Survey discloses violence and destruction by fire carried out by a masista group | Encuesta revela violencia y destrucción por fuego hecha por grupo masista

Brújula Digital, El Diario:

According to survey

Intercultural people are seen as responsible for fires

  • “The image is associated with peasants related to the MAS who settle illegally in lowlands and who burn forests to create farmland. Not only do they deforest, attacking biodiversity; but they pollute the air in cities,” says Diagnosis in its conclusions.
Los interculturales son vistos  como responsables de incendios

Most people warn that the intercultural sector is responsible for the fires that affected a large part of the country intensely last week due to the smoke generated, according to a study by Diagnosis.

The smoke caused by forest fires and burning even caused classes to be suspended last week in different areas of the departments of Santa Cruz, La Paz and Cochabamba. Last night, the Government reported that all the fires have already been controlled.

“In your opinion, who is mainly responsible for the fires that are polluting the air?” Diagnosis asked in its survey. The results were the following: 34% blamed the interculturalists or colonizers; 18% do not know or do not respond; 17% say they are all; 14% identify the agroindustry, 11% the farmers and 6% the indigenous people.

The technical sheet indicates that the survey was carried out between October 21 and 22, 2023. The universe was men and women from 18 to 65 years old. The sample reached 1,800 surveys in the urban and rural areas of the nine departments. The margin of sampling error is +/- 2.31%. The method used is face-to-face surveys in homes, in digital format.

“The image is associated with peasants related to the MAS who settle illegally in lowlands and who burn forests to create farmland. Not only do they deforest, attacking biodiversity; but they pollute the air in cities,” says Diagnosis in its conclusions.

The study explains that this image is present mainly in the middle classes opposed to the MAS in the lowlands. The image of the “colonizer” of the highlands (Aymara or Quechua) related to the MAS, who “invades” the lowlands, sowing destruction and generating pollution in its wake, reinforces the anti-masista and “anti-popular” stance in the middle classes.

“The majority of Bolivians blame the ‘interculturals’ for the chaqueos and environmental pollution in the cities. They are seen as ‘invaders’ of highlands related to the MAS, who destroy nature and fill cities with smoke. This perception is associated with the reinforcement of an ‘anti-popular’ and ‘anti-masista’ position in the middle classes; especially in the lowlands. In the face of this ‘invasion’, a tough hand and jail time are demanded for the destroyers of the forests that pollute the air of the country and the cities,” the study adds.

Last week it was reported that coca crops were found in the El Choré sector on an area close to 20 hectares. The Minister of Government also reported that people were found starting fires in the department of Santa Cruz. Seven people were arrested for illegal burning. (Brujula Digital)

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