December 12, 2022, 4:05 AM
December 12, 2022, 4:05 AM
The idea that Chapare only sells drugs is wrong. Its main export item is neither bananas nor pineapples nor hearts of palm, it is sand, gravel.
The Chapare sand is so good that the Ministry of Public Works has ordered all state companies to exclusively use that sand for all their works carried out in the department of Santa Cruz, especially if they are near the border. with Brazil.
These days, ENDE is building infrastructure works in Roboré, and must submit to this provision of the Government.
The sand that must be used for these works in Roboré, one of the most beautiful places in Santa Cruz, has to be that of Chapare, 780 kilometers away.
Who knows what mineral content the Chapare aggregates have for them to have been chosen by the State as the only ones that can be used for public works.
Masistas experts surely have an explanation.
Some sixty years ago I visited the place, where there are some spectacular waterfalls, which have recently been affected by fires caused by coca growers, the “interculturals”.
The truth is that now, gigantic dump trucks must make the trip from Ivirgarzama to Roboré, crossing almost the entire department of Santa Cruz, to deliver that precious cargo.
On this journey, the trucks pass through many rivers that have sand of all colors and thicknesses, sand that cannot compete with that of Chapare, according to the Minister of Public Works.
Throughout that geography there are hundreds of citizens who have small trucks with which they sell the sand from the place for construction. They are not authorized to sell that sand to state companies.
Perhaps the very responsible Bolivian State has come to the conclusion that if there are going to be public works, they should be done with the best gravel in the country, no matter if you have to travel 800 kilometers to get to the place.
The faith of the State is at stake, something similar to what happens in monarchies, where only a few companies receive the title of suppliers to the crown.
Just as one speaks of the Chinese “silk road”, here one would have to speak of the “sand road” of Chapare.
About ten years ago, a dump truck with that precious sand overturned while crossing a bridge in Santa Cruz. And it could be seen that, under the sand, some pervert had loaded bags with drugs.
In that case, in that truck, there was an “added value” of which nothing was known later.
They are the mysteries of the “change process”.
