Yolanda Mamani C. / La Paz
Regional authorities, the civic committee and social organizations of the municipality of San José de Chiquitos, in Santa Cruz, yesterday expressed their support for the Mennonites of the Valle Verde community in the face of INRA’s intention to evict them, accusing them of “overwhelmers and foreigners.” They ask the state company to annul the eviction resolution because “it lacks foundation.”
The president of the Civic Committee of San José de Chiquitos, Darling Méndez, informed Página Siete that the regional and civic authorities and representatives of social organizations came to Valle Verde, where they held an emergency session in support of the more than 130 Mennonite families.
“A pronouncement was made in which the Mennonite community is given full support so that the eviction is not carried out and rather that resolution be annulled by INRA (National Institute of Agrarian Reform) and the agrarian legalization process is concluded. of the community,” Mendez said.
On Monday, some 300 police officers, INRA officials and a group of interculturalists arrived in the area with the aim of evicting the Mennonites. Valle Verde is located 60 kilometers from the capital San José de Chiquitos.
Méndez stated that INRA, with the help of the Police, tried to violate the rights of the inhabitants of Valle Verde and dispossess them of their lands already worked by the Mennonites.
“We saw that there is a total violation of the human rights of these people, children and women who wanted to evict. They are born in San José de Chiquitos, they are Bolivians,” said Méndez. The Mennonites grow soybeans and rice in that area, and they also have cattle.
The space in conflict has 20 thousand hectares, which according to INRA were used by the Mennonites illegally. Yesterday the police withdrew from the Valle Verde community.
