My children bring me their empty plates and I don't know what to feed them.

QUARANTINE IN BOLIVIA

“My children bring me their empty plates and I don’t know what to feed them.”

The desperation of many Bolivian families, due to their inability to purchase basic food items to survive during the quarantine imposed by the national government, is already quite noticeable, and this situation has led the population to demonstrate, demanding that their national, departmental, and municipal authorities address this need and not violate their human right to access adequate food.

“We need help, our children don’t understand anything, they just say ‘I want to eat, Mom,’ we just look at their faces, but we don’t know what to put in the pot. They bring us their empty plates, but we don’t know what to have to eat,” was the story of a desperate mother from the Municipality of La Guardia, who came out with a group of women and men with empty pots to demand immediate help from their authorities.

“We can work, but they don’t allow us to go out these days (…) how are we going to endure two more weeks?” laments this mother, referring to the extension of the quarantine until April 30, while her neighbors wave and bang their empty pots, hoping that the authorities will respond more effectively to their needs.

Faced with this situation, Fabiola Tapia, a community leader from the Mapaizo Sur 3 neighborhood in the Municipality of La Guardia, expressed her discontent with local authorities who promised to deliver food aid to the families in that area, but to date they have not delivered "even a grain of rice," while the desperate population decided to mobilize to try to make themselves heard.

When asked about this situation, councilwoman Marisol Camacho Rodríguez, from the Municipality of La Guardia, stated that in order to comply with these types of regulations, conditions must be provided by the State for the most vulnerable sectors, especially that part of the population that lives from day to day and to try to alleviate this crisis they have had to organize and carry out communal kitchens, but that option is now practically unsustainable.

“There are single women with many children, and they should be prioritized (…) in this context, I ask the competent authorities to help solve these problems during this time,” the councilwoman remarked, in response to the food crisis caused by the quarantine intended to stop the Coronavirus.

In Bolivia, restrictions have been imposed on the population since March 12, 2020, ranging from the suspension of school activities to the declaration of a total quarantine with militarization and permanent police control, in order to curb the spread of Coronavirus cases. However, despite all these restrictive policies, the virus continued its course.

The transitional government has been gradually offering bonuses to certain sectors, and after more than 30 days of maintaining the prohibition on accessing our workplaces, the government decided to offer a universal bonus of Bs. 500, to be paid from April 30, so that the population can try to cover their basic needs.

Meanwhile, thousands are sleeping outside banks, creating crowds and long lines, hoping to access one of the government-issued subsidies. However, many people are wondering, "How am I going to survive another 15 days of lockdown? What do I tell my children who are asking me for food?"

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