La Paz (EFE).- The Consul General of Spain in La Paz, Guillermo Gil, visited the Spanish activist Amparo Carvajal this Thursday night, who has been holding a vigil for 50 days for the recovery of the headquarters of the Permanent Assembly of Human Rights of Bolivia (Apdhb), taken over by a group related to the ruling party.
In statements to the media, including EFE, Gil indicated that the reason for his presence was to “check the status of Amparo (Carvajal), particularly his state of health,” who has been living on the terrace of the headquarters of that private organization for more than a week.
The diplomat asserted that this rapprochement with the 84-year-old activist “has been made known to the Bolivian authorities” in order to “exercise consular protection” in her favor.
The Consul General of Spain in La Paz spoke for about an hour with Carvajal on the terrace of the Apdhb headquarters, where he has been for ten days
The octogenarian activist, who has said that she will stay on the terrace “until she dies”, last week radicalized the vigil that began at the beginning of June and with the help of some of her supporters she climbed a ladder to settle since then on the roof of the headquarters.
ADVERSE SITUATION
Carvajal is out in the open and wears diapers because he cannot use the bathroom at the headquarters that is taken over by the group of leader Édgar Salazar, who claims to have the legal representation of the private entity.
“His health is at risk, he does not have access to hygienic services, (…) any mishap that happens (with his health) is the responsibility of the Government,” the president of the Apdhb of La Paz, Javier Quisberth, told EFE.
On this day, three women, presumably from the Salazar group, set up a hunger strike alongside the Spanish activist.
The women have not explained their position and remain in place with their faces covered.
Likewise, the Ministry of Health ordered a medical care team, headed by Vice Minister Alejandra Hidalgo, to carry out a medical assessment of Carvajal and the three women who began the hunger strike.
The Spanish activist, in a contact with the media, reported that she has refused to receive medical attention from the Government and that she will remain without sleep or bed until those she considers “overwhelming” leave the headquarters of the Apdhb.
Carvajal considered that it is an “international and national shame” that even the deputy minister and the doctors have used a ladder to try to make an assessment following the takeover of the institution by the opposing group.
At the beginning of June a group of people entered the Apdhb and evicted the activists who worked there and then took their place.
The leaders led by Salazar, an activist known to have an affinity with the ruling party, assert that they have the rights to the property and the legal representation of the institution because they were supposedly elected as their representatives in December 2021, in an election unknown by the sectors led by Carvajal.
For its part, despite the accusations, the Government has indicated that the conflict over the headquarters of the Apdhb is “private”.
Carvajal, born in Riaño (in León, in northwestern Spain), has dedicated her life to the defense of human rights in Bolivia for more than 50 years.
In July 2016, Carvajal was elected president of the Apdhb and since then she has maintained a critical position towards the governments of then-president Evo Morales (2006-2019) and current president Luis Arce, both from the Movement for Socialism (MAS).
