CHE'S NAME RESOUNDS IN BOLIVIA
[The following interview was granted by a member of the Partido Obrero Revolucionario (Revolutionary Workers party) to a journalist on a visit to Bolivia early in November. It was made public in Montevideo on November 22.
(The translation is by World Outlook. ]
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Question: Have any actions been carried out in Bolivia in tribute to Che since his death?
Answer: Actions have occurred in almost all the universities -- La Paz, Oruro, Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, Potosi... symbolic acts, demonstrations, etc. A very interesting tribute was paid to Che in Tarija where he was listed among the Liberators of the Americas.
The students of the School of Medicine in La Paz took over the Nueva América radio station, one of the most popular in the country, for ten minutes, and shouted "Long live Che" and "Long live the National Liberation Army." The international press tried to discount this by presenting it as a student "prank."
In the mines, meetings have been held where solidarity with the guerrillas was voted for; but, as can be understood, the military occupation of the mines pre- Gents public demonstrations in tribute to ne.
Q: Have the guerrillas been defeated in Bolivia?
A: No. Naturally the death of Che and many of his comrades constitutes a stiff blow, but it does not mean annihilation as Barrientos claims. A few days ago, when it was being publicly proclaimed that the guerrillas had been reduced to six persons and were on the point of being liquidated, having been surrounded, Inti Peredo's group fought a battle in which they managed to break out of the encirclement. The other day, at a place more than 200 kilometers away, another group of twenty-three guerrillas took a town, seized supplies and provisions, and then retreated. This happening alone proves that there is more than one group carrying on, and more than six guerrillas.
Q: Has the repression been very hard in La Paz since the death of Che?
A: Brutal. There are more than 200 new prisoners, in addition to the 300 miners who have been held in Panéptico for some time accused of conspiring with or having ties with the guerrillas.
In Santa Cruz, for example, a 65year-old woman, the mother of one of our comrades, who was already living under very difficult circumstances, was taken by the police as a hostage to try to get her to denounce her son.
Every trade-union activist faces dismissal if he is so much as accused of being "linked" with the guerrillas, and often it means imprisonment.
In the mines, this means, in addition, that he is dispossessed from his miserable lodgings and expelled from the town.
In the mining districts, the army has invaded homes and claimed that the things they found there were bought with money provided by the guerrillas, thus entitling them to pilfer utensils and household goods.
Recently the police detained a miner in Huanuni, a mining district, and treated him so brutally that he was left almost dead. The people stormed the headquarters to rescue him, and severely punished the police. To avoid any bigger complications, the army did not intervene, staying in the hills outside the town, where they usually maintain their camp.
Q: What_is the attitude of the sol-
diers, taking into account that they are also part of the people, toward the guerrilla question?
A: You have to take into account that they are constantly shifted from place to place; and, in addition, are subjected to ferocious repression. Recently a case was reported of a machine gunner who was ordered to fire on people and he refused because they were his own people. When he refused to obey the order a second time, an officer killed him in front of his comrades, without the least compunction.
Cases have been reported, such as during the massacre at San Juan, where soldiers, stiff with cold in the morning, had not fired a single shot; and others who fired into the ground. On that occa~ sion, the miners did not kill soldiers, but various soldiers were shot in the back by their own officers. There are barracks in which at least one soldier is shot every week by the officers. Recently at the railway center of Huyuni, a lieutenant killed a soldier who refused to fire on some workers who had been drinking a little. The lieutenant was promoted for his "bravery."
There are cases in the mining districts in which soldiers have gone to the workers to suggest attacking the barracks in an organized way, because they are ready to collaborate. Of course, these are only isolated cases. It should be mentioned, too, that families have demonstrated in various areas to prevent their youth from being taken into military service, as happened some months ago in Pando and Beni.
: What_is the situation like in the miners' movement since the massacres?
A: The miners' movement has been completely disorganized, its leaders arrested and imprisoned, dismissed and persecuted. But in line with their tradition of struggle, the miners have been resort-— ing to new forms of organization, as well as developing new leaders. Underground committees have appeared, in which the most genuine leaders, the most experienced, are active. Likewise in the legal trade unions, minimum demands are being raised. This is happening in Catavi, Siglo XX and Huanuni, where the unions are opening up new fronts. And the student movement, it is to be noted, has taken up the task of contributing to rebuilding the trade-union movement.
The pnderground committees are serving as the axis for this reorganization, since that is where the best militants among the miners are to be found. The problem of armed struggle is constantly posed there. It was from this source that almost all the miners came who fought in Nancahuazi.
I would like to add something more. The daily topic of conversation in the mines is how to handle the problem of the army. Every miner has his ideas on this and they are continually debating it. The work of these committees also explains why men in the army get "lost," the army command claiming that they are deserters.
: What is the attitude of the peasants?
A: I would like to point to the attitude of the peasants in Ucurefia, in the Cochabamba valley. After Che's death, they staged demonstrations in tribute to him, painting slogans on the walls in the town and shouting, "Long live Che!" It should be noted that the demonstrations were carried out by groups, who went through the town on foot or in trucks despite the repression in force there. The army was sent in the next day.
Moreover, the attitude of these peasants is outright repudiation of the bureaucracy controlled by the government, the bureaucracy being the only "force" which Barrientos can rely on in the countryside. The attitude of the peasants in Ucurefia is shared by the peasants in other regions; in some areas it can be said that they don't know about the guerrilla question, but nowhere in Bolivia have the peasant masses displayed hostility toward the guerrillas.
Q: Anything else?
A: Yes. I would like the situation in Bolivia to be known everywhere, especially in Latin America, where the struggle includes the one going on in my country.
I am sure that the revolution will go forward, despite all the obstacles, even despite such unhappy events as the murder of Comandante Ernesto Che Guevara.