Bolivia’s Struggle for "Black October" Justice Continues

She clings to her father's pant-leg. Her classic Aymara face--round with red cheeks--tilts upwards. He strokes her thick black hair as he speaks to the crowd of fifty in Warisata's town-center. For the rest of the day she is independent, bouncing among strangers and family friends alike. But these few moments, she is still, attentive, listening to her father recall the events of her sister's death in this Bolivian altiplano (highland) town two years ago. It probably does not register in her mind that she is not even the age her sister was when a Bolivian soldier's bullet took her life: 8 years old.

Marlene Nancy Rojas was murdered on September 20, 2003, but her death was one of the first in what has come to be known as "Black October." The four-week period beginning with Marlene's death and ending with then President Gonzalo "Goni" Sanchez de Lozada's resignation on October 17, 2003 burns in the memories of all Bolivians, but particularly those of the families of the 67 killed and over 300 wounded during Bolivia's first "Gas War."

The successes of the mass protests (covered by Narco News), including Goni's resignation, were bitter-sweet: Bolivia paid a high price in human life and Goni fled to the United States with $1.5 million of Bolivian state money where he has resided with impunity ever since.

Two years have now passed but here in Bolivia, rather than healing all wounds, time only deepens the pain and strengthens the resolve.

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