The president of the Permanent Assembly of Human Rights of Bolivia (Apdhb), Amparo Carvajal, will receive the “Liberty Prize 2022 – Juan Javier Zeballos” award granted by the National Press Association, for her eminent services to the country and that highlights personalities fighting for democratic freedoms.
The election of Amparo Carvajal was decided in a meeting of members of the ANP, which represents the country’s print and now multimedia media, and was unanimously approved on April 12.
The bronze statuette of the Freedom Award will be presented to the human rights defender on Tuesday, May 3, coinciding with the celebration of World Press Freedom Day.
When she received the letter of her appointment, Amparo Carvajal had emotional words: “A deep gratitude for this award. The name of freedom means a lot to me, 50 years ago when I arrived in Bolivia”.
Born in Riaño (León, Spain) on January 28, 1939, Carvajal arrived in Bolivia in 1971 during the dictatorship of Hugo Banzer, as a nun of the Bérritz Mercedarian Missionary order. After the murder of the Jesuit Luis Espinal on March 21, 1979, the sisters of her congregation decided to leave Bolivia because at that time no one lived safely in the country. When they all left, she decided to stay, and since there was no more order in Bolivia, she took off her habits and dressed in civilian clothes to defend human rights.
During those years, Carvajal visited prisons and arranged for the release of social leaders who were imprisoned for political reasons by the Banzerite military dictatorship, looked for people who had disappeared due to political persecution, was a co-founder of the Human Rights Assembly and secretly distributed the weekly “Aquí” who directed Espinal at that time.
50 years later, Amparo Carvajal has not ceased her struggles to defend the human rights of popular sectors and indigenous nations and has bravely stood up against the impostures that seek to turn the October 2019 electoral fraud into a coup. she was seen accompanying the indigenous march that came from Trinidad to Santa Cruz.
The ANP was right in its decision to reward a Bolivian woman who represents an example of courage to defend rights where everyone else is afraid; so as not to remain silent where many choose indifference; so as not to settle for the “just like that” of things where you can still fight and not lose hope.
The task of Amparo Carvajal is not indifferent to the Government. Wherever she mobilizes, the ruling party also sends adherents to prevent her from developing her protest. On more than one occasion she has been harassed, despite years of being tired of her, by cowardly young men and women who insult her and prevent her from walking in the face of the indifference of the Police, who prefer to look anywhere instead of come to his defense.
With her election, the name of Amparo Carvajal joins a list of notable Bolivians who received the ANP Freedom Award on previous occasions, such as Cardinal Julio Terrazas, journalist Alfonso Prudencio Claure (Paulovich), José Gramunt de Moragas, Pedro Rivero Mercado, Monsignor Nicolás Castellanos and others.
The president of the Permanent Assembly of Human Rights of Bolivia (Apdhb), Amparo Carvajal, will receive the “Liberty Prize 2022 – Juan Javier Zeballos” award granted by the National Press Association, for her eminent services to the country and that highlights personalities fighting for democratic freedoms.
The election of Amparo Carvajal was decided in a meeting of members of the ANP, which represents the country’s print and now multimedia media, and was unanimously approved on April 12.
The bronze statuette of the Freedom Award will be presented to the human rights defender on Tuesday, May 3, coinciding with the celebration of World Press Freedom Day.
When she received the letter of her appointment, Amparo Carvajal had emotional words: “A deep gratitude for this award. The name of freedom means a lot to me, 50 years ago when I arrived in Bolivia”.
Born in Riaño (León, Spain) on January 28, 1939, Carvajal arrived in Bolivia in 1971 during the dictatorship of Hugo Banzer, as a nun of the Bérritz Mercedarian Missionary order. After the murder of the Jesuit Luis Espinal on March 21, 1979, the sisters of her congregation decided to leave Bolivia because at that time no one lived safely in the country. When they all left, she decided to stay, and since there was no more order in Bolivia, she took off her habits and dressed in civilian clothes to defend human rights.
During those years, Carvajal visited prisons and arranged for the release of social leaders who were imprisoned for political reasons by the Banzerite military dictatorship, looked for people who had disappeared due to political persecution, was a co-founder of the Human Rights Assembly and secretly distributed the weekly “Aquí” who directed Espinal at that time.
50 years later, Amparo Carvajal has not ceased her struggles to defend the human rights of popular sectors and indigenous nations and has bravely stood up against the impostures that seek to turn the October 2019 electoral fraud into a coup. she was seen accompanying the indigenous march that came from Trinidad to Santa Cruz.
The ANP was right in its decision to reward a Bolivian woman who represents an example of courage to defend rights where everyone else is afraid; so as not to remain silent where many choose indifference; so as not to settle for the “just like that” of things where you can still fight and not lose hope.
The task of Amparo Carvajal is not indifferent to the Government. Wherever she mobilizes, the ruling party also sends adherents to prevent her from developing her protest. On more than one occasion she has been harassed, despite years of being tired of her, by cowardly young men and women who insult her and prevent her from walking in the face of the indifference of the Police, who prefer to look anywhere instead of come to his defense.
With her election, the name of Amparo Carvajal joins a list of notable Bolivians who received the ANP Freedom Award on previous occasions, such as Cardinal Julio Terrazas, journalist Alfonso Prudencio Claure (Paulovich), José Gramunt de Moragas, Pedro Rivero Mercado, Monsignor Nicolás Castellanos and others.
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