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As 45 years ago, in 2021 he was at the forefront of the mobilizations that demanded respect for the human rights of political prisoners. He also accompanied the march of the indigenous people from the lowlands in defense of their territory and did so with the same conviction with which the Permanent Assembly of Human Rights of Bolivia (Apdhb) now defends the siege of a parallel organization inclined to the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS ).
Because of her unwavering commitment to the defense of human rights, to democracy and to the sectors that are victims of the abuses of the governments of the day, Amparo Carvajal Baños was elected the 2021 Person of Page Seven.
The election was made by vote between directors and journalists of this media, in addition to fifty columnists and collaborators, from a list of more than a dozen nominees. The support for the president of the Apdhb was majority.
The delivery of the naming plaque was carried out in a simple but significant event at the Apdhb facilities, where, at 82, Carvajal spends most of his time.
Photo: Carlos Sánchez / Page Seven
“I can only say one seven letter word: thank you. This appointment makes me happier and more grateful to the people, “he asserted, and then launched a piece of advice to the media:” Always go to the bottom of the news, because there is always a cause for everything. “
Carvajal, born in 1939 in the municipality of Riaño, in the León province of Spain, began her fight for human rights since her arrival in the country on the first day of November 1971. In 1976 she was co-founder of the Apdhb, an organization that she has presided over since on July 3, 2016.
A week after taking office, the priest, researcher and anthropologist Xavier Albó found her in La Paz, in the middle of the struggle of the disabled who asked the government for a subsidy. Then he wrote in his column: “Petisa, restless and now little girl, is still a giant fighter.”
Five years have passed and, baton in hand, Carvajal continues to be present at marches, rallies and blockades in rejection of the outrages of power. He played a leading role in the mobilizations that demanded from the government that those detained for the events of October 2019, starting with former President Jeanine Añez, can defend themselves in freedom.
He claimed during almost the whole year by politicians, police and military whom he considers unjustly deprived of liberty, for whom he also asks for fair processes. Her crusade was constantly criticized by sectors of the ruling party, who accused her of having assumed a political position. To this, he responds that his current defense has the same principles as when he defended former President Evo Morales and former Vice President Álvaro García Linera.
Photo: Archive / Page Seven
On August 21, during a march calling for Añez to defend herself in freedom, Carvajal held a vigil at the doors of the Miraflores Women’s Orientation Center, where Añez is being held. Then she received harsh criticism from government authorities, who accused her of being a spokesperson for the right wing.
This did not subdue his struggle and he continued to lead other mobilizations for the same cause, despite the serious threats against him, such as the one launched at the beginning of September by members of the group called “Wila Lluch’us” (red caps). who in a video broadcast in various media called to burn down his house. Despite clear evidence, the government denied that such a group exists and did not carry out any investigation.
The day she received the recognition from Página Siete, Carvajal said she will continue her fight, aware that some want her out. “I am willing to go on a hunger strike, but they are not going to care, rather they are going to wish that old woman dies once and for all,” he ironized.
Photo: Archive / Page Seven
The president of the Apdhb also accompanied in the last section the XI Indigenous March of the original peoples of the lowlands, which traveled the journey between Trinidad and Santa Cruz de la Sierra in demand of respect for their territory. The government turned its back on the indigenous people, whom it also accused of having assumed a political position.
This is the second time that Carvajal has been chosen as Character of the Year by Página Siete. The first time was in 2018, in a similar process, also due to its transcendental role in the fight for human rights and democracy in the country.
That year it was surrounded by coca growers together with members of the International Tribunal for the Rights of Nature, who tried to enter Polygon 7 of the Indigenous Territory of the Isiboro Sécure National Park (TIPNIS), to meet with the indigenous people who opposed the construction of a road. .
He also accompanied the doctor Jhiery Fernández, who was convicted of a crime he never committed, and the Yungas coca grower leader Franclin Gutiérrez, imprisoned without evidence for 15 months.
“My vote is for AMPARO CARVAJAL, a lifetime dedicated to the defense of human rights in Bolivia, leaving behind his country and his family and facing all dictatorships and authoritarian governments in Bolivia since 1971,” wrote one of the columnists who this year he supported his choice.
The election of the 2021 Character followed a consultation process that included journalists and directors of the medium, as well as fifty columnists and collaborators. The name was selected from a long list of nominees.
In the first instance, the Página Siete team endorsed a list of five nominees that included, in addition to Carvajal, actor David Santalla, tennis player Hugo Dellien, businessman Marcelo Claure and scientist Sarah Gilbert (creator of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine against the covid). In the consultation, the names of the film director and producer Kiro Russo and the director of photography Daniela Cajías were also proposed.
Later, the list of five nominees with the greatest support was put to the consideration of our columnists and collaborators, who added other names: the indigenous leader Marcial Fabricano, the late peasant leader Felipe Quispe, the space engineer Camila Velasco, the former president Jeanine Añez, the chef Marsia Taha and Santa Cruz Valeria Rodríguez, whose case uncovered the corruption scandal in Santa Cruz.
In the end, Amparo Carvajal received the support of more than 60% of those who participated in the consultation for this election.
I see the human rights situation very serious now. Why don’t political prisoners go out and defend themselves in freedom?
I am willing to go on a hunger strike, but they will not care, rather they will wish that that old woman dies once and for all
They want me to shut up and I can’t keep quiet, because I have felt, for 50 years, that speaking is to find the truth of the facts
