who was Viceminister of the Interior during the gov't of Hugo Banzer (ex-dictator and later constitutional President) physically attacked me and I defended myself", then later was punched and kicked by members of the UJC.

The attack on Ric Friday night was later reported by local TV stations.

This violent episode follows on from another, also in Santa Cruz, in which the commander of the Armed Forces was insulted and booed in a public place.

"I have serious doubts that Santa Cruz will accept the changes (for equality proposed by Morales), I don't know how they will ever come to accept that dark-skinned people are just as Bolivian as the whites..... There is so much hate and racism, and the media ignores it all."