Page Seven / La Paz
“We are not leaving La Paz if our democracy continues to be trampled on, we are not leaving La Paz without removing those who are attacking us. We will not leave, ”said the young Potosí leader Marco Pumari in the front armed by Adepcoca on November 7, 2019, just three days before the resignation of Evo Morales.
Then the leadership duo that articulated East with West had already emerged, with Luis Fernando Camacho, then president of the Pro Santa Cruz Committee, and Marco Antonio Pumari, leader of Comcipo, at the head. They led the national mobilization in rejection of the electoral fraud confirmed by the Organization of American States (OAS) after an audit. They also asked for the resignation of Evo Morales.
“I am not going to Santa Cruz until Bolivia is free,” Camacho said previously, before a crowd of coca growers, neighbors and members of other social organizations who cheered both leaders.
However, Pumari, who was then president of Comcipo (the Potosinist Civic Committee), became a stone in the government’s shoe in September 2019, more than a month before the mobilizations and protests against Evo Morales, who was running as a candidate for the Presidency despite the results of the referendum and violating the Political Constitution of the State, two violations that caused a general malaise in the population, which took to the streets until the resignation of the then president.
At the end of September 2019, a meeting was held in Uyuni to request the cancellation of the lithium contract, signed by the Government with the German company ACI Systems (Acisa). The Potosinos considered that the contract was negative for the interests of the region. If the Evo Morales government did not respond to the demand, an indefinite general strike scheduled for October 7 would begin.
And the Government did not respond to such demand and the announced strike was carried out, and the one who led it was Marco Antonio Pumari, then president of Comcipo.
The strike that began on October 7 lasted until it joined the anti-fraud mobilization, and the Pumari leadership took a turn by joining Camacho’s leadership. Both began a crusade in the country until the resignation and subsequent flight of Morales and his vice president Álvaro García Linera.
After the fall of Morales, Pumari’s leadership plummeted. At the beginning of 2020, he confirmed his candidacy as a candidate for the Vice Presidency for the political front Creemos, whose candidate for the Presidency was Luis Fernando Camacho.
The candidacy of Pumari and Camacho was also involved in a scandal, when an audio revealed an alleged conversation between the two, in which they discuss their plans for the 2020 elections. The audio reveals a premature attempt at power quota. Pumari would have asked for 250 thousand dollars and the handling of the National Customs.
Finally, the two went to the general elections as candidates for the Presidency and Vice-presidency, respectively. And they lost.
But Pumari did not give up, and participated as a candidate for the Governor of Potosí on March 7 of this year. He also lost.
Persecution
Two years have passed since Pumari began to confront the MAS government, and this Thursday he became the first Potosino leader to be detained by the Government for the events of 2019. Specifically, he is accused of participating in the burning of the facilities Electoral elections of Potosí.
However, according to the Potosí press, the participation of Pumari at that time consisted in denouncing the fraud after the discovery in a deposit of drawers with electoral ballots that had already been used. It was on October 21, 2019, in a building near the Departmental Electoral Tribunal (TED) building. This finding caused outrage from people who flocked to TED. Instead of guarding the place, the police left the angry population alone, which resulted in damage to such facilities. A question hung in the air. Why did the police leave the place?
Rejection and protest
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Two years The Prosecutor’s Office apprehended the former leader of Comcipo Marco Pumari two years after the crimes for which he is accused. He is prosecuted for four crimes, one of them is framed in electoral offenses. The Prosecutor’s Office is investigating him for the crimes of trespassing, aggravated robbery, deterioration of State assets and obstruction.
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Protest “There have been no notifications, nothing, to take it that way. Now, some time ago they informed us that there is nothing … ”, protested Pumari’s wife.
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critics Pumari’s arrest raised a wave of criticism against the government. “There is no impact on due process,” said Iván Lima.
