Martha Mamani Huacca. Photo: teleSUR.
“The strength for the struggle emanates from Mother Earth. No one has the right to take away what belongs to us,” Martha Mamani Huacca said.
On Thursday, Peru’s Martha Mamani Huacca was interviewed on Los Nadies (“the nobodies”), a television show hosted by teleSUR President Patricia Villegas.
Martha Mamani Huacca is one of the millions of anonymous women who have participated in the protests that erupted in Peru since December 2022 when Peru;s Congress ousted President Pedro Castillo, a humble rural teacher who remains imprisoned and accused of attempting a coup d’état.
“I saw her walking the streets of Lima, wearing her small hat and colorful skirt,” Villegas said, recalling her first encounter with this Peruvian Indigenous woman. “Then, while she was rallying people from a monument, Martha was assaulted by the police.”
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Mamani Huacca was abandoned by her parents as a child and grew up in an impoverished rural area where the local school provided very basic education. When she came of age, she ran for the position of mayor in her locality.
Currently, this mother of two children lives in Puno, a region where security forces, under orders from coup President Dina Boluarte, harshly repressed citizens who were demanding Boluarte’s resignation, the closure of the Congress, the formation of a Constituent Assembly, and the release of President Castillo. The police brutality resulted in over 50 deaths.
🇵🇪 Mass Indigenous protests continue in Lima, Peru against the US and Canadian-backed coup regime. Canada loves to pretend to care about Indigenous people while tacitly supporting their oppression across Latin America. pic.twitter.com/L1YOLGv2VI
— 🅰pocalypsis 🅰pocalypseos 🇷🇺 🇨🇳 🅉 (@apocalypseos) July 22, 2023
Mamani Huacca acknowledges the beatings she endured during the police repression, which has intensified since the beginning of the protests in December 2022.
“The administration has not listened to us,” she said. “Instead, we have been repressed.”
Mamani Huacca expressed sadness about the situation her country is facing. “We love Peru, and we are Peruvians. We are Indigenous peoples who have resisted for 500 years,” she said, recalling that popular resistance became more challenging since Alberto Fujimori’s dictatorship, as he established a “looting” political system.
“Nevertheless, the struggle is worth it because we need to make our voice heard,” she stated, emphasizing the fight against racism and the defense of all Constitutional rights.
Mamani Huacca accused the political and economic elites, as well as those who control the judiciary and the mass media, of being responsible for the country’s ongoing crisis.
BREAKING: Protests break out in Peru to demand the resignation of Pres Dina Boluarte and early elections.
Former President Castillo was deposed and jailed last December sparking protests that left 67 people dead 🚨
Peru is the 2nd or 3rd largest producer of #silver
— Wall Street Silver (@WallStreetSilv) July 20, 2023
She believes that the popular resistance seeks to achieve “true independence for Peru to avoid being subjected to Yankee imperialism.”
Although these goals are not easy to achieve due to state terrorism, “we will stand strong,” Mamani Huacca said, emphasizing that all the sufferings have not been in vain.
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She considers that deficient leadership of traditional political parties is being compensated for by the emergence of the Unitary National Coordinator of Struggle, which is uniting workers, teachers, transporters, traders, farmers, and residents.
When asked how she manages to overcome the sadness caused by her son’s absence, Mamani responded that “her condition as a woman helps her cope with the repression.”
“The strength for the struggle emanates from Mother Earth, the Pachamama. No one has the right to take away what belongs to us.”
(TeleSUR – English)
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