The Situation and Struggle of Women

Before we begin to say what we have to say, we want to bring our support and greetings to the comrades and women represented here. We want to bring the voice of Bolivian Women who are struggling against all kinds of oppression in order to build up a new society which will eliminate inequality between classes and therefore between sexes.

In Bolivia and Latin America we find the same features which make of women all over the world a group with a great revolutionary potential. Because of women's oppression at work and at home she is able to realize and to find the causes of women's exploitation through all means, the family, the Church, school, the capitalist system. This oppression is accentuated by the dictatorships which have changed the geography and nature of our land, transforming the mines, the cities and the country all in a great concentration camp, where women are raped, tortured, persecuted and obliged to support the consequences of the economic crisis.

After the glorious strike in June last year where the mine workers resisted for 30 days to defend their salaries and their right to organize themselves, where women have demonstrated with the greatest courage, and where the army has shown the greatest brutality, the Committee of Housewives has decided to continue the struggle to obtain the withdrawal of all troops from their work area, the return of more than 1000 workers who have been fired because of their participation in the strike, the increase of their loans to a minimum necessary to stop torture and persecution, to obtain General Amnesty and the return of our comrades, for the defense of democratic rights, and the immediate cease of torture and repression.

We want also to call for your solidarity to stop genocide, to stop racism, to stop the shameful migration policy of Banzer who has decided to sterilize the native population, accepting the imposition of the World Bank and American Imperialism. Even the Church has exposed the large scale sterilization of women with support of the government. They want to make us believe that Indians are inferior, they want to follow the American example and call for white migration from South Africa and Rhodesia. With support of the German Government they are preparing the reception of 30,000 white families who are running away from Africa because they know that the time has come for them to respond for their crimes, for the apartheid, because they know that black people, black women have decided to take in their hands, their futures. It is not by chance that they are killing children before they are born, they want to have hands free to exploit the raw materials without facing rebellion, and at the same time they call for support from their imperialist partners. This deserves your solidarity, because this is a crime against women, against the struggle for socialism and liberty. At the same time we want to call for your solidarity with Maria Luisa Varggas one of the many women who are facing repression. Maria Luisa has been raped and tortured because she supported the national struggle for freedom against fascism. It is very important that you write letters and organize actions to obtain her liberty together with Loida Sanchez, Nila Heredia, Victoria Choque and all women imprisoned.

To finish, I want to say that we understand that our liberation is part of the general struggle for socialism against exploitation.

We will overcome.

Women's Liberation is Impossible without Social Liberation Let's Open our Eyes and Listen to Reality

"Union de Mujeres de Bolivia". The Union of women in Bolivia was founded on March 20th, 1963, based on a group of women from many left groups and from different work levels.

Its first declaration emphasizes "UMBO" gathered all authentically progressive women, without taking into consideration political criteria, religious faith or area of work.

Our goals are clearly expressed when we say that our struggle is not only to increase the cultural level of women, but also to make the situation of children better. At the same time we want to make clear that we are not going to stop in the struggle for national Sovereignty and Human Rights.

The presence in UMBO of women who have reached a high political level, due to the influence of the working class struggle in the mines, has made of it a richer organization and has allowed a development of the political goals. This we can see through the numerous declarations, protests and actions against repression and in favor of peasants, workers, students, teachers, etc., all of them victims of the political repression of the fascist regime of Banzer.

In one of its declarations in February 1974 we declare: "UMBO wants to incorporate in her struggle the richest traditions of women in Bolivia and wants to represent constantly all demands and aspirations of the oppressed women". It declares "We want to express our willingness to join the working class in order to obtain National Liberation".

Under the present censorship UMBO reaches the people with papers and all kinds of underground publications. Our voice has reached all kinds of international organizations.

UMBO thinks that the struggle of women in the mines has become the avant garde of Women's Liberation. DOMITILA CHUNGARA leader of the Housewives Organization and the one who has promoted the existence of our organization is the honor of our organization.

Because of this, because of the struggle of the people, because UMBO exists inside the front and has contributed to fortify this unequal struggle against fascism, we have decided to organize UMBO in Europe gathering all Bolivian women political refugees, victims of persecution and progressive women who support our struggle.

contact: Sonia Montano
Korsjespoortsteeg 7
Amsterdam