Indigenous identity and organized crime in Bolivia

By: Hugo Marcelo Balderrama - 28/12/2025

Guest columnist.
Share:     

If modern science, and biology in particular, has demonstrated anything, it's that humanity was able to survive as a species thanks to two things: 1) migration and 2) interbreeding. Humanity shares 99% of the genes in our DNA. Constant conquests and sexual interbreeding have meant that, essentially, pure races no longer exist.

On the other hand, in the cultural sphere, no civilization developed in isolation. In fact, our beautiful native language has words of Arabic origin, such as "pantalón" (pants), "azúcar" (sugar), "algebra" (algebra), and "almohada" (pillow), and words of Greek origin, for example, "iglesia" (church), "farmacia" (pharmacy), "acróbata" (acrobat), and "teatro" (theater). Even in Bolivia, Spanish incorporated idiomatic expressions from Quechua, such as "yapa" (extra). And let's not forget our gastronomy, which, however much it is considered "national," is basically an adaptation of the Mediterranean culinary tradition.

So, if no one can claim to be pure and original, why is the left so obsessed with ethnic identities in Bolivia?

Easy, in theory.

The left, in general, like viruses, has an incredible capacity for mutation, or at least for redesigning its revolutionary discourses and fetishes. The matrix is ​​always the same: oppressor versus oppressed. What was once workers against capitalists became whites against all other ethnicities, women against men, and homosexuals against heterosexuals.

Obviously, to gain public attention, they need to construct these "victims." In the case of Bolivia, especially during the 1990s, the media and rhetorical arsenal focused on figures like Evo Morales and Felipe Quispe. The goal was to present them to the country and the world as social "leaders" and "defenders" of Indigenous people.

Using that narrative, which enjoyed considerable support from the well-meaning Western progressive establishment, they justified all the acts of vandalism they committed at the beginning of the 21st century. They savagely murdered police officers and soldiers, raped women, destroyed roads, attempted assassinations, and overthrew President Sánchez de Lozada.

Once their power grab was complete, Evo Morales and his Cuban and Venezuelan partners replaced the 1994 national constitution with a dictatorial statute called: Constitution of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, whose central objectives were indefinite permanence in power and the handover of the country to the criminal franchise of 21st Century Socialism.

Then, with that same fantastical rhetoric, they founded the Indigenous Fund, a social "victory" for Bolivian indigenous people. However, it ended up becoming one of the biggest corruption scandals of the Movement for Socialism (MAS) era, with confirmed losses in the millions and thousands of unexecuted projects. Regarding this, Iván Rada, director of www.visor21.com, states:

Unfinished projects, but with full disbursements; black-faced sheep, of pure breed, that were just painted livestock; ghost towns that received resources; political indoctrination courses far removed from the concept of development; payments and payments to private accounts of leaders such as Felipa Huanca, Lidia Patty, Melva Hurtado, Juanita Ancieta, Julia Ramos, Victoria Justiniano, Joaquín Saloma, Celia Zúniga, Evarista Soto de Ramírez, Rolando Alí, René Jiménez or Damian Condori were also revealed (the latter, scared, returned the amount).

It has now come to light that leaders of "social movements" and "indigenous communities" received Bs 328 million in their personal accounts between 2010 and 2011. Arce Catacora, in his capacity as Minister of Economy and member of the Board of Directors of the Indigenous Fund, authorized these disbursements, disregarding the Financial Law that prohibits direct transfers from government accounts to private bank accounts. Juan Ramón Quintana and Nemesia Achacollo were also part of this corruption and criminal network.

Under the guise of indigenism, a union and organized crime elite was formed. It was never about defending indigenous people, because they simply don't exist; it was about stealing from and milking the state dry.

Right now, that same criminal structure, faced with the elimination of fuel subsidies through Supreme Decree 5503, is in the midst of a process of destabilization and social upheaval. Their rallying cries remain the same: the "poor," the "indigenous," and "natural resources." This demonstrates that the true divide is moral: on one side, there are those of us who want to live and prosper honestly; on the other, the hordes of bandits and highway robbers who intend to commit crimes with impunity.

«The opinions published herein are the sole responsibility of its author».