Tupac Katari Guerrilla Army

The Tupac Katari Guerrilla Army (EGTK) was a guerrilla created in 1986, in Bolivia, named after the leader of the indigenous uprising at the end of the century XVIII in Upper Peru, Túpac Katari. The organization maintained activism with a structure of union training for peasant communities, theoretical development and a propaganda structure. It was dismantled a few months after beginning its armed training phase, between March and August 1992. Between March and August, 35 of its members were arrested and imprisoned, among them its leaders Felipe Quispe, Álvaro García Linera, and his brother José Raul García Limera, Juan Carlos Pinto Quintanilla, as well as the Mexican Raquel Gutiérrez. All of them were released in 1997 on parole pending a trial that was delayed for years due to the difficulty of finding evidence of the accusations.

Background

Its predecessors were the Túpac Amarista Army, the Túpac Katari Army, the Zarate Willka Armed Liberation Forces, Kollasuyo Indio Poder Único Socialista (KIPUS), the Red Offensive, Red Ponchos and the Katarista Indian Movement (MINKA).

Some of his ideologues and predecessors were Fausto Reynaga, Félix Willka Puma, Andrés Mayta, Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui, Rafael Puente, Monika Ertl and Oswaldo Ukaski. (These latter, ELN combatants, planned to divide the ELN in December 1972 into an ELN Bartolina Sisa faction in response to the ELN Obrero faction) fruit of "Miseria", Chato Peredo, among others. Many of the articles from these organizations were on the website (Katari Uta), which came out in the 1980s, under the title "Documents" and "Katarist Combatant's Manual".

It is nourished by combatants from the following organizations: Bolivian Indian Party (PIB), Katari Indian Movement (MINKA), Túpac Katari Indian Movement (MITKA); Kollasuyo Indian Socialist Single Power (KIPUS); Túpac Katari Revolutionary Movement (MRTK); Federation of Peasant Women Bartolina Sisa; Trade Union Federation of Peasant Workers of La Paz Túpac Katari; Federation of Secondary Students of the city of La Paz; Federation of Students of the Popular University Túpac Katari and others.

History and attacks

Álvaro García Linera, one of the founders of the movement, explains the creation of the EGTK in 1999 as the culmination of a great wave of the indigenous peasant movement that was born in the 70s at a cultural, radio, sports, union, and electoral political level. Starting in the 1980s, there would be a radicalization of the Aymara indigenous youth that would give rise to the "clandestine political structure" of the EGTK. García Linera considers that the organization was "neither basically nor fundamentally a military structure and that the armed part was an element along with others." It defines the EGTK as a political and cultural structure - in which the armed part is only a small part - with public participation activities in peasant and mining congresses, the elaboration of thought transferred through documents and books, a propaganda structure and union activity in the field. They toured the communities doing workshops - he explains - organizing the strengthening of the union and communal structure, especially in the highlands of La Paz, the north of Potosí and the peasant areas in Sucre, a work that did not transcend. The objective was, says Raquel Gutiérrez, to organize a general uprising, an indigenous uprising of communities.

Alvaro García Linera, who called himself "Qhananchiri", was also present in the group. (he who illuminates, in Aymara), who was the treasurer who tried to manage the money that the group stole. In 1997, García Linera and the rest of the members of the EGTK were released under the excuse of lack of evidence against them. Some actions carried out before the constitution of the EGTK was the assault on the Caracoles remittance company in February 1989., stealing nearly $40,000. On November 4 of the same year he jumped at gunpoint at Walter Gumucio's house, stealing about $95,000. The following year at a COBEE remittance company, stealing $20,000 from a COBEE remittance company, stealing $20,000.

1991

Until April 1991, guerrillas robbed the home of Zenón Daza in Cochabamba at gunpoint, stealing close to 60,000 dollars. It was not until October of the same year that they stole close to 622,000 dollars, guerrillas robbed the consignment of the Universidad Mayor of San Simón (UMSS), in Cochabamba. For this crime, on December 6, 2005, the UMSS filed a civil suit for damages against Álvaro García Linera, his brother Raúl, Silvia Alarcón, Felipe Quispe (the “Mallku ") and other militants of the Tupac Katari Guerrilla Army (EGTK), to force them to return the stolen sum.

On September 19, 1991, it became known with an attack against two high voltage towers that caused the death of two guerrillas due to poor timing of the explosive, this attack being part of a series of attacks and sabotage carried out that day in various parts of La Paz. The press of the time published that the attack on the embassies of the United States and Spain in La Paz was planned. The next day the EGTK attacks a high voltage tower in Panduro, causing failures in the local electrical network. The last attack this year was on the facilities of the Nationalist Democratic Action in the city of Llallagua, department of Potosí.

1992

On January 7, 1992, the EGTK attacked again, this time on the Cochabamba-Oruro oil pipeline, state of. as well as a high voltage tower, and some train tracks in the department of La Paz..

Objectives

Among the objectives indicated in their manifestos are:

• Fight for social equality within Bolivian territory and neighboring nations of the Andean originating majority, Aymaras, Quechuas, Túpi-Guaraní and others.
• Fight against the cultural and ideological alienation of the peoples of the Andes.
• Fight against the invasion of Western and consumer values.
• Improved quality of life and work worthy of indigenous, workers, peasants and miners
• Fight for the imposition of Andean morals (♪Don't be a thief. ♪Don't be a liar; Ama khellaDon't be lazy. Katarist thought considers Western civilization to be decaying and corrupt in essence, as it bases all its philosophy, its social structure, sense of existence, on the ruthless exploitation of the planet's natural resources. Postula, which consumerism, a sense of the life of the West, is threatening the existence of all living on this planet.
• It struggles for a society free from the terrible scourges, which it considers to be characteristic of the great cities of the West, such as alcoholism, drug addiction, corruption, floppy, sexual debauchery, theft, lies, conjugal infidelity, betrayal and the lack of Andean moral values. It tries to defend the basic structure of Andean societies, and in particular the traditional Andean family structure, which it considers to be aggression by Western society.

Arrests 1992

The EGTK - Escárzaga considers - was dismantled a few months after beginning its armed training phase. Under the government of Jaime Paz Zamora, between March and August 1992, 24 of its members were arrested and imprisoned. All of them reported having been victims of torture and abuse and being forced to sign their statements, complaints that were supported by international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International.

Report of the Human Rights Commission of the Chamber of Deputies

In 1995, a report from the Human Rights Commission of the Bolivian Chamber of Deputies confirmed that "they were forced through torture to incriminate themselves." In a 251-page document the commission “found sufficient reasons to prosecute the perpetrators of violations of this type and to repair damages caused by a crooked and prejudiced application of the laws

“The principle that is claimed, and that we are trying to recover, is that the State cannot repress the violation of the laws, violating them itself. In other words, what the commission proposes is to establish precedents against that impunity that encourages the so-called 'state terrorism'”

The president of the commission, Juan del Granado Cosío, declared that with the imprisonment of the fourteen EGTK guerrillas “it was understood that the State, in circumstances like this, is freed from compliance with legal norms. I believe that A dismal service was done to the consolidation of a democratic system, because knowledge of these facts can distort everything that the institutional framework of a country and a democracy means”

He said that the government “turned to state terrorism, appealed to illegality, violated human rights and, from this, at that time created very dangerous conditions for the generalization of violence in the country”

Despite this recognition, they were not released and their process continued to be paralyzed. As a protest, in September 1995 Raquel Gutiérrez went on a hunger strike for 10 days. The lawyer denounced that these were political imprisonments and that the process was full of legal aberrations, “because they are trying to prosecute and sentence to people who think differently But there is not a single death in this process, there is not a single reliable robbery that accuses any of the group. Accusing eight citizens of fourteen crimes is really irrational.

Provisional freedom in 1997

Álvaro García Linera, known in the 80s and 90s as Qhananchiri (he who illuminates, in Aymara), was in charge of managing the money that the group stole. In 1997, García Linera and the rest of the EGTK members were released under the excuse of lack of evidence against them. Five years later, in 1997, they received conditional release, still without being tried. The statements taken under torture and the difficulties in finding evidence caused the wait for trial to be prolonged for several more years.

From then on, its best-known militants entered political legality through different legal political parties. Most of it remains underground.

Of his known militants, Álvaro García Linera became Vice President of the Republic of Bolivia as a candidate for the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS), of Evo Morales, Felipe Quispe, another leader of the organization, became a deputy for the Movement party Pachakuti Indigenous Group (MIP), which he founded. Constantino Lima, from the Julián Apaza University Movement (MUJA), one of its predecessors and ideologists, could not join this organization, but he had a decisive influence on its beginnings.

Movement analysis

Many political analysts and journalists consider the EGTK guerrilla attempt as one of the most important in the history of the Andean Nations of the 20th century . This was mainly due to the fact that unlike other armed movements of that time in Latin America, the EGTK strove to start a popular armed uprising and to achieve this it tried to arm indigenous communities instead of isolating itself in a select group of combatants. Katarism did not want/or could not consolidate itself as a party. He decided to join social organizations and "march alongside the already organized people" (Felix Willka).

From them came the idea of transforming agricultural unions into a political instrument. Idea harshly attacked by traditional sociologists and politicians. This idea made the Bolivian peasants the greatest political force in Bolivia in a few years and made armed struggle unnecessary. Since then, greater importance was given to the coordinating activity of the different political forces and the oversight work of the Process of Change, a task that now becomes the most important.

EGTK members

• Álvaro García Linera
• María Raquel Gutiérrez Aguilar
• José Raúl García Linera
• Silvia María Renee de Alarcón Chumacero
• Jesus Rojas Lusana. Peasant leader
• Felix Arizmendi Caiza. Farmer, community of Inka Katurapi
• Victor Ortíz Quísbert. Former mining leader, neighboring leader
• Macario Tola Cárdenas. Caracoles Mining Leader, F.S.T.M member
• Silverio Maidana Macias. Campesino
• Santiago Yañique Apaña.
• Felipe Quispe Huanca. Peasant leader
• Alejandro Choque. Peasant leader