In the afternoon of Sunday 7th, the Electoral Commission announced that they were suspending the elections ‘until a new announcement’, followed by muddled declarations about the possibility of holding an election with secret vote (that is, not acclamation) in Villa Fatima, and in the case of Regionals with two candidates both could go on the ballot paper. Shortly after, the Vigilance Commission announced that the elections were not suspended and would proceed the following day as agreed, a position which was immediately supported by other Regionals. It seems that the declared suspension was a strategy on the part of President Omar Quispe and his follower Gonzalo Viscarra, representing Arapata, to procure that most of the membership would not go to Coripata, believing that the election had been called off, and only those in on the plot, that is the minority of government sympathisers, would turn up and vote Acuña in.
The grass roots did indeed turn up in mass in Coripata, although there was no control of membership cards as promised, nor did Machicado’s directory make themselves present to give their outgoing report. The audit commission was not present either; they stayed in the offices in La Paz just in case those threatened with criminal proceedings might try to take advantage of everyone having gone to Coripata to break in and steal the proofs of their misdeeds. Omar Quispe directed proceedings, despite having been twice rejected by his own Regional Coripata, and ignoring the shouts from the floor that he be replaced by his Vicepresident William Luna (representing Irupana). The disturbances began with the presentation of candidates, firstly with those of Milluguaya, who had two candidates, fighting among themselves until one agreed to give up. When Rimber Acuña appeared, people started to throw empty plastic bottles and attempt to assault the stage, and tear gas grenades were thrown three times into the crowd which surged back and forth. Finally, they got to the acclamation. Lizette Torres, candidate for Coroico and the only woman present, received massive support, followed by Freddy Quispe of Asunta, but when it came to announcing the results Omar Quispe insisted in declaring that Rimber Acuña had won second place. A riot broke out (during which Rafa Sánchez, the ex Executive Secretary of the Asunta women’s federation, got onto the stage and forcibly dressed Omar Quispe in a pollera, the traditional woman’s skirt) until William Luna finally took the microphone and announced that Lizette Torres was President and Freddy Quispe, Vicepresident. At that moment he declared that Rimber Acuña had won third place and would be Permanent Secretary.
The next stage was to swear in the new directory, to take place in the so called Pilot Plant, a half abandoned two storey building in Coripata town which was to have been the site of a factory to ‘industrialize’ products based on coca leaves. Six of the seven candidates who had been voted in went there, less Rimber Acuña, but the Electoral Commission had disappeared; apparently they had been chased away or had fled in the struggles that continued after Luna’s announcement. Eventually William Luna and others were located, minus Omar Quispe, and Luna swore in the six present, with the absent Acuña demoted to seventh position (Secretary of Press and Propaganda). Rumours had already circulated that a police contingent was on its way from La Paz, supposedly to intervene and force Acuña’s naming as Vicepresident. At this point a noisy group appeared from the direction of the community of Anacurí, notorious stronghold of MAS in Coripata, shouting “Swearing in, swearing in!”, and among them Acuña y Omar Quispe (who is a son in law of Anacurí). Sticks, stones and tear gas began to fly. Torres and the rest of her directory were hustled away to safety in different directions by their supporters. Acuña’s supporters retreated to a small square near Anacurí, where Quispe swore him in as Vicepresident, flanked by the rejected Mateo Mamani of Chulumani and Alan Jallurana of Arapata. By then night had fallen and the police finally arrived, only to encounter that the rioters had dispersed and there was no need for them to act.
One of the defects – or advantages, according to how one sees it – of voting by acclamation, is that it is entirely possible for a person to vote raising their hand for more than one candidate. In Chulumani, for instance, in a meeting headed by their Committee ad Hoc it was agreed to vote both for Lizette Torres and Freddy Quispe (those still faithful to the rejected directory, in Coripata, were seen with the group of Rimber Acuña). The reason why Torres received such massive support is that, in Andean culture, women are responsible for managing money and resources in the household, whereas men are considered incompetent at handling money; given that the errors of previous directories had always centered on their financial mismanagement, the idea was that with a woman at the helm ADEPCOCA would finally put its finances in order.
However, ADEPCOCA has to cover much more than questions of how to administer its institutional incomes. Coca is a political hot potato even when the government in office is not riven with its own internal conflicts. Another of the criticisms of Machicado’s directory was that they had private meetings and dealings with the government behind the back of the grass roots members, or even behind the back of some directory members and/or the representatives of the Regionals. Among grass roots coca growers, and many of their leaders too, there is a sort of generalized paranoia, or permanent suspicion, with respect to any meeting that their leaders may have with members of the government, except if those meetings were to take place in the context of a massive assembly where they could see and hear everything that went on, which is obviously not a realistic possibility in most situations. A related idea, particularly with respect to the representatives of parallel pro government organizations, is that the mere fact of taking part in a meeting with them and shaking hands, means that one has ‘recognized’ and accepted them. At the provincial level, this attitude blocked any attempt, for instance when the parallel Federation was first organized in Chulumani (2018), to meet with its leaders to look for some way to solve this dissidence: the proposal was rejected insisting that just by contacting them and inviting them to meet, we were ‘recognizing’ them (as having some sort of legitimacy).