Entrada de Sacaba

First I want to say that the photo directly above wasn't even in the running, but by some downloading fluke here it is. In the post above are some of the better shots.

The Fiesta for the Parroquia San Pedro de Sacaba (where I lived my first time in Bolivia) is always in November. The date changes slightly so that the Entrada is always on a Saturday. The entire fiesta is about a week long. The entrada is like the entrance parade. Many groups of costumed dancers of various ages dance for hours along the route. The distance is about 5K from a small chapel to the main church. Dancers get breaks along the way and people offer food and drink.

This year the fiesta coincided with the School of Americas (SOA) Protest in Fort Benning Georgia. I went with my friend Hilda to the fiesta. Hilda had become my boss, when she replaced me as the director of the Childcare Center, when it became obvious I was doing two jobs, and became the administrator.

I shared with Hilda, as we sat in her kitchen chairs along the parade route, about 2 blocks from her house, regarding the protest at the SOA, since it was on my mind that weekend. I especially included the 2004 protest my first one after my return from Bolivia. ( I had been at many between the years of 1997-2001) In 2004, the protest leaders included during the solemn procession, a reading of the list of people, including many children who had been murdered in Bolivia in late 2003, by the army during the protests against the President. It was chilling to hear the names of the Bolivians, who had been murdered while I lived in Bolivia. In 2003 all US citizens were advised by the US Embassy to leave the country. (only a few left)

In the 2004 protest I was carrying a cross with the name of a young Bolivian soldier who refused to shoot at the people in the Main Plaza in La Paz. His commanding officer ordered him to shoot, he refused. The office said if soldier didn't shoot, the offfice would shoot him. He refused and was shot and killed.

In previous protests it felt like we were protesting past massacres to prevent future massacres, by closing the school that trained many soldiers in torture and assasignation of it's country's own people (including most famously that of Archbishop Romero of El Salvador).

In 2004 and subsquent years until 2009, the protest became more personal with the list of Bolivia people. This year again it is chilling again, to be back in Bolivia knowing that the protest to Close the SOA goes on. There will be no solemn procession here, it the festival atmosphere of the puppetistas that rules. The entrada of the Virgen del Amparo to Sacaba, hope and faith rule!

Weeks before I was in Sacaba for the solemn day All Souls. Again with Hilda, we looked for the graves of the children who were buried while I was in Sacaba and to give respect for those that had passed on during my time in Bolivia. I remembered those who were massacred and those who have passed on since my leavetaking.