WORDS BY CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT SILVIA LAZARTE AT THE OPENING CEREMONY

Brothers and sisters, I wish to speak in the name of the directory, together with our authorities, together with our president, together with you, our constituents, together with our brothers and sisters, with our guests who share this moment with us...

I wish to say why we, the women, have arrived to this position even though it has been bitter, my brothers, the way women have lived up to now...

The way women have lived in Bolivia has been a life of bitterness, coming  like I did from a very humble family, where my father and mother, who raised me within poverty, have brought me here before you.

I thank my family, my brothers, and my son, for having understood what it is for a woman to be a leader, which is very difficult, my sisters and brothers,

Perhaps for our brothers it may be somewhat easier, but not for women, as from birth we are discriminated against, I don’t know if you’re aware of that, but I am.
 
Because, my sisters, I haven’t had the kind of support, the economic background to go on to study, thus, when some people ask me “are you a professional that you could direct the Constituent Assembly”, I proudly answer “no”, because I was sidelined when my father clearly said “I can’t read or write, I’ve gone to the barracks to serve our motherland, and I have suffered in the barracks, therefore, as you are my oldest child your brothers will not suffer, for you won’t study but will give that opportunity to your brothers”, and that is how I’m not a professional, my sisters and brothers.

But with that experience I have lived, and I thank the organizations, I thank the community where I was raised, firstly the Pedro Domingo Murillo syndicate that my father introduced me to in the Cochabamba department, before he took our family to the Chapare, in search of better living conditions.

Thanks to those communities, thanks to that organization Central Villa 14, Trópico de Cochabamba federation, where the six federations educated me, and in that community I also experienced discrimination as there were no organizations for women at the time, only organizations for men.

I first went to a meeting at the age of 13, because my father was ill, but they told me no, you are a woman, and still a minor, you stay outside, and so I stayed on watching from the outside, and I stayed on listening.

But thanks to that consciousness (that I developed) they noticed and elected me to lead the women, compañero Evo put me in charge of the women in a new Chapare central within the Trópico de Cochabamba federation. Therefore, I should have stayed in the Chapare, but because of natural disasters, when the land my father gave me was flooded, I had to look for land in Santa Cruz where I live now, thanks to the brothers in Santa Cruz who received me.

That is how, sisters and brothers, I have leadership experience from the community level up to the National Women’s Federation, I have been president of the Villa Tunari municipal council in the Chapare, I have been executive secretary of the Bartolina Sisa National  Federation of Female Land Workers of Bolivia, I have known each and every one of the departments in Bolivia, I know of their experiences, and that is why I have this concern and why I have this heart.

Throughout all of my experiences as a union member, together with our brothers, I realized that we, the women, still have a big heart, that as women we give life to this world, to this Bolivia. We have our sons, we have our daughters, we come from a father and have our brothers, and also our leaders who are men, and thus we have a heart for these men who are our brothers.

Therefore we have this consciousness, this patience towards our brothers, in spite of discrimination in Bolivia. When I started out as a leader I used to wonder why should there be any questioning of an organization for women in Bolivia when in our past, our ancestors have been women like Bartolina Sisa, like Curisañawi, Micaela Bastida, like the women of la Coronilla, of Juana Azurduy de Padilla, all those sisters who struggled for us, for us women.

And look at us now, sisters, now we follow their footsteps. Our brohers are following those of Tupac Katari and of all those who fought together with our sisters, like el Tumpa, Tupac Amari, Zarate Villca and other martyred brothers who struggled for the liberation of Bolivia.

Now, in spite of so many reforms, of so many political constitutions, we as women and our indigenous brothers, had never participated in those processes,  But today, for the first time in our history we are participating, we are here to found a new Bolivia, and we are going to do it, this Political Constitution, made by us as elected male and female constituents of Bolivia.

In the past I used to think, when we had recently organized for our rights, that surely we would achieve respect for every person’s human rights, but it didn’t turn out that way, and that showed that it was very important to have our own political organization also.

Now we have it at hand, now we are doing it in our Constituent Assembly, even if we never thought we would arrive to this stage. I, for one, never even dreamed I would be president of a Constituent Assembly of Bolivia, but (here we are), thanks to the consciousness of our Bolivian brothers, men and women from all peoples and nations, from 36 nationalities and languages that we have in Bolivia.

And now I wish to speak in Quechua for those who do not speak Spanish, I am of Quechua origin, although I now live in Santa Cruz.

Sisters and brothers (Quechua):

I wish to say, sisters and brothers and people of Bolivia, that we have to safeguard our unity, this is the end of differences of color, now the people have trusted in us as constituents to make a Political Constitution for the Bolivian people. They expect this from us and we must do it, there’s no more discrimination here, we all have the right to participate to make that Constitution.

That’s why I tell you that we must stay together and show the world that the heart of Bolivia is an example of unity, and we are going to demonstrate that, my brothers.

Source: http://www.abi.bo - Photos: Fernando Molina Cortes