The Latin American and Hemispheric Studies Program presents:
Human Rights Violations and Racism In a Divided Bolivia
Join us for the showing of a documentary:
Humillados y Ofendidos, Sucre 24 de Mayo
(In Spanish; 50 minutes; Produced by Artes Andes Americas)
Tuesday, October 21
7:00-9:00 pm
The Elliott School of International Affairs
1957 E St., NW Room 213
Over the past eight years, social and political polarization in Bolivia has steadily increased as indigenous peoples become politically empowered as never before. The election of Evo Morales and the MAS party in 2005 formally transferred national power to a historically marginalized majority, but it also further galvanized a counter-reform movement led by elites from the country’s wealthiest regions. The ensuing conflicts have become a chronic condition leading to a deterioration of the democratic political culture of Bolivia. This documentary uses vivid street scenes and personal interviews in the city of Sucre, where a representative assembly recently drafted a new constitution, to show manifestations of human rights violations, racism, and violence toward indigenous political activists.
The film will be followed by a question and answer session featuring a panel of Washington, DC experts on Bolivia: Elliott School professor Kevin Healy, author of the book Llamas, Weavings, and Organic Chocolate: Multicultural Grassroots Development in the Andes and Amazon of Bolivia; American University Professor Rob Albro, author of the forthcoming book Roosters at Midnight: Indigenous Signs and Stigma in Urban Bolivia, to be published by SAR (School for Advanced Research) Press; and Coletta Youngers, Senior Fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America and author of numerous works on human rights and democracy in the Andes, including Drugs and Democracy in Latin America: The Impact of U.S. Policy.
This event is free and open to the public. Please RSVP to lahsp@gwu.edu.