Bolivia leftists mobilize in defense of patriotic symbol Wiphala and against alleged coup attempts

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In light of the attempts of right-wing sectors to destabilize the country, thousands of Bolivians will gather in different parts of the nation for the “Wiphalazo,” an event organized to honor the patriotic symbol recognized by the Constitution.

These mobilizations, planned by social organizations and named as the “Great Wiphalazo,” will extend to the country’s 9 departments and its goal is to reclaim the unity and cultural identity of the people.

Chamber of Deputies president Freddy Mamani described the demonstration in defense of the Wiphala as a meeting for the unity of the homeland and to consolidate the identity of the Bolivian people.

According to the Political Constitution’s Article 6, paragraph II, the red, yellow and green tricolor flag and the Wiphala are the State’ official symbols.

Tuesday’s demonstrations take place within the framework of Indigenous Resistance Day in opposition to the celebration of the beginning of the Spanish Conquest, which every October 12 commemorates the arrival of the Spaniards to the American continent in 1492.

The events will take place in the country’s 9 departments and in 3 of them: Santa Cruz, La Paz and Cochabamba, president Luis Arce will be present.

Today, several organizations are concentrating in the main regions of the country to vindicate this national symbol. According to a Bolivia TV report, people are gathering in Yacuiba, Trinidad, Riberalta, Oruro, El Alto, Sucre, among other cities.

The Wiphala is a sacred and ancestral symbol. It identifies the community system based on equity, equality, harmony, solidarity and reciprocity.

With respect to the national strike called by right-wing groups linked to the 2019 coup d’état against ex-president Evo Morales, adhesion was low in the several departments of the South American country, according to reports from various local media and Luis Arce’s government.

Presidential spokesman Jorge Richter stated that the call to paralyze the country failed to meet the expected response and, on the contrary, had a low adhesion, assuring that the country worked as usual throughout its great territorial extension. He also rejected the warning of a new strike.

He stated that what happened on Monday was an institutional and political strike led by the so-called civic committees that reject the bill against the Legitimization of Illicit Profits, whose processing was postponed pending public discussion.

In his opinion, the citizens chose peace, tranquility, to work and to be able to attend to their productive activities, to generate economic resources for their daily subsistence, among other aspects.

With respect to the call for the Wiphalazo, Minister of Justice Iván Lima assured that it will be held during non-working hours as a message of solidarity, support and recognition of the wiphala, a symbol foreseen in the Bolivian Constitution.