Last year, in March, he was kidnapped and beaten for painting graffiti that made it clear that their ayllu, Cala Cala, was not part of the Coroma district in Potosí. With this action, Jacobo Copa Mamani stressed that mining extraction in his territory could not be consulted with authorities outside his area.
The action cost him an 18-hour kidnapping and blows which, according to judicial documentation, attributes to Edmundo and Omar Yucra. Copa says that both have ties with the leadership of Coroma, which has allowed the entry of the Huarimarca Mining Cooperative, but that they also have family relationships with the people of that mining company.
He presented his case to the judicial instance, but says that Adhemar Cabañero, precautionary judge of Uyuni, he ‘washed his hands’ and referred the complaint to the indigenous justice systemwhich as the maximum sanction will impose that the litigants shake hands.
“In indigenous justice there is no punishment. I have to shake hands with those who kidnapped and tortured me because they caught me alone. I have to set a precedent. They jumped into a community and arrived at my ayllu. It makes me angry and I’m afraid to walk alone because they are free. I want them to stop laughing in my face. They have a lot of political power, also in the Native and Peasant Indigenous Territory (TIOC) of Coroma. I want them to be judged by ordinary justice”, he insisted.
Currently, Copa’s annoyance has been gaining more strengthand together with other people have walled up, since June 28, the precautionary court of Uyuni, where Cabañero works.
In addition to the Copa case, they demand justice for the death of four people, a taxi driver, two children and a womanwhich collided, according to Copa, with the vehicle of the mayor of Uyuni, Eusebio López Martínez, who at that time was driven by the driver, and who was declared innocent by the same judge.
Copa’s complaints were also collected by the National Coordinator for the Defense of Native Indigenous Territories and Protected Areas (Contiocap), which requested a precautionary measure for Jacobo, and who took his case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). However, Copa says that he does not trust the IACHR, which he has seen proceed in questionable ways in other situations.
Photo: Protest with boarding up of the precautionary court of Uyuni
Last year, in March, he was kidnapped and beaten for painting graffiti that made it clear that their ayllu, Cala Cala, was not part of the Coroma district in Potosí. With this action, Jacobo Copa Mamani stressed that mining extraction in his territory could not be consulted with authorities outside his area.
The action cost him an 18-hour kidnapping and blows which, according to judicial documentation, attributes to Edmundo and Omar Yucra. Copa says that both have ties with the leadership of Coroma, which has allowed the entry of the Huarimarca Mining Cooperative, but that they also have family relationships with the people of that mining company.
He presented his case to the judicial instance, but says that Adhemar Cabañero, precautionary judge of Uyuni, he ‘washed his hands’ and referred the complaint to the indigenous justice systemwhich as the maximum sanction will impose that the litigants shake hands.
“In indigenous justice there is no punishment. I have to shake hands with those who kidnapped and tortured me because they caught me alone. I have to set a precedent. They jumped into a community and arrived at my ayllu. It makes me angry and I’m afraid to walk alone because they are free. I want them to stop laughing in my face. They have a lot of political power, also in the Native and Peasant Indigenous Territory (TIOC) of Coroma. I want them to be judged by ordinary justice,” he insisted.
Currently, Copa’s annoyance has been gaining more strengthand together with other people have walled up, since June 28, the precautionary court of Uyuni, where Cabañero works.
In addition to the Copa case, they demand justice for the death of four people, a taxi driver, two children and a womanwhich collided, according to Copa, with the vehicle of the mayor of Uyuni, Eusebio López Martínez, who at that time was driven by the driver, and who was declared innocent by the same judge.
Copa’s complaints were also collected by the National Coordinator for the Defense of Native Indigenous Territories and Protected Areas (Contiocap), which requested a precautionary measure for Jacobo, and who took his case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). However, Copa says that he does not trust the IACHR, which he has seen proceed in questionable ways in other situations.
Photo: Protest with boarding up of the precautionary court of Uyuni
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