Bolivian
Anti-Drug
Squadron
Eats
Disabled
Peasant's
Fruit
Crop,
Leaving
Her
without
Income
5/22/98
Felipa Mamani, a peasant farmer in Shinahota, in the Chapare region of Bolivia, lost her leg after being wounded on November 15, 1995, in a confrontation between the UMOPAR (Bolivia's DEA) and townspeople. The UMOPAR had occupied a hall, preventing a cocalero (coca growers union) meeting, as well as a campaign meeting for a local mayoral candidate, from taking place. During the several hour confrontation, the UMOPAR used large quantities of tear gas and rubber bullets and fired off warning rounds with automatic weapons. About 20 people were arrested and nine police were wounded, although none by gunfire. Mamani, who was one of six civilians wounded, was hit in the right thigh by a bullet which severed her femural artery. A doctor at the local clinic determined that she needed specialized medical care and would have to be transported to a larger clinic in a nearby town. While the doctor was looking for transportation to the other clinic his clinic was surrounded by UMOPAR agents and bombarded by gas delaying the removal of patients for at least half an hour. In the hospital in Ibuelo it was determined that Mamani needed to go to Cochabamba due to the severity of her wound. She waited more than two weeks in the public hospital while the coca growers union and the Permanent Assembly of Human Rights negotiated with the government to pay for the treatment of her leg. By the time the government had agreed, the leg had to be amputated. In agreeing to pay for Mamani's medical costs, the government assumed no responsibility for the incident in Shinahota and refused to pay for any of the medical follow up that she needed. (The incident is described in reports by Human Rights Watch -- see http://www.hrw.org/hrw/summaries/s.bolivia965.html and http://www.hrw.org/hrw/summaries/s.bolivia957.html.) Earlier this year, the Andean Information Network, an organization that monitors and disseminates information on the impact of the anti-narcotics effort in Bolivia, raised funds for Mamani to purchase a new prosthesis to replace her old artificial leg that had become non-functional after three years of use. According to AIN's appeal, "Felipa has been an invaluable resource not only for AIN but for international human rights organizations as well. She has always been willing to allow interviews, photos and countless retellings of the fateful events of that day. We have found her to be a tireless defender of human rights in the Chapare." On April 29, AIN's Lee Cridland visited Mamani at the union headquarters to let her know that they had raised sufficient funds and that she was now on the company's waiting list. Mamani told her that on the previous day, government soldiers, now installed in the Chapare to forcibly eradicate coca, had entered her property and eradicated all of her coca plants. The soldiers had also eaten all of the fruit that was ready for picking, leaving her with no source of income. Says Cridland, "I could hardly believe what she was saying and you can imagine her fear as the soldiers entered the property from the back and she could not get back there to see what they were doing. Once she calmed down a bit we took her back to her land 15 kilometers away and confirmed with our own eyes what she had told us." (Those of you who have been with us for awhile might recall the alert we redistributed for AIN last year, archived at http://www.drcnet.org/rapid/1997/4-23-1.html. AIN can be contacted at [email protected].
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