Page Seven Digital
The Municipal Council of San José de Chiquitos, the subgovernment, the Civic Committee and other organizations of the Chiquitano municipality formed a defense front for the more than 150 families of “Bolivians of the Mennonite religion”, in the face of INRA’s intention to evict them from their community Green Valley.
The president of the Departmental Association of Human Rights of Santa Cruz, Víctor Hugo Velasco, informed Página Siete Digital that 24 hours after the arrival of the Police in the sector, officials from the National Institute of Agrarian Reform (INRA) and a group of called intercultural related to the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS), the living organizations and regional authorities expressed their full support for the residents of Valle Verde.
“The Police this morning moved to try to notify the inhabitants of the community and, on the other hand, the authorities of the Mayor’s Office, the sub-government, departmental assembly members, some deputies and living institutions of San José de Chiquitos are in meeting at the scene of the events (…) Full support is being given to the people of Cruceños of the Mennonite religion. They were born in the Chiquitanía and obviously, they are all Bolivians,” said Velasco.
You can also read: Complaint: INRA throws out Mennonites and favors intercultural
The Police, INRA and intercultural groups arrived on Monday in the Villa Verde region with an eviction notice.
Through a statement, INRA denounced that the Mennonites “overwhelm” public lands, an accusation rejected by the lawyer Alejandro Altamirano, who represents the farmers of Valle Verde.
“Those living in the Guayacanes property that they intend to evict are born in this country in the city of Santa Cruz and not foreigners, point out and also clarify that the fact of having a religion such as the Mennonite does not make you a foreigner,” said Altamirano .
For the moment, the eviction with the police has not been carried out and the organizations of San José de Chiquitos met in an emergency together with regional authorities.
