IN STEREO

Last year, the blockade happened, you know – for me, for my family, for everyone. Me, each day I went on foot to the blockade, to the exit to Cantumarca, for the jail there. For us, it is by obligation to the cooperative. The cooperative obliges us all by shutting down the entrance to the mine. They have record cards. If we didn’t attend, it was suspension from work for seven days or more, depending on the reason. But it never solved anything. My family suffered: we had no gas to cook, or meat for my children. It was fucked. Travellers, tourists were suffering, too. This was for 27 points that the president had to answer. What we asked was for the president to hear us, because he doesn’t come; he hides. He supports Santa Cruz, Cochabamba… We’re watching that in the media. That’s why those places are in good shape, but not Potosí.

When we blockade, everyone stops working. If the mining sector blockades, the city doesn’t carry on as normal. It’s similar to the times when the educational unions stop teaching. When the teachers are striking, all the sectors stop working. Wherever we were, there were the truck drivers too; there were private companies. Most industries were with us: those who work in the city, also the taxis, and those who worked at the markets. When you blockade, the truck drivers help you, so that the president listens once and for all. For example, it affects the mineral exporters: the contract that they have states what has to be carried weekly and monthly. If we block it, it does not reach other countries. Tourists also do not arrive. Undermine them so they listen. – Pastor