Before the image of the illegitimate and self-proclaimed President of Bolivia, Jeanine Añez, citing the sacred Catholic text and voicing “The Bible is back in Palace,” we could certainly find a parallelism with the canvas Dioscoro Puebla, treasured at the Prado Museum.

In this huge five-meters long canvas named Desembarco de Colón, you can observe a figure wielding the huge cross that led the evangelizing campaign, those who played hell with American natives, according to the words of Pope Benedict XVI himself.

But these lines are not meant to dig deeper on those forced conversions to Catholicism, and much less to talk about the Catholic Church. This article is meant to think about the consequence of Jeanine Añez’s first words. She, with her blond hair and white skin, is actually distant from the Sun burning down the skin of Bolivian coca growers, and the Aymaras despised by her.

Jeanine wiped out entirely the history of that multicultural nation in her ignorance and arrogance, with no relation with the Wiphala, that symbol, also sacred, from the native heritage.

The Wiphala, such checkered flag — it is not a flag, according to Incan elders — with seven colors, is the icon of the Pachamama (Mother Earth) symbolizing in its colors the Universe, animals, plants, stones, runes, life in harmony.

The Incan elders said: “Where you find a Wiphala, you will find love and respect to the Universe.” That is why the opposition to Evo Morales also denies that love and respect. They have burned literally the Wiphala, following the beliefs of their “acting President.”

As if they were lighting up the torches with the same “purifying” flame of the Spanish Inquisition, they are burning the Wiphala and setting fire to the houses of MAS leaders. They have even threatened to burn people alive if they support Evo (Morales).

It is as if Bolivia had entered a time warp and went back to the 15^th-16^th centuries…but using tear gas instead.

“And if you fail to follow us (…), with God’s help, we will storm ferociously against you all, and war will loom everywhere, (…) and we will seize all your goods, and evil will settle in this land (…)”

These words and much more were read out loud to American natives by colonists. It was like a warning to ensure submission, which went down in history as the Requirement.

And Jeanine, with the Holy Bible up high, warned: If you fail to follow me and follow Evo, “with God’s help we will storm ferociously against you all.”

More than a warning, this is the description of the present: they beat, burn, and shoot. They are beating hard those who were once protected by Evo and worshipped the Wiphala.

Few minutes before I wrote this opinion article, I watched a frightening video on Twitter: “My name is Claudia Quispe, our peasant brothers and sisters are being slaughtered by the military in #Bolivia. And the media is not here where the killings are taking place. We have been calling for help, but no one seems to care.”

Perhaps Jeanine will go there some day, with the huge pink Holy Bible under her arms.

Translated by Sergio A. Paneque Diaz/CubaSi Translation Staff