Morales and Social Division

Today Bolivia inauguerates its first indigenous president, Evo Morales, who is Aymara. The Aymara make up less than half of the indigenous majority in Bolivia; the Quechua are more numerous.

Yesterday I watched on TV as he was installed by the Aymara first, before the official government installation today. A crowd of tens of thousands of the Aymara people gathered at Tiahuonaka, an Inca holy site just south of La Paz. They believe that Tiahuonaka is a portal of the sun. They vested him with poncho and staff, and he wore a four-cornered hat to signify the four corners of the Inca empire. Such an installation has not happened in more than 500 years, since the Spanish occupation.

The family I live with is middle class with Spanish ancestors, but Lupe, the head of the household, supported Morales. Lupe explained to me that Bolivia has had 5 presidents in four years, and it seems that Morales was able to win over some of the middle class because they believe that something needs to change. Her family suffered at the hands of left-wing guerrillas, and so originally supported the right-wing dictatorship of a man whose name I cannot remember right now. She had a conversion after she left her husband and read about all the abuses of the government.

In speaking with others, it sounds like many in the middle class share her views. They are wary of Morales and his socialist ideas, but anything is better than what they have been enduring. In the last 5 years there have been several major uprisings over gas and water rights. However, I have noticed that the middle class seem to spend a lot of time worrying about how Morales dresses! They want him to wear suits and not sweaters.

In my little household live Lupe, divorced and in her fifties, her daughter, Gringa (more about that below), her daughter's two sons, Francisco (4) and Leonardo (7), Elena, the housekeeper, who is indigenous, but I don't know if she is Aymara or Quechua, and Rodrigo (13), Elena's grandson who is chief babysitter to the two boys. Elena's daughter, Elizabeth, and Elizabeth's two younger sons are also often at the house.

So what we have here are five grown women, including me, and five boys. Half of us have European ancestors and the other half are indigenous. None of the boys have a father in their lives. It seems that most middle class household retain servants who are indigenous. In most cases the servants go home at night and maintain a distance from the family. They do not eat at the same table, for example. In our case Elena and Rodrigo live with us and we all eat together and the boys all play together. However, in no way are Elena and Rodrigo equal to Lupe and her family. There is a hierarchy, and they are at the bottom.

Last Sunday I went to the cemetary with Lupe and her brother to visit their parents. They do this ritual every Sunday. At the gate to the cemetary stands a group of 20 or more indigenous people waiting for someone to buy flowers from them or hire them to clean up the gravesite. Lupe and her brother did both. They paid a girl a single Boliviano, about 15 cents, to sweep around the grave and pick up leaves by hand.

I was thinking that these are the same people who are desperately trying to get in to the U.S., but when they get there, they end up doing the same kinds of jobs. I think the difference must be that they get paid more in the U.S., and there is much more hope for the future of their children. Morales brings some hope that Bolivia's poorest, all indigenous, can find a sustainable future in Bolivia, because he promises to pursue policies that are in their interests.

I understand that the average salary in Cochabamba is around $200 per month, but that is for people who are working. Unemployment is high and jobs are scarce. There is a lot of begging, mostly women and children, and I have also seen many men passed out on the street from alcohol. They are just left there. There is also a problem with addiction to glue-sniffing, because there is a shoe factory and it is easy to get. This leads to a problem with homeless children, because their parents succomb to addiction.

Gringa, Lupe's daughter, sells overpriced and overrated vitamins to rich people and seems to do well. Lupe told me that the job requires long hours and travel, but that jobs are scarce, even for people with European ancestors, so she had to take what she could get. Gringa's real name is Luz Maria. They nicknamed her Gringa at birth because she has blue eyes, reddish hair, and fair skin. Gringa loves the name and will go by no other. In short, Gringa loves being white and chooses to advertise it as best she can. Her kids are also white. She is very right wing and wants nothing to do with Morales. Somehow, it seems to go with the whiteness!