Catholic World News reports that Bolivian Cardinal Julio Terrazas is backing an indigenous protest against a new highway proposed by President Evo Morales. The highway, which would cut right through the heart of the Amazonian Indians homeland and destroy thousands of acres of rain forest, is also opposed by environmental groups. 1500 indigenous people are demonstrating against the planned highway by marching 300 miles from the Department of Beni to the capital, La Paz.
President Morales was elected as a champion of the indigenous, and his stance is felt as a betrayal by Adolfo Chavez, leader of the Confederation of Indigenous Peoples of Bolivia, who Al Jazeera quotes as saying: "The government doesn't think about the interests of indigenous people, and it has not done so for a long time. It wants to open another highway that will allow the enslavement of our lands and the planting of hectares of coca."
President Morales was elected as a champion of the indigenous, and his stance is felt as a betrayal by Adolfo Chavez, leader of the Confederation of Indigenous Peoples of Bolivia, who Al Jazeera quotes as saying: "The government doesn't think about the interests of indigenous people, and it has not done so for a long time. It wants to open another highway that will allow the enslavement of our lands and the planting of hectares of coca."
On its side, the government stresses that the project is necessary for development, improving the transportation system by directly connecting the two major cities of Trinidad and Cochabamba, and integrating the isolated department of Beni into the national economy. We will build the highway, says Morales, "whether it is wanted or not."
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| Cardinal Julio Terrazas Sandoval |
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