Irregular groups in Bolivia

The temptations of Evo Morales are not from now, they come from the beginning of the century. Since then he has threatened the formation of irregular armed groups in the Chapare area and it is possible that these already exist, have military training and are ready to act at any time. The former president used the absence of controls in the coca-growing area of the Cochabamba tropics as a pretext to announce the creation of groups of “ronderos”, as in Peru.

Who are the ronderos? Well, irregular and armed groups. In Chapare, according to Morales, they would be there to monitor and prevent the presence of foreigners linked to drug trafficking in the area. In Peru they are self-defense militias, created and trained by the military to resist the terrorists of Sendero Luminoso and the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA). But time passed, the guerrillas are no longer there, but the ronderos remain, who have become masters and lords of certain territories, especially in southern Peru, who commit crimes: kidnappings, assaults and aggressions, in addition to giving themselves the luxury of announce that they will fight against the right, according to Peruvian newspapers.

The desire to form “self-defense groups”, “militias” and now “ronderos” began at the turn of the century, when Morales was a cocalero leader and formed the union police, made up of coca growers with sticks who ‘brought order’ in the congresses and assemblies of the union organizations and the MAS. They have their own authority and do not answer to the State, but to the leadership that trains and employs them.

At the beginning of 2020, when Morales was in Argentina, he said, with a very loose body, that he regretted not having created militias like in Venezuela. It must be remembered that in the country of Nicolás Maduro there are Bolivarian circles, which are armed civilians, who take to the streets to repress opponents, intimidate citizens and commit various outrages under the protection of power.

The latest occurrence of Morales is the formation of “ronderos”, as in Peru, but in Chapare, precisely in the place identified as a red zone for the production of coca that is destined to the manufacture of drugs and where there is a lot of drug trafficking activity. Ronderos to take care of the traffickers or to be an armed wing in the framework of the cartel war for territory? Because it cannot be ignored that Brazilian, Colombian, Mexican and even Italian mafias are fighting for spaces in Bolivia.

It must be remembered that during the 21-day strike irregular armed groups appeared in Chapare, Yapacaní, Portachuelo and other places, who were against the citizen mobilization that rejected the fraud. Even a former FARC guerrilla from Colombia, Facundo Molares, was arrested, accused of giving military training to these militias. Right now there are armed and hooded groups taking over productive land.

In other words, Morales’s announcement is only putting on the table what already exists in Bolivia, in view and with the patience of the Government. Or, what did the Minister of Government do when Vice President David Choquehuanca was prevented from leaving the Chimoré airport and circulating through the Chapare?

Whether self-defense groups, militias, ronderos or whatever they are called, these are a reality in Bolivia with the danger that they will escalate and become terrorist groups at the service of drug trafficking and smuggling mafias.

Evo Morales announced a crime and, so far, it seems that they want him to stay in the MAS media circus. It is urgent that the government take notice and do something to prevent these irregular groups from getting bigger and stronger. Those who believe that the so-called right is the enemy are wrong; the enemy of social peace seems to be in the MAS faction that insists on acting outside the law.