The Apu Mallku of the New Era
BY PEDRO DE LA HOZ, special correspondent

TIWANAKU, La Paz. — Twelve minutes after Thursday noon, at the Gate of the Sun of the Kalasasaya Temple, Evo Morales received from the hands of two children the staffs with which his country’s native peoples consecrated him as President and spiritual leader of the Pluri-national State of Bolivia between 2010 and 2015.

Evo during the ancient ceremony.

A great symbolism transcended from the ceremony that took place at the ancestral enclave of Tiwanaku, 71 kilometers from La Paz and right in the center of the Bolivian altiplano. At the same time it reaffirmed the aesthetic and cultural values promoted by the process of changes and proclaimed the indisputable political hierarchy of a native leader who four years ago began the transformation of Bolivia, with results that gave him the backing of 64.22% of Bolivian voters in the December elections.

Over 50,000 people, coming from all corners of the country and abroad, crowded the grounds pf this place, on the list of World Cultural Heritage Sites.

The head of state, accompanied by amautas and led by an elderly woman, ascends the Akapana pyramid.

A large number of official delegations and representatives from native peoples of other parts of the hemisphere were present at the ceremony.

Among them was Cuba’s, headed by Commander of the Revolution Ramiro Valdés, Vice-president of the councils of State and Ministers, who, when approached by the press, highlighted the validity of Cuba’s National Hero José Martí’s thinking on the occasion.

In this regard, he recalled how Martí, at the end of the 19th century, predicted that The Americas would only develop with the Indians, "and that’s what we’re witnessing today."

Representatives from native peoples met at Tiwanaku.

At 10:56 a.m., the crowd waved national flags and wiphalas when the helicopter bringing Evo began to fly over the square.

He was saluted on the ground by a battalion of soldiers from the presidential escort. Also standing guard on the open area were the legendary red ponchos of Achacachi. The entourage was showered with petals.

Led by the council of amautas (wise men), the head of state went inside the temple, where, after being purified, was dressed the ritual outfit: the chuku, a ceremonial hat made of thread plaited in both directions -black and white and a gamut of grey colors; and the unku, a bright but at the same time restrained tunic made of llama hair.

In this outfit, Evo was consecrated once more as Apu Mallku, the spiritual leader of the native peoples and of the Bolivian Democratic and Cultural Revolution, in a ceremony full of humanism and mysticism.

Holding the hand of a yatiri (a centenarian elderly woman), who would accompany him from then on in the ceremony, Evo ascended the Akapana pyramid, where he paid tribute to, and commended himself to Mother Earth (the Pachamama) and the ancient knowledge.

For this, he stopped by tables located at the four cardinal points to make offerings: to the West, as a sign of appreciation for everything received; to the South, to favor economic development and the philosophy of living well and in harmony; to the East, for Bolivia’s Andean-Amazonian unity; and to the North, with the request of boosting the process of change and wisdom to follow the right path.

Before descending toward the Kalasasaya Temple, Evo and the amautas kissed the stone of the Akapana pyramid.

Flanked by four pairs of elderly men and women at the temple’s main gate, Evo, with his right hand placed on his heart, listened to the words of the president of the council of amautas, Lucas Choque Apaza, who hoped that all the thousand-year-old strength and energy accompanied him in the fulfilment of his responsibility as leader of the Pluri-national State.

After receiving the staffs, the head of state received the greetings and offerings of various representatives of the continent’s native peoples: Mapuches, Guaranis, Quechuans, Mayans, Venezuelan and Argentinean natives, and even Chief White Bear, sent by the aboriginal communities from Canada.

ALWAYS STANDING, NEVER KNEELING DOWN

At the end of the ceremony, Evo Morales delivered a half-hour speech in three languages: Quechua, Aymara and Spanish. Explaining the meaning of the word Kalasasaya (stone placed high up), he said that Bolivia, along with other peoples from around the world, "will always be standing, and would never kneel down."

He dedicated most of his speech to raise consciousness about the need for saving the planet from the degradation it has been submitted to by the Capitalist system. "Today -he underlined-, to defend the rights of Mother Earth is to defend human rights."

Later in his address he said that while being for the second time at the Tiwanaku ceremony, he saw himself as a president between two States: the colonial one fading away and the pluri-national being born.

With the indigenous proverb "don’t lie, don’t steal, don’t be weak", he expressed his appreciation for having been raised in these values, and criticized those who haven’t incorporated the second principle, those who steal or take advantage of the State’s resources. "The difference is that, in our administration, he or she who steals goes to jail, while those who plundered the country years ago leave in order not to be tried in Bolivia", stated Evo, in clear reference to former presidential candidate Manfred Reyes and the former prefect of La Paz, José Luis Paredes, presently at large.

With respect to the process of change, he assured that "it’s irreversible and with no return", because "the people have decided to give themselves dignity and free themselves from US imperialism."

"We are here to serve Bolivia and make our contribution to save humanity and the world", he emphasized.

Taken from Granma Daily