Аннотация: Bolivian politicians - in the Mexican Embassy. Belarusian citizens - in the local pre-trial detention center. An attempt of comparative description.
Bolivian politicians - in the Mexican Embassy. Belarusian citizens - in the local pre-trial detention center. An attempt of comparative description.
In August 2020, elections were held in Belarus. Many protesters in Belarus ended up behind bars.
After Evo Morales fled Bolivia in October 2019 and the government of interim President Jeanine Áñez came to power, a number of Bolivian politicians were granted political asylum at the Mexican Embassy. They stayed at the embassy for about a year - until the next elections in October 2020.
We found it interesting to compare the descriptions of forced asylum at the Mexican embassy and the living conditions behind bars in Belarus.
For comparison, we use quotes from an interview with Alexandra Sitnikova and from material published in the Página Siete newspaper.
The comparison was made concisely for the following items:
1. A general living conditions.
2. Books.
3. A food.
4. The intellectual activity.
5. A completion of tests.
1. A general living conditions.
Alexandra Sitnikova, age 24, higher education, employee of a construction company, champion in kickboxing:
'From the RUVD [from the police station] I was taken to the IVS [temporary detention center] in Okrestino [Окрестино] [district of Minsk]. We were placed in a 'glass' [that is, a type of primitive "cup"] cell - a room a meter long and half a meter wide, where you can only to stand and to look at the door [a minimum of area]. Then we were transferred to a more spacious cell for four, which represented a room [with an area of] 2 by 2 meters, without windows, with dim light, gray walls. There was a narrow bench - a small concrete ledge lined with tiles. I spent the night in that cell. ... As a result, they gave me 10 days of arrest. And they took me back to the [same] cell, where I spent another day. The next day I was taken to the SIZO [pre-trial detention center] in Zhodino [district of Minsk].
... I knocked on the door only one time during three days to appeal to the SIZO officer. They answered me: 'Knock yourself on [your] head'. Nobody responded to our requests.
... In [SIZO] Zhodino I was placed in a four-bed cell. There was no hot water there, nor heating. Okay, the parents passed on warm things. I asked the employees of the isolation ward why there was no heating. I heard: 'The heating will be turned on in winter, wait'.... As a result, I spent more than seven days in the ice cell.
... - I didn't take off plush pants, warm socks, ugg boots [warm soft shoes], two bikes [apparently two units of warm clothes for cycling]. I played sports [in the cell] to keep warm. They also prohibited the use of bedding. We got up at six in the morning. So from 6 am to 10 pm they demanded to twist the mattress and not touch it. It was forbidden to sleep, sit [on the bed] and go to bed.
... The cell had a table and narrow benches where we were allowed to sit. If we wanted to sleep during the day, we sat on a bench, leaned our hands on the table and slept. The table and benches were metal, so we put something [on the metal], but in a cell without heating, such heating [attempts] did not save the situation. ... In our room, a bright light was constantly burning - both day and night. It is impossible to sleep. Especially on the top shelf it is hard, since you are directly under the lamp. It is forbidden to ... close the lamp, they immediately come and swear. ... For 10 days I was taken once to the shower ... ... Since there was no hot water, I came up with my own life hack - in the evening I filled plastic bottles with ice water, put them in socks and warmed them under the blanket. In the morning, the water warmed up a little to summer temperature, I was washing my hair with it.
... For 10 days we were taken outside twice for 20 minutes. The walk took place in a concrete pit with a grate instead of a ceiling. We saw a little cloud. "
About life at the Mexican Embassy:
'Living in a Mexican residence in La Paz without leaving for almost a year has not been a vacation for the high-ranking MAS officials who took refuge there during the reign of Jeanine Áñez ... ... it was no worse than in prison [Vivir en la residencia mexicana en La Paz, sin salir durante casi un año, no fue una vacación para los altos cargos del MAS que allá se refugiaron durante el gobierno de Jeanine Añez, pero tampoco fue 'peor que en la cárcel'...] ...
Hugo Moldiz, who spent 360 days in that residence, tells some brushstrokes of daily coexistence among 28 guests, at beginning, and among seven, afterwards. He says, for example, that at first the change was very abrupt because they went from sleeping peacefully in their beds to sleeping even in the living room, on mattresses or in armchairs. The residence had three toilets, but on those crowded days there were queues.
When the group got smaller, they had to share a room. Moldiz's roommate was César Navarro until he left, and Moldiz could live in his private room ...
... [Mexican representative] Edmundo Font, who, in addition to being an artist, is a famous poet in his country.
Font was appointed Chargé d'Affaires ...
Presumably, the diplomat is not at all comfortable living with so many guests. He unable to escape from them day or night, and even more so in quarantine, when even he cannot leave his place of residence.
The diplomat, according to Moldiz, at that time devoted himself to writing a series of paintings ... [During] every [next] week he [the diplomat] one day [one time] dined with his tenants [guests] and then [after dinner] there was an intense conversation about cultural exchange."
2. Books.
Alexandra Sitnikova:
'There are no televisions [in the cell]. When I asked to bring me books, I was given to understand that the prison library is for those who are not under administrative cases, but under criminal cases. They are not supposed to give out books. There was only one good security guard who brought me books, a magazine, a scanword and even a pen. As I understood, these books are not from the library, they were left by the former inmates. As a result, I read four books and fulfilled the minimum plan. "
About life at the Mexican Embassy:
"... he [Moldiz] amassed about 50 books that his family brought him."
3. A food.
Alexandra Sitnikova:
'Compared to Okrestino, the [SIZO] in Zhodino was fed normally. The food is ... tolerable one. They gave porridge with milk. But in Okrestino it was scary even to look at food, - to eat this food was impossible '
About life at the Mexican Embassy:
'... Refugees had to unite in groups to cook. Moldiz had to create a gastronomic duo with Víctor Hugo Vásquez, with whom they cooked standard dishes for dinner, but some Cuban delicacies for Sunday. The former government minister says he had to learn how to cook and now the bean chowder, Cuban fried rice, La Paz sais and ... the rabbit are coming out very well [el potaje con frijol, el arroz frito a la cubana, el saice paceño y falso conejo]. '
4. The intellectual activity.
Alexandra Sitnikova:
'There were three [women] of us in the cell. I myself am an engineer... , I work in a construction company. With me sat a girl who was studying to be a psychologist, the second prisoner was engaged in the protection of women's rights. All educated, interesting, smart.
One day I was transferred to a cell for eight people. There I met a woman philosopher, she told such things - you will be listening. She conducted seminars for cellmates.
Specialists from different fields gathered in [SIZO] Zhodino, each of them in turn [one by one] gave lectures. So you can, even, to get a second higher education behind bars. All these women were it was pleasant to talk to, courageous, they came there with such fervor, optimism. And looking at them, I realized that these are not so easy to break. That's impossible [Authorities are not capable of] to intimidate them. "
About life at the Mexican Embassy:
'... There was no way to agree [to agree on TV programs that would suit everyone?] about the only TV available [there was the only the one TV-receiver?]. So everyone was entertained by Netflix, we read or wrote books. In fact, Moldiz wrote one [book] called "Golpe de Estado, la soledad de Evo Morales" ('Coup d'état, the loneliness of Evo Morales') and published two academic articles for foreign publications. And he had time to reread Marx, Lenin and Gramsci and even study the new American theoreticians of democracy.
Vásquez, whom Moldiz describes as "the great Aymara intellectual," [The Aymara or Aimara - people are an indigenous nation in the Andes and Altiplano regions of South America; about 2.3 million live in Bolivia, Peru and Chile - Wikipedia] has written two books, one of which is a kind of autobiography, and the other about what Moldiz calls a coup. "
5. A completion of tests.
Alexandra Sitnikova:
'... All the persuasion of the investigators, - they said, you have time [to reflect]; think about your behavior, - did not lead to anything. I have nothing to think about. I am without any fault ... [Sitnikova before detention posted her photo on the Internet. In the photo, she was holding a poster with the inscription: "No to torture, no to arrests, no to repressions." (That is, "I against tortures, arrests, repressions")]
... Our parting [with the inmates] looked touching. We hugged each other, exchanged phone numbers, you don't meet such friends every day. And not everyone can discuss how they sat in the cell.
... Nobody says goodbye there. Silently [the employees of the pre-trial detention center] delivered me to a room, gave me my things and handed me the most important thing - a receipt for payment for meals in Zhodino.
... Stay in the [Belarusian] pre-trial detention center is paid. 13.50 Belarusian rubles per day (400 Russian rubles). So I'll have to pay about $ 50 for the entire period [behind bars]. "
About life at the Mexican Embassy:
'Between guilt, responsibilities, [among] discussions and friendship, they spent Christmas, New Year, carnivals ... At that time there was good food and a few drinks, but the night when everyone was celebrating, hugging and even crying was the only one. - In October of this year, when they learned that the MAS won in the first round and, therefore, their conclusion was over.
'To a greater extent, many of us have a lump in our throats, while others shed more expressive tears, because, first, the situation in the country has been resolved, and our situation has been resolved,' Moldiz says.
They all left the residence, the luxurious La Rinconada quarter, where they lived under siege due to the constant operations that former Minister Arturo Murillo had deployed in the area and due to the vigil of citizens who stood at the entrance for months to prevent them to leave [both the Mexican Embassy and Bolivia?]. All this time, the Áñez government refused to provide them with a letter of protection to leave the country, since arrest warrants had been issued [in relation to them] ...
Thus ended the asylum [the political asylum at the Mexican Embassy] of former ministers Juan Ramón Quintana, Héctor Arce, Javier Zavaleta, Wilma Alanoca y Hugo Moldiz, del exgobernador de Oruro Víctor Hugo Vásquez and del exdirector de Agetic Nicolás Laguna. "The longest refuge in Bolivia," says Moldiz ... " [ 'El asilo más largo en Bolivia', dice Moldiz]
Our personal comment.
"... he had time to reread [to read more] Marx, Lenin and Gramsci ..."
I personally have not read the works by Gramsci. There was a special seminar on [devoted to] "Capital" [Das Kapital] (by Karl Marx) at the university [on all the volumes of "Capital" by Marx]. The special seminar was useful for the development of casuistic thinking. It is useful to discuss 'Capital' (for the development of casuistic skills), if later - by coincidence - the participant in the discussion will receive a legal education and become a practicing lawyer. The economic reality described by Marx is long gone.
As for Lenin, when reading his works, one should take into account that in his early works he wrote a lot about the people's rule, about the democracy, about the Constituent Assembly. After October 1917, he already wrote in a different way: about the need to ruthlessly suppress resistance to the dictatorship of the proletariat. "Rob the loot!" [confiscation (expropriation) from the owners of private property]. Neither in his early nor in any other works did Lenin admit to receiving large sums of money from the imperial Germany. However, he did not give up the slogan of the defeat of his country in the imperialist war and the idea of the transformation of the imperialist war into a civil war ... All that remained was to get a lot [enough] of money for the implementation of these plans ... In general, not all of his activities were reflected in his works ...
Materials used for comparison:
1) Kickboxer Sitnikova described the nightmare of being imprisoned in a Belarusian jail. Author: Irina Bobrova. MK [Newspaper "Moskovsky Komsomolets"]. 10/26/2020 at 19:20. (https://www.mk.ru/politics/2020/10/26/kikboksersha-sitnikova-opisala-koshmar-zaklyucheniya-v-belorusskom-sizo.html) [Кикбоксерша Ситникова описала кошмар заключения в белорусском СИЗО. Автор: Ирина Боброва. МК [Газета "Московский Комсомолец"]. 26.10.2020 В 19:20.]
2) They cooked, painted, argued and cried a lot on the night of the 18th [October 18, 2020 - General Election Day]. Seven high-ranking officials in the Evo Morales government lived in the Mexican residence for almost a year. Everyone is free now. Página Siete. Mery Vaca / La Paz. 22 November 2020 00:28 (https://www.paginasiete.bo/nacional/2020/11/22/cocinaron-pintaron-discutieron-mucho-lloraron-la-noche-del-18-275717.html) [Cocinaron, pintaron, discutieron mucho y lloraron la noche del 18. Siete exaltos cargos del gobierno de Evo Morales compartieron durante casi un año la vida en la residencia mexicana. Ahora todos son libres.Página Siete. Mery Vaca / La Paz. 22 de noviembre de 2020 00:28.]
November 24, 2020 00:59
Translation from Russian into English: November 25, 2020 09:45.
Владимир Владимирович Залесский 'Боливийские политики - в посольстве Мексики. Белорусские граждане - в местном СИЗО. Опыт сравнительного описания'.